KHAO LHAM : Lemang Siam

LEMANG, KHAO LHAM
and everything cooked in bamboo



Khao Lham



FOR me lemang and raya are synonymous.

Mention raya, then I will think of lemang. Its not dodol or ketupat. I guess it has to do with the fact that I was growing up in a paddy field village. Both of my parents are paddy growers, just like the rest of the villagers.

That makes rice as the village’s main produce.

And when it comes to rice, the glutinous rice is of course considered as exclusive. Not only that it fetches higher price, but it is also served for special occasion or turned into kueh for special days.

I remember how my parents used to allocate a special plot for the glutinous rice – and it was a smaller plot, located right at the front of the field entry. Its basically the first plot that you see when you go to the paddy field.

The plot was well taken cared off, I guess more than the other plots. Any irregularities in the water level or crop condition will be immediately noticed and solved.

They also keep a special corner in the kepuk padi, the house specially built to store the paddy.



my mom adding santan
to the lemang



So when Raya comes, my mother would use the glutinous rice for lemang. And man how we always drool over it. The aroma of boiling glutinous rice in thick coconut milk, mixed with the fragrant smell of young banana leaf used to line the inside of the bamboo which its all being cooked in, is enough to shake the strongest of heart – what more on a fasting month. How as a child, we used to lined up near the place where my mother cook the lemang.

How we purposely move closer to have a better view and smell of it. And how she would scold us for getting too close to the fire and heat, then told us that doing so, mencium sebegitu akan mengurangkan pahala puasa. Oh, we didnt care.

The smell was too good to resist. Even the smell of roasting bamboo itself was aromatic. (Honesty, only those who have gone through such experience, while the lemang is being cooked, will know what I mean, and how good the smell is).

Once its cooked, she would put off the fire and leave some amber behind to keep the lemang warm. And the lemang will stay there for few hours until berbuka time. And how we would wait impatiently for the time to sink the piping hot, freshly cooked lemang into our mouth – and that was after not eating throughout the whole day some more.

We didnt care much about rendang or anything else that usually go with it anyway. Well, she usually would prepare the rendang later that night. Sometimes she even waited until we go to bed before she prepared the rendang. Otherwise, we might continue our feast and eat the lemang with her freshly cooked rendang and she might ended up with nothing to serve the lemang with in the morning.

With meat being such a luxury at the time, she couldnt make a whole bunch of rendang for raya. Barely enough for us and guests who come over.

Whats with the lemang?

It may be sound like bragging but those who have tasted her lemang can say that it does not need anything to accompany it. You basically can eat it on its own. She uses a lot of santan, yes we had our own coconut trees so there were plenty of coconuts and santan for her to use. And she only uses the thickest santan – pati santan. Then the seasoning – coarse salt. Seasoned to the right proportion. She also insisted on using the young banana leaf – so when you cut the lemang, it clings to the lemang itself like a saran wrap. Older leaf tend to break and they are less aromatic. Few years ago, we thought it would be too much of a burden for her, at the age of almost reaching 80 then, to make the lemang just to satisfy us. So we decided to buy the lemang and how unanimously we all agreed that it failed to meet our benchmark, although guests who came said it was deli- cious! And we also unanimously, agreed to beg my mom to make the lemang, on the 3^rd day of raya. Well we never try that again. Now she only supervises. We cook.

And oh how I miss my mom’s lemang every time when I had to celebrate raya away from her.

Thats how I love my mom’s lemang.
And another thing, even though no matter how many pieces she makes every time, they just dont 'survive' long enough to enable me to take back and share them with some of my friends. They would usually all gone by the end of first day of Raya itself or at least on the second day.

LEMANG in Thailand

I was really excited when I saw something similar in Thailand. Instead of lemang, their version is called KHAO LHAM.



Adding santan
to the Khao Lham
before cooking



Prepared similarly to the lemang that we have here in Malaysia. With glutinous rice (pulut) and santan stuffed in the bamboo to cook.

The difference is that no banana leaf is used between the bamboo and the rice...and they use coconut husk as a plug at the top portion of the bamboo. They also peel off the outer skin of the bamboo once the lemang is cooked (macam kelamai tepung orang Rawa kat Gopeng pulak). And they are using the same, thicker type of bamboo (the type they use to make meriam out of) as compare to the type of bamboo used for lemang (buluh lemang).



sabut kelapa
(coconut husk) is used
to prevent the santan from
erupting during the cooking
process



To prevent the santan from erupting and spilling out from the bamboo when boiling, they use a ball of coconut husk as a plug.

