By Tabrani Yunis
May be some steemians who live in Aceh or were born and grown up in Aceh are familiar with lemang. May be some of you have also enjoyed eating lemang. Lemang is a kind of traditional food for some communities or areas in Aceh, such as people who live in the west coastal area in Aceh. People who are from South Aceh, South west Aceh, or even from West Aceh lemang is not a strange food. They often cook lemang when the holiday is coming, such as before Idul Fitri or hari raya, and before and after Idul Adha. They serve lemang in those holidays for welcoming the guests who come to visit their family, friends or relatives. Even sometimes, out of the holidays, some people sell lemang in the market in Banda Aceh. Usually lemang which sold in the market, do not use the lemang bamboos, but other bamboos which are bigger than the lemang bamboos.
the photos taken from Google
What are the ingredient of lemang?
The ingredient of lemang is not complicated, it is very simple, because only sticky red rice, coconut milk, onions, and a little salt. If you want to cook lemang, you need a special bamboo and young banana leaf. After you have all these ingredients, take the sticky red rice and coconut milk are mixed and lets the coconut milk absorb in the rice for several minutes, then pour a little salt and onion in it. Take the lemang bamboos, put the banana leaf around inside the bamboo. Then you can cook it by baking it with charcoal or firewood or the nuts of coconuts. Lean the bamboos on the back sides of the lemang bamboo until well cooked. It takes time, it can be more than 30 minutes. Therefore, When you cook it, it is not the same as cooking in the rice cooker, but the bamboo which about 50 cms long. When the lemang is well cooked, you can cut and serve it with coffee or tea
Lemang is not only popular in some districts in Aceh, but it is also very popular in west Sumatera, such as in Padang or in other districts there. Do you want to try it? Just come to Aceh and find it when the Ied Mubarak holiday is celebrated.