Lontong

Lontong (Indonesian pronunciation: [ˈlɔn̪t̪ɔŋ]) is an Indonesian dish made of compressed rice cake in the form of a cylinder wrapped inside a banana leaf, commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Rice is rolled inside a banana leaf and boiled, then cut into small cakes as a staple food replacement for steamed rice. The texture is similar to that of ketupat, with the difference being that the ketupat container is made from woven janur (young coconut leaf) fronds, while lontong uses banana leaves instead. It is commonly called nasi himpit (lit. "pressed rice") in Malaysia, despite being created using other methods. Arem-arem also known as lontong isi is a smaller version of lontong and "halal" distant relative of bakcang, filled with vegetables and occasionally meat, eaten as a snack. The dish is usually served hot or at room temperature with peanut sauce-based dishes such as gado-gado, karedok, ketoprak, other traditional salads, and satay. It can be eaten as an accompaniment to coconut milk-based soups, such as lontong sayur, soto, gulai, and curries. It is also used as an alternative to vermicelli noodles. Note that in Malaysia and Singapore, the word lontong is used somewhat differently (to a curry-soup dish with these rice-cakes inside, see below).