Hey all! In the previous article, we have shared with you 4 types of traditional Malay food based on rice, right? So as we promised, this time we will list out 4 types of traditional food based on glutinous rice.
Let’s check it out!
1. Lemang
Lemang is a special dish on the morning of Hari Raya. It symbolizes the close bond between family members because it is cooked together. It is not easy to prepare lemang. This is the case, it requires the right baking technique so that the lemang will not be easy to steam and cook evenly. It needs to be turned and requires scrutiny so that the lemang does not crust, otherwise the lemang is not cooked but some of it is already crusted and hard. Lemang is very unique because it is cooked in bamboo. Its shape is cylindrical and has a sticky texture like glutinous rice because of the use of a lot of coconut milk. Lemang is white and served with rendang, peanut sauce, lodeh or serunding.
2. Kelupis
Kelupis is a traditional food of the people of Sabah and Sarawak, but it is influenced by the country of Brunei. It was first introduced by ethnic Bruneians living in Sabah (Mohd, 2016). It looks like a rhombus but is flat like a lepat. It looks almost the same as burasak, but kelupis uses glutinous rice while burasak uses regular rice. Kelupis is very fragrant because it is wrapped using irik leaves and cooked together with pandan leaves. This dish is a complement to a ceremony. Without kelupis, a ceremony is incomplete. Kelupis is usually served with peanut sauce, red-boiled chicken or rendang.
3. Pulut Kuning
Pulut kuning is symbolic of customs Aidil, W. (2011) and rituals (Noor, Zakaria, Shahril, Hadi, & Zahari, 2013). This is because, it will be served for the worship ceremony but for the food of supernatural beings during the religious ritual process. During the ceremony, people in the past served pulut kuning with grilled chicken or fried chicken. They believe that supernatural beings will eat food and will not disturb the villagers. But now the ceremony has been eliminated because it is a superstition, besides, it is also symbolic of wealth because it is yellow like the color of gold.
Originally, pulut kuning was a dish in the king. When the festivities are held, the king will give permission to the common people to enjoy the greatness of the palace. This shows that the king emphasizes the prosperity of the country by sharing meals at the king’s place. People in ancient times also made pulut kuning as one of the gifts in wedding ceremonies (Aishah@Eshah, H. M., Sulong, M. & Haziyah, H., 2010). Egg flowers will be stuck on the pulut kuning and only guests of honor or close relatives will be given the egg flowers. Although the steaming process is quite crunchy, but until now, pulut kuning is still the main dish in a Malay community event.
4. Selukung
Selukung is a traditional food of the Orang Ulu community, the Kenyah people in the interior of Sarawak. It gets its name from the leaf sheath. The casing is made of glutinous rice. Glutinous rice is wrapped in seluung leaves and woven like a ketupat. Then, the shell will be boiled until cooked. The triangular shaped envelope is like a rhombus and is made when welcoming the crowd. Traditionally, selukung is used as a supply for the Kenyah people when they go to the garden. The Kenyah community serves selukun along with tung ubi. Tung ubi is food in the form of potato leaves that are pounded and fried. It is very suitable to eat with selukun (Syakir, 2017).
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Article written by Nurul Humaira’ binti Hasan.
