TRADITIONAL FOOD

The traditional food in malaysia

KETUPAT

              One of traditional Malay food that often served during Eid festival, ketupat is famous not only in Malaysia but also in Indonesia, Philiphines, Singapore and Brunei. Ketupat also known as rice cake or rice dumplin, ketupat is made from rice or glutionous rice and then wrapped in woven palm leaves pouch. This ketupat is usually served with “Rendang” (dried beef of chicken curry), “Lontong”, “Lodeh” and also satay together with ground nuts gravy. In Malaysia, there are two common types of ketupat that famously served during Eid festivals, which are ketupat nasi and ketupat palas. Ketupat palas is usually associated with the northern states of Malaysia (Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis and Penang). It has triangular shape and wrapped in fan palm lave or also known as palas leave (Licuala Grandis). And the rice used is sticky rice or some people call it glutinous rice. As for the other type of ketupat, it uses normal palm leave as wrapper which woven in square shape and uses normal rice. This type is more famous with southern and central states of Malaysia.   

HOW TO PREPARING KETUPAT

 1) Preparing ketupat starts with getting the leaves for making the pouch. For some people, the leaves is acquired from the wild but some prefer to just buy it from the supplier. As for making the pouch, only the yong leaves are used as they are more malleable.

2) After cleaning up process of the leaves is done, the weaving process then starts. Basically this job requires skill to get it done in short time without an error. The pouch is made up of two strips of palm leaves twisted and woven tightly together to ensure no rice spills out of the pouch. But different types of ketupat do have different style of weaving. For ketupat nasi, it is more on cross-weaving the leaves to get a chequered pouch while for ketupat palas, it is more on round-weaving where the pouch looks like a triangular tube.

 3) Once the pouch is ready, it is now time to fill it up with rice. Before that, the rice must be cleaned up and thoroughly rinsed to remove any impurities. Then, the rice is inserted into a small opening made on the pouch (basically this opening is a loose joint that will get closed once the pouch is tighten up). Once the pouch filled up with the rice (only a third of pouch capacity), the opening needs to be closed by tying the receptacles of the pouch to narrow down the opened joint.     

4) Then it is time to proceed with the boiling process. Water is pre-heated in a large cauldron and once the water has boiled, a bunch of ketupat (usually tied in five to six pouches per-bunch) is put into the cauldron one by one. Number of ketupat that can be boiled at a time depends on the size of the cauldron. One important note during this boiling process is to make sure that the water is pre-heated and has totally boiled up before inserting the ketupat. This is to ensure that the ketupat doesn't spend unnecessary time in the unboiled water as it tends to be soggy due to excessive amount of water absorbed. And for sure, experience in much needed in order to make a well-boiled and firm ketupat.            

5) Time taken during the boiling process might vary depending on the amount of water and ketupat used. Some tips in making nice ketupat is to constantly check the ketupat during the boiling process. This is because every boiling process in making ketupat differs from one to another thus the best method to get it well-boiled is to constantly check it. Lift the ketupat bunch with a stick to inspect the texture and be careful in handling it as the ketupat is still hot

6)  Once cooked, the ketupat will be lifted out of the cauldron and left aside to let it cool down. People normally cut the ketupat only when it is served as to preserve it longer.