Patricia Hului

Before there were tiffin tins or plastic containers, our ancestors had a more sustainable way of packing their food, especially rice – they used leaves.

Leaves were also used as plates to serve food.

Being a multiracial country, Malaysia is blessed to have variety of food including leaf-wrapped rice.

Some of these leaf-wrapped rice dishes share notable similarities, especially those from East Malaysia.

Here are at least 10 Malaysian leaf-wrapped rice dishes you should know about:

1. Ketupat

Perhaps the most popular type of leaf-wrapped rice in the Malay community is ketupat.

Ketupat is made by filling a woven, diamond-shaped pouch of young palm leaves with rice. It is then boiled until the grains expand and press firmly against the woven casing, giving the ketupat its signature shape.

Commonly served during Hari Raya celebrations, ketupat is a festive staple often enjoyed in place of plain steamed rice.

A similar dish is nasi himpit, which literally means “compressed rice.” Unlike ketupat, nasi himpit is made by compressing cooked rice in a pan or container overnight until it sets into a firm block.

Both ketupat and nasi himpit are typically served alongside rich dishes such as rendang and curry.

2. Zongzi

While the Malay community is known for their ketupat, the Chinese community is famed for zongzi.

In Malaysia, zongzi is often called bakcang or bacang, a term commonly used among the Hokkien. Westerners typically refer to them simply as rice dumplings or sticky rice dumplings.

Zongzi is a glutinous rice dish filled with various ingredients and wrapped tightly in bamboo leaves. It is then cooked either by steaming or boiling.

Although zongzi can be found sold throughout the year, it is traditionally eaten during Duan Wu Jie, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival.

3. Hor Yip Fan

Another leaf-wrapped rice dish from the Chinese community is the hor yip fan or lotus leaf-wrapped rice.

This fragrant and savoury dish commonly makes its appearance during Chinese wedding banquet.

The lotus leaves are usually sold in dried form so they must be boiled until soft before using them.

In order to shorten the cooking time, it is best to partially steam the glutinous rice before cooking them with the filling.

Speaking of the filling, the common ingredients are lap cheong (Chinese sausages), mushroom or char siew.

4. Kelupis/Kolupis

This Malaysian leaf-wrapped rice is known by many names in Sabah and Sarawak but the common name is kelupis.

The glutinous rice is boiled in coconut milk until it is half-cooked before wrapping it in leaves.

It is usually eaten as a snack. Some enjoy it with dried coconut while other have it simply with sugar.

This delicacy is similar to Kayan people’s serupi or pitoh.

5. Serukong

Speaking of the Kayan people, here is another leaf-wrapped rice from this indigenous community of Sarawak called serukong.

To make a serukong, the uncooked glutinous rice is tightly wrapped in a palm leaf in a triangular shape and then the leaf is tied in a knot to secure the rice within.

Then these small triangular-shaped pouches are boiled in water for at least an hour.

It is commonly served during large gatherings such as Christmas celebration, wedding and funeral.

To peel off the leaf, you can untie the knot to unwrap the serukong or make your life easier by cut it in half.

6. Buras

Also known as burasa or burasak, this Malaysian leaf-wrapped rice is quite similar to lontong.

It is basically rice cooked with coconut milk packed inside a banana leaf pouch.

Compare to lontong, buras has a richer, intense flavour derived from coconut milk.

Originally, it is a traditional food of the Bugis and Makassar people of Indonesia.

However, you can still find them the Bugis diaspora in Malaysia especially in eastern Sabah.

It is made by steaming the rice until half-cooked then proceed cooking in coconut milk mixed with daun salam (a type of bay leaf) and salt.

Once the coconut milk is absorbed into the rice, the mixture is wrapped inside banana leaves into pillow-like shapes.

The wrappings are then secured using strings. Traditionally, strings made from banana leaf fibre are used.

Today, raffia string is used instead.

These rice wrappings are them steamed until they are cooked.

The common accompaniment for buras is serundeng, a type of condiment made from grated coconut.

7. Linopot

In the olden days, instead of using containers, the Kadazandusun people would bring rice wrapped in typically tarap leaves for their ration while working in the farm.

Today, you can find this Sabahan traditional cuisine during festival or wedding.

This traditional way of ‘tapau’ is the best way of green living because the wrapping is 100 per cent biodegradable.

The equivalent of a linopot from the Sarawak Bidayuh community is songkoi tungkus.

8. Nuba Laya

From the highlands of Borneo, we have a Malaysian leaf-wrapped riced called nuba laya.

It is made by cooking and mashing the rice into a soft consistency, almost like mashed potato.

Then it is wrapped using leaves scientifically known as Phacelophrynium maximum plant.

The Lun Bawang and Kelabit peoples usually enjoy it with other traditional dishes such as beef cooked with wild ginger and dried chilli and shredded fish.

This rice dish is almost similar to Kayan’s kanen amo.

9. Sinamazan

Here is another Malaysian leaf-wrapped rice from Sabah.

Sinamazan is a traditional food from the Kadazan Dusun community specifically the Dusun Puawang from Kota Marudu.

It is made from rice, sweet potatoes and wrapped using a type of leaves locally known as wongian leaves.

To prepare sinamazan, cook rice and sweet potatoes together before mashing them together.

Then, wrap the mixture using wongian leaves.

10. Tinapung

Instead of sweet potato, tinapung uses banana to make.

Soak white rice in water until it expands and drain it.

And then mash the rice into a flour-like texture before mixing it together with mashed bananas.

This mixture is then wrapped using irik leaves and then steamed to cook.

Tinapung is a traditional food of the Dusun Tatana community in Sabah.

Do you know any other Malaysian leaf-wrapped rice? Let us know in the comment box.