For this recipe, you can easily find both the glutinous rice and the banana leaves at your local Asian market (the banana leaves are also available at Latino markets). Lemang is traditionally cooked in banana leaves inside pieces of bamboo, although home cooks simply wrap it in banana leaves.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 6-8 people | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 45-50 minutes |
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For this recipe, you can easily find both the glutinous rice and the banana leaves at your local Asian market (the banana leaves are also available at Latino markets). Lemang is traditionally cooked in banana leaves inside pieces of bamboo, although home cooks simply wrap it in banana leaves.
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Ingredients
- 2 cups glutinous rice (a.k.a. sticky or sweet rice) , soaked for 6 hours or overnight
- 15 oz coconut milk
- 1 pinch salt
- banana leaves
Servings: people
Units:
Instructions
- Soak the rice in water overnight, or for at least 6 hours.
- Bring a can of coconut milk to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the coconut oil separates from the milk (you might have to turn off the heat to see the tiny droplets of oil – active simmering keeps mixing it back into the milk).
- Add the rice and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes over low/medium heat. Stir occasionally.
- Meanwhile, cut 4″ wide strips of banana leaf. You can soften them (to make it easier to fold) by quickly passing them over an open flame.
- To make the towers, roll the banana leaf up into a cone. Make sure there is no hole at the bottom for the rice to come out.
- Stuff the banana leaf full of rice (stopping about 1 1/2 inches from the top). Pack it down tightly with the back of a spoon.
- Fold the sides in, like when wrapping a present.
- Layer each cone into a steamer basket, pressing the folded edge against the sides of the steamer to keep packets shut. Steam for 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
Recipe Notes
Cool them for several minutes until the rice is just barely warm. Otherwise the towers will fall apart when you try to do stand them up on end.