KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — It's time for lemang.
Traditionally, lemang or glutinous rice cooked in a bamboo cylinder is eaten on the first day of Raya with rendang or serunding.
Nowadays it's a muhibbah affair as even non-Muslims queue up for their lemang and rendang fix.
In some neighbourhoods, you will see stalls popping up along the roadside just before Raya starts. Usually they will camp there for a few nights to bakar the lemang on site. One popular spot is Taman Tun Dr Ismail where people flock to get these traditional eats for Hari Raya.
While it's easy to grab your lemang at the last minute, some places require pre-booking ahead so some planning is required.
Here are three lemang sellers we like; their offerings will make your Hari Raya spectacularly delicious:
Lemang Daun Lerek Greenwood
This super popular lemang stall is open throughout the year but business is brisk during Ramadan and Hari Raya.
A visit to their premises yields a lot of photo opportunities as you can see how the lemang is prepared.
Even their owner has garnered a following recently for looking like Mario from the iconic computer game Super Mario Bros!
What's unique here is that they don't use the traditional banana leaf but daun lerek. The leaf is essential as it prevents the glutinous rice from sticking to the bamboo cylinder.
With the long leaf that comes with a sturdy stem, the struggle to crack the bamboo cylinder and extract the lemang is gone. Instead, all you need to do is pull the leaf's stem. So easy!
If you observe their cooking process, they mix the santan with the glutinous rice in a large pot. In terms of ratios, the santan used looks a lot more than at other lemang places, hence it yields a softer, creamier tasting rice.
You even get cooked santan that has turned into curds on the leaf. My friends fight for the ultra creamy cooked santan at the end of the lemang!
They burn the bamboo cylinders in two rows surrounding the charcoal fire, which needs constant care to ensure it doesn't go off.
Once the lemang is ready, they remove the bamboo cylinder from the fire and give it a little tap.
During Ramadan, pulut hitam and pulut kuning is available on weekends. It's well worth waiting to get your lemang then as the pulut hitam is superb. It's like eating a dry version of bubur pulut hitam!
You get the rich santan and soft black glutinous rice grains mingling together that makes this so tasty just on its own.
The choices on what to pair your lemang with is mind boggling. You also can get traditional ketupat and ketupat daun palas here.
There's all kinds of serunding (RM12 for 100 grams), apparently brought in from Terengganu on a daily basis, together with dodol.
You have two choices of rendang too, one with more gravy so it's mildly spicy. The rendang basah is RM10 for the beef and RM6 for the chicken that is just one piece. The drier version packs a spicier kick.
They also cook various Negeri Sembilan dishes like dendeng, daging kering pucuk ubi, ayam dara pucuk ubi, burung puyuh (quails) and duck. Prices start from RM9 and go up to RM25 for the dendeng.
The lemang is available on a first come, first served basis during Hari Raya. For the Hari Raya week, delivery will be suspended and only resume one week later.
The prices for the lemang starts from RM18 for the small one and goes up to RM22 for the large one. The pulut hitam is an extra RM2.
Main Road at Taman Greenwood (Opposite Al-Shariff Mosque), Kampung Tengah Lembah Gombak, Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur. During Ramadan and Syawal months, they are open from 8am to 9pm. Facebook: @LemangDaunLerekGreenwood Instagram: @lemangdaunlerek
Lemang Station Oven Tok Mat Cemara
Innovation is what makes this lemang a stand-out. From the way it's cooked, the unique flavours and their unique three-in-one lemang.
Bucking the trend of using a charcoal fire, Tok Mat uses a special oven he designed to slow cook the lemang.
The design makes sense as it doesn't take so much space. As he trades from his home at Sri Cemara Flat in Bandar Sri Damansara, space is already limited for a charcoal fire set-up.
Most importantly, it's not exposed to unpredictable weather like rain that can affect the cooking time. He switched over to this method back in 2019.
Using customised sturdy steel containers, he slowly cooks the lemang using a gas fire. Each container has a rack that can hold up to 30 pieces of lemang.
He offers four flavours for his lemang where he uses pulut susu. There's the standard version, black glutinous rice, corn and a unique chocolate version.
If you're adventurous but not keen to order four pieces of lemang to try all the flavours, you can go for his Lemang 3 Rasa, where it's chocolate, jagung and pulut hitam.
It gives a fun aspect to the whole eating experience. You get the corn niblets mixed with pulut for a slight sweet taste, while the pulut hitam version has a nutty texture with the black grains.
I was initially sceptical about the chocolate version but I really enjoyed it as it was creamy with that alluring sweet and salty combination. All of the lemang was soft and tasty too.
Pair it with their home-cooked rendang by Tok Mat's wife. It's traditional Negeri Sembilan rendang that is incredibly fragrant, creamy and so spicy that it'll knock your socks off.
For the Hari Raya celebrations, he will be making 300 pieces of lemang only by order. He closes his orders three days before Hari Raya, so it's first come, first served. After the Hari Raya celebrations, the lemang will be available for the whole month of Syawal. Pre-order at least one day ahead.
Prices for the lemang start from RM18 for the medium-sized pulut biasa, RM20 for the medium-sized pulut hitam and RM22 for the jagung or chocolate. For the medium-sized Lemang 3 Rasa, that is RM22. He also has large and extra large sizes too. The extra large lemang prices range from RM22 to RM26, depending on the flavour.
For the rendang, this is sold in 350 grams portions, where the chicken or beef is RM10 each. The full price list is on their Facebook page.
If you wish to get durian, Tok Mat also sells the fruit by order.
Block B, Sri Cemara Flat, Jalan Mahogani SD 1/7a, Bandar Sri Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. You can WhatsApp 012-6977637 to place orders and get directions to the location. Facebook: @Durian-Cemara/100057245387978/?locale=ms_MY
Lemang Bonda Subang
This popular place traces its origins to the 1950s, according to their founder Normala Said in an interview with YouTube channel Destinasi TV. She recalls how it was just a main-main business that they sold at the roadside. As word got around they became a big business expanding to also include selling nasi lemak every day.
Their peak season starts from Hari Raya eve as they will make lemang non-stop for the festivities. Apparently bookings for lemang for April 20 and 21 closed on April 10. However, they will still accommodate walk-in customers. During this busy time, they will not be entertaining WhatsApp orders.
They sell lemang biasa, jagung and pulut hitam too.
From the video that depicted the cooking process, they mix the glutinous rice with coconut milk first. The liquid is sieved out and they spoon the rice into the banana leaf-lined bamboo cylinders. A gap is left in the tube and they will pour santan inside just before they cook the lemang. According to Normala, it takes them about 10 hours to cook the lemang.
Here, the bamboo cylinders are placed in one row fronting a wood fire that is kept burning throughout.
What's nice is it's a family affair with everyone chipping in to cook up batches of rendang and serunding. During my visit, I only managed to score their own-made serunding for RM11. They also offer out-sourced serunding.
The lemang here has a nice chewy texture with a slight crispy edge, making it a delicious combination with the flavourful serunding. Usually my preference is beef serunding as the flavours are more pronounced but this chicken serunding was pretty tasty too. Maybe just a shade less fragrant.
Prices for the lemang start from RM12 for the small size. Bigger sizes have prices that range from RM14 to RM18. It's RM2 extra for the jagung and pulut hitam varieties.
You may feel it's far to visit this place but with the DASH highway, it's a breeze to get here.
Lot 3674, Jalan Bukit Badak, Kg Melayu Subang, Shah Alam. Open daily during Ramadan and Syawal months from 9am to 10pm. Tel:019-6959429 or 017-2376156. Facebook: @lemangbondaemmapaat
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