Manuk pansuh in Sarawak

This is similar to the manuk pansuh, the Sarawak's famous chicken dish cooked in bamboo, but instead of using coconut husk as the plug on top, they use tapioca leaves (daun ubi kayu) as the plug to prevent the santan and juice from coming out from the top. The daun ubi kayu in manuk pansuh can be eaten together with the chicken, making it a complete dish.

To eat the khao lham, you just need to peel off the bambo, just like peeling banana's skin. It is actually thin enough and soft enough that you dont need a knife or parang like we do when we open the lemang.

There is no banana leaf to separate the sticky rice from the bamboo inner skin.



cleaning off the khao Lham's
outer skin



Local people eat that part of the bamboo as well, which tend to stick to the sticky or glutinous rice (and yes thats why the call the rice as such hehe). They also claimed that this part of the bamboo (the thin inner lining) is good for the health. But they couldnt tell why or what its good for.

Once open, the khao lham looks more like steamed sticky rice than the lemang bakar that we are use to. But the taste wasnt bad at all.

Its lemak with mild sweetness to it, infact, very mild in terms of sweetness compare to most of Thai desserts that I have tasted. And since it is sweet, it does not require anything else to accompany it.Definitely not with rendang like our lemang.

They usually eat it on its own, over coffee or tea in the evening or just as a snack while on the road.



Khao Lham: Adding glutinous rice
(with beans)
into the bamboo before
adding in santan



Later on, I saw several varieties of khao lham – just like our lemang. In addition to the plain sticky rice, they also use black glutinous rice. Other varieties include mixing glutinous rice with banana, black beans, corn and sesame seeds. But just like the lemang, I prefer the plain glutinous rice best.

How much does it cost?

In Ban Rong, a village near Phuket where I first tasted the khao lham and witnessed for the first time how it was being prepared, the khao lham was sold at 35baht each or 3 pieces for 100baht. Basically its about RM3.50 each. As comparison, our lemang is usually sold between RM6-RM9 per piece. But this khao lham is also about half the length of our lemang.



Kelamai

Kelamai or Gelamai

If you travel along the old road (federal trunk road towards north from KL) you will also notice another version of lemang. Its called Kelamai or Gelamai. It is a traditional dish of the Rawa ethnic group originated from Sumatera. Many might have seen them being sold on the roadside, especially in Tanjung Malim, Tapah, Kampar and Gopeng area, where the largest population of Rawa ethnic group are found.

But unlike lemang, the kelamai uses glutinous rice flour (instead of the glutinous rice), thick coconut milk and palm sugar which are similar ingredients used in making dodol.

One of the essential ingredients is the tahi minyak, which is actually the coconut residue granules (which is the residue obtained from cooking the coconut milk until it turned into clear, yellowish oil. This tahi minyak is also used to top kueh kole).

The ingredient is then keep aside to ferment for a day or two. The fermentation process will give the batter its volume.

Then it is stuffed into the bamboo, (thoroughly cleaned of course) minus the banana leaf lining (like in the making of lemang).

The kelamai is then placed near open fire (just like lemang) until its cooked. Once its done, the outer part of the bamboo is shaven off, leaving its yellowish inner layer. At some places, they shave off the outer skin prior to cooking the kelamai while those in Tanjung Malim tend to use the thinner bamboo used for lemang. It means the bamboo does not need to be skinned off. Some of the variety also does not include tahi minyak in its ingredients.

The taste?

Its tasted like dried dodol, with the taste of tahi minyak adding the umph. Its also similar to the taste of kek gula hangus, except that its less oily.

The fermentation process also creates air bubles which in the final product, looks like spongy, cheesy-like, kek gula hangus. Oh yes, the colour is also brownish, just like the kek gula hangus.

Lemang in Indonesia

The Indonesian version of the lemang somehow seems to be like a combination of both our Malaysian lemang and Khao Lham. Its cooked in the same way like the way we do it here in Malaysia. It also looks the same. But the taste is a bit sweetish - like Khao Lham. Although some places do eat their lemang with rendang, the Indonesians usually enjoy their lemang on its own - just like the way the Thai people like it.

 

Ah well, its almost Raya again. And how I cant wait to have my mom’s lemang!

Ends