LEMPER AS MY CHRISTMAS GIFT

Christmas is said to be a time when family members plus extended family come together to spend time with each other.  Though gifts are said to be a way of showing our love and appreciation for other people, but many times buying gifts for all can surely rip a hole in our pocket. Christmas shopping can get so expensive and stressful. In my case, not only I need to spend for my family, I have to think of gift giving to neighbors. With the economy being what it is, I thought of skipping this tradition. But I thought, it is wise to build a good relationship among neighbors.  They will help us when we suddenly find that sugar in our house is over or babysit our dog in times of need.  I figured baking for a wonderful neighbor is most suitable gift, so, I decided to bake an authentic dish from my home country and it is called Lemper.


Lemper is Indonesian sushi which we Indonesian eat as a snacks. It is made of sticky rice dumpling stuffed with tasty shredded spiced chicken and wrapped in banana leaf.  Here is my own preparation method.  Of course the presentation doesn't look like the authentic Lemper we have in Indonesia, but I have to say the taste is near authentic.

 Here is the authentic Lemper should look like

Ingredients

750 gram sticky or glutinous rice
1 whole chicken - boil them
2 cans of coconut milk
2 stalk lemon grass
2 slices of galangga
4 pieces salam leaves
2 pieces kaffir leaves
3 spoon tamarind sauce
1 1/2 candle nut - grind
salt
banana leaves
aluminum foil

Sticky Rice Preparation

Steam the sticky rice in a steamer. Leave it until half cook (about half an hour) and remove. Boil 1 1/2 cans of coconut milk, 2 salam leaves, 2 stalk lemon grass and a 1/2 tsp salt. Add half cooked glutinous rice into it. Stir well, cook until coconut milk is absorbed. Put back into the steamer until fully cook.

Chicken Preparation

Shred a cooked chicken into small pieces. Prepare about 3 to 4 spoon oil into a heated saucepan. Saute onions and garlic until brown, add kaffir lime leaves, salam leaves, galangga, tamarind sauce, grind candle nut and 1 tsp salt. Pour in 1/2 a can of coconut milk, 1/4 cup water and shred cooked chicken into the frying pan. Stir well until cooked and quite dry.  Let it cool!

Cut aluminum foil about 7 inches, and cut banana leaves for about 5 inches.  Lay banana leaf on top of the aluminum foil, flatten the sticky rice on top of it, follow with the chicken filling.  Roll the foil/banana leaf and secure each end by twisting the foil.
The original Lemper should only use banana leaf  and a toothpick will be used to secure each end of the leaf.

The boiled chicken look like  Shredded chicken while being cooked    Voila ..... before wrapped After wrapped
Ooooohhh ...... didn't I tell you that I got help also from my sister