Lopes Mak Cik Gah
I felt like a little girl who got a whole bunch of balloons when Makcik Gah stayed for a whole day to teach me 'warisan' dishes.
I felt like a little girl who got a whole bunch of balloons when Makcik Gah stayed for a whole day to teach me 'warisan' dishes. I really loved cooking this Lopes with her from scratch. I guarantee it tastes heaps nicer that the bought ones. Mum said, "A person of Makcik Gah's knowledge of the true traditional authentic food are rare & few. Treasure her."...and I did. I appreciated every second I spent with her & everything she shared with me. I pray for her good health & long life...~
Ingredients
- Ingredients~1/2 kg glutinous rice, washed
- of water2 cups
- air chang/air abu 35 pieces of banana leaves cut into 5"x10" rectangle sizes, wilted briefly over flame7 rafia strings cut into 2'5" lengths1 tsp
Instructions
- 1.
Pour the water over the glutinous rice.
- 2.
Sprinkle with air chang evenly over the rice.
- 3.
Mix it in well until the air chang dilutes.
- 4.
Put the rice aside & allow it to rest for about 15 minutes or until the rice bloats a little & turns slightly yellowish due to the air chang mixture.
- 5.
Pour the rice in a pot & heat it on medium fire.Cook & keep stirring for about 10-12 minutes until all the liquid evaporates.
- 6.
The rice should still have the crunch, when eaten at this stage.
- 7.
Transfer it in a bowl.
- 8.
Roll the banana leaf into a cone, shiny side out.
- 9.
Fill it in with 2 heaped tablespoons of rice.
- 10.
Press tightly until the rice is snug.
- 11.
Flatten the cone to now look like a triangle.
- 12.
Flap the final opened side over, to complete the triangle & seal in the rice.Arrange the filled triangle in stacks of three, with all the corners not in alignment.
- 13.
Tie the stack of three triangles with one rafia string at each corner of the triangle.
- 14.
This will keep the triangles tightly together when boiling it.When all the triangles have been tied up into 7 batches, place it in boiling water.
- 15.
Make sure the Lopes are submerged below the boiling water.
- 16.
Cover the lid.Boil on medium heat for an hour.
- 17.
Remove the Lopes form the water and place in onto a strainer.
- 18.
Allow it to cool.When ready to consume, peel off the banana leaf, coat the Lopes with Grated Coconut & drizzle generously with Palm Syrup.Ingredients for Palm Sugar Syrup:~ 1 cup chopped palm sugar1/2 c coarse sugar2 cups of water2 pandan leaves, knotted 1 tsp sago flour diluted in 1/4 water~Method~ Put the palm sugar, coarse sugar, water & pandan leaves in a pot.Boil on medium heat.After about 10 minutes, pour the sago mixture gradually over the palm sugar syrup.When it thickens, put aside until ready to serve with the Lopes.
- 19.
Ingredients for Grated Coconut:~ 1 whole grated coconut (white only)1 tsp salt~Method~ Steam the grated coconut over boiling water for about 8 minutes.Remove from steamer & immediately sprinkle with salt.Toss it around until the salt combines.Sprinkle over the lopes when ready to eat.