Lontong

Lontong is one of several traditional ways of making rice - the main cereal crop of Southeast Asia - in a large part of the Malay Archipelago and the Malacca Peninsula . It was especially popular in Indonesia, where it is one of the most popular national dishes. The name " longing " is common to Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and most parts of Indonesia, although the latter also has several local names for this dish. So, among the Sundanians , who make up the main population of West Java , it is known as “ flies ” ( Sund . Leupeut ). A distinctive feature of the Sundanese fly is its relatively small length ^[1] .

Lontong owes its origin to the need for harvesting boiled rice for future use - a dense wrapper of banana leaves ensures a sufficiently long shelf life of the product. In addition, the compact and practical form of the convolution facilitates its transportation - due to this, the lontong historically served as one of the main foodstuffs of peasants working in the field away from home, lumberjacks, fishermen and travelers ^[1] .

From a culinary point of view, lontong is a very simple dish. Rice, preferably sticky varieties , is cooked until almost cooked, then divided into portions with a volume of about 100-200 ml . Of these, oblong sausages are formed 3-5 cm thick and usually 15 to 30 cm long, which are tightly wrapped with fresh banana leaves. Traditionally, palm fibers were used to secure the wrapper, however, natural or synthetic threads , as well as toothpicks and paper clips , are now widely used ^{[2] [3] [4]} . In addition, in the second half of the 20th century, along with the traditional method, the practice of cooking lontong in special perforated cylindrical- shaped containers, metal or plastic , where rice sausages wrapped in banana leaves were placed, began to be practiced. Containers allow for a more even shape and standard size of ready-made longtongs ^{[3] [4]} .

Parcels - in containers or without them - are placed in a pot of water and simmer for 2.5 to 4 hours. Boiling water is added as needed. After cooking, the lontongs are removed from the pan and cooled. In finished form, they can be stored for a long time. The shell of the leaves is removed from the product immediately before eating. Rice sausage is very dense and tight. Its outer layer usually acquires a light green or yellowish tint due to prolonged contact with banana leaves in boiling water ^{[3] [4] [5]} .

In some regions, cooking lontongs is practiced not only from rice, but also from other cereals , in particular, from corn - such a lontong is popular in Central Java ^[6] . In this case, the corn grains are pre-soaked for several hours. Sometimes, when cooking corn lontongs, sugar is added to the water, due to which the finished product acquires a sweetish taste ^[7] .

Lontong should be distinguished from a similar cooking technology - ketupata , also widely distributed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Ketupat, unlike lontong, is not an oblong, but a rectangular rice briquette, wrapped before cooking not with whole banana leaves, but with a braid of narrow stripes of palm leaf. In addition, in the case of ketupate, rice is braided in rice, not cooked until half-cooked, but only previously soaked ^{[2] [8]} . The lontong is even more different from lemang - a dish popular on the Malacca Peninsula, Sumatra and Kalimantan , in which rice is also wrapped in banana leaves, but cooked over an open fire in hollow bamboo trunks, inside which coconut milk is poured ^[9] .

Lontong is an everyday everyday meal. This is another difference from ketupat, which plays a special role in ceremonial meals, in particular, dedicated to the Muslim festival of Uraza Bairam , referred to in the region as Idul Fitri , Idilfitri ( indon. Idul Fitri , Malay. Aidilfitri ) ^[10] .

Lontong is often eaten on its own, dipping it in soy , peanut or pepper sauce . However, more often it is served with many traditional dishes and at the same time plays practically the same role as a side dish , bread or dumplings in European cuisine: they seize the main dish or soak sauces and gravy . The lontongs are especially popular in combination with satay miniature barbecue made from various types of meat and offal ^{[3] [11]} .

No less common is the use of Lontong as an integral part of various more complex dishes. In this case, it is cut into rings and mixed with the rest of the ingredients ^{[3] [11]} . It is characteristic that quite often a dish prepared using sliced ​​lontong is also called "lontong". In this case, as a rule, the title indicates the main additional ingredients - for example, " vegetable lontong" or "lontong with chicken and onions ." It is widely practiced to mix chopped dolphin with a support - a thick soup based on coconut milk : a similar dish is called "lontong-support". Some types of lontong, considered to be specialties of certain localities or nationalities, have gained national popularity under the corresponding names - for example, lontong Pobanjarski (with boiled pulp of breadfruit ), lontong Pandungi (with spicy curry sauce). Sometimes a local version of a dish is assigned a name that is not derived from the name of the region, but is strongly associated with it. So, as a specialty of Surabaya in Indonesia, lontong balap ( indonese . Lontong balap , literally “ lontong race ”) with the addition of fried tofu and seedlings of various edible plants is widely known ^{[12] [13] [14]} . A peculiar lontong was spread among the peranakans - a special ethnic group of Indonesian Chinese who were largely assimilated with the indigenous local population - “ lontong chap-go-me ” ( indon. Lontong cap go meh ). The composition of this dish, traditionally served at the table on the festival of lanterns , includes chicken and vegetables stewed in coconut milk , as well as a centenary egg ^[15] .

Along with this, it is popular to use sliced ​​lontong in a dish such as gado-gado - a kind of vegetable salad , as well as in various soups and cereals . In the latter, slices of lontong turn into a kind of dumpling ^[16] .

• 1010 Resep Asli Masakan Indonesia. - Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2008 .-- 548 p. - ISBN 978-979-22-3752-8 .
• Ho Khai Leong. Connecting and Distancing Southeast Asia and China. - Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2009 .-- 265 p. - ISBN 978-981-230-856-6 .
• Djoko Wibisono, David Wong, Luca Invernizzi. The Food of Singapore: Authentic Recipes from the Manhattan of the East. - Singapore: Periplus World Cookbooks, 2001 .-- 120 p. - ISBN 978-962-59-3007-7 .
• Chia, Philip. Peranakan Heritage Cooking. - Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International, 2012 .-- 184 p. - ISBN 978-981-43-4647-4 .
• Wahyuni ​​Mulyawati, Ilse Harahap. Lontong & Ketupat. - Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2008 .-- 117 p. - ISBN 978-979-22-3865-5 .