Lontong sticky rice in bananaleaf

Lontong sticky rice in banana leaf

Making Lontong ketan yourself, not in a bag but in banana leaf, is not difficult at all. This recipe for lontong sticky rice in banana leaf will help you through.

I like to use banana leaf because it gives off a delicious flavor and also looks very nice. Earlier I’ve made regular lontong from only white rice. This version is with a portion of sticky black rice (ketan). It is very tasty and slightly different in texture.

Beb Vuyk always indicates quantities of rice in liters, so I do that here too. With the amount in this recipe, you make about 12 lontongs of 15 centimeters. We eat about 3 lontongs per person.

You can also keep 75 grams of rice per person. This recipe is ready in 1,5 hours.

Lontong sticky rice in banana leaf

  • 300 ml white rice
  • 200 ml ketan rice (100 grams white and 100 grams black)
  • half teaspoon of salt
  • 1 stalk of sereh
  • 3-4 jeruk purut leaves
  • 1 pack of banana leafs from the freezer (I buy this at an Asian food store).
  1. Place rice in a pan and add water until 1 phalanx of water is above the rice.
  2. Cook the rice with the jeruk purut leaf, lemongrass and salt.
  3. Remove from heat when rice forms bubbles in tiny wells but still looks wet.
  4. Stir it well until the grains begin to break.
  5. Let the rice cool on a plate for 15 minutes.
  6. Stir it again just before use.
  7. Cut the banana leaf into 3 finger long pieces.
  8. Rinse them with water and then with boiling hot water and wipe them dry and clean with a tea towel.
  9. Place a sausage of rice (well shaped) at the bottom of the banana leaf and roll it tightly, but carefully.
  10. Seal the sides with a toothpick.
  11. Boil the lontong gently for 1 hour.
  12. Then immediately remove them from the water and let them drain upright so that the water can drain well.
  13. Let the lontong cool completely before slicing. Or leave it in the fridge overnight for best results.

I add all the rice into the pan and add the salt, lemongrass, and lemon leaf. I then fill the pan with water until it is a phalanx above the rice.

Now the pan can be placed on high heat. I didn’t wash the rice, because the grit in the rice makes for a nice firm lontong. You can wash it though, the lontong will come out fine, maybe a little bit less sticky.

I let this come to the boil and I let it cook until the rice forms small wells with bubbles. It is stil pretty wet. This is after about 10 minutes of cooking. It doesn’t look like anything yet, but after resting and stirring it comes together nicely. The rice doesn’t need to be done, because it will be cooked for another hour in a bananaleaf too.

The rice can be removed from the pan now to cool slightly before rolling.

I get banana leaves from the freezer at the Asian grocery store. I let it thaw for a while and then I cut it into pieces three fingers long.

Then you can roll the packets nice and precise so that they will not leak. I rinse them under the tap and douse them with hot water. Then rub dry with a tea towel. The leaf will shine beautifully. See how to fold? I’ve made a video of regular lontong.

Now that everything is nicely rolled up, the lontongs can be completely submerged in water to simmer gently for 1 hour.

Once ready, it is important that the packets drain upright, as in the photo below. If you don’t, the contents will remain too wet.

Only after the lontong has cooled you can cut them properly. Waiting overnight ensures the perfect lontong texture. You can keep the lontong in the fridge for a few days. You can also freeze them. The structure of the rice will changes slightly though. I prefer fresh lontong.

After cooling, the leaf forms a white glow. That’s normal and doesn’t affect the taste. Lontong is delicious with dishes where you need something to dip like, gado gado, or a wet rendang. Serundeng over it is delicious and of course a great sambal will make this into a delicious Indonesian dish.

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