My experience with 'Nasi Impit'

Nasi Impit



Lontong

 Nasi impit and lontong are basically the same. They differ only in the manner they are made. I would presume the lontong was created by the Javanese using banana leaves to roll and compress the cooked rice instead of cooking in coconut leaves as done traditionally by the Malays. When it is cooked in packets of woven coconut leaves it is called ‘ketupat’. Traditional lontong comes wrapped in banana leaves in cylindrical shapes and are cut across in small pieces before they are eaten.


In this modern age, most of us do not know, (that includes me) how to weave the coconut leaves for making ketupat. It doesn’t help that we used another type of leaves known as the ‘daun palas’ to make our own version of ketupat using glutinous rice.

It did not surprise me when my sons found difficulty trying to make their own ‘nasi impit’ recently for ‘Eid’. You see Ikmal (in Bangalore, India) and Afif (in Sheffield, England) found that they had to prepare their own Eid meal as most of their friends had returned to Malaysia for the Eid celebrations. I remember my Mum has made the ‘nasi impit’ by cooking the rice in water, 3 to 4 times the volume of the rice. The cooked rice is then packed and wrapped while still hot in banana leaves, and then by the newspaper. The wrapped rice is compressed by placing it under the ‘batu giling’.

Batu Giling-Manual Spice Grinder

 (The latter was a sort of manual spice grinder consisting of a thick bed of oblong or rectangular carved river stone coupled with another stone used as a roller. It is the bigger stone that was placed on the wrapped rice).

During my early days as a student in England, being uncreative then, and trying to emulate my Mum’s method, I had used thick books to compress the cooked rice.

'Ready to Cook Mini Rice Cubes'

When the first ‘ready to make ketupat ‘were sold in the supermarkets, I bought a packet as a sample. I then tried to make my own version by placing the washed rice in a plastic bag and pricking small holes around it. After many trials and discouraging remarks from my husband I got the formula right and am now quite confident in making the plastic wrapped ‘ketupat’. In order to save on cooking gas, I soak the rice after placing in the pricked plastic bags for about 2 to 3 hours prior to cooking. Nowadays I add screw pine (pandan) leaves to give a little aroma to the 'ketupat'.

One has to be careful when using plastics in cooking as the plastics can leach and is said to be carcinogenic; though there are disputes on this. The type of plastic that is recommended is made from polyethylene. A thick version is used as the thinner ones will melt on heating. Other types of plastic which contains nitrates, carbonates, chlorates, styrene, etc are not recommended as they may produce poisonous substances when hot.

There is another way to prepare the ‘nasi impit’. This does not involve cooking in plastic bags. You only need to cook the washed rice in a rice cooker with a lot more water (3 to 4 times the volume of rice).Too little water makes it like normal rice and too much would make porridge out of it. Afif can attest to that!

After the rice is cooked, normally after about 2 hours, it is placed in a square dish and compressed using a spatula. The top is then covered with a thick plastic sheet and the rice is packed in using a clean tea- towel. You can place a heavy object on top and place the rice dish in the refrigerator. When overseas, it is better still if you can find a plastic bag which has an interlocking zipper. You can then place the cooked rice in it, prick the bag to make small holes and zip it; and voila, ‘nasi impit’ is so much easier to make.

You are reminded that it is important that you cool the rice first before you cut it into cubes with a sharp knife. Cutting it while still hot will spoil it and may break it to pieces.

Nasi Impit-Ready to Serve with a Variety of Gravies and Soups.



Nasi impit is served with soto soup, satay and satay sauce (or kuah kacang),kuah lodeh and rendang
See my earlier recipe for soto

See my earlier recipe for  nasi impit and kuah kacang (satay sauce)
See my earlier recipe for sayur lodeh
See my earlier recipe for rendang