Nasi Tumpang

Introduction of Nasi tumpang from Kelantan, Malaysia

I’m very appreciate to Miss Shema Aulia for kindly sharing her Nasi tunmpang recipe. Nasi tumpang which we also called it as Conical Packet Rice. Why people called it as “Conical Packet Rice”? This is because its figure is a cone-shaped rice dish and wrapped by banana leaf so that people translate Malay name to English name as “Conical Packet Rice”. Once, it is very famous kelantanese cuisine during the ancient times. Therefore, its cooking techniques and recipe is rarely transmitted until now. As below, the recipe of Nasi tumpang from Miss Shema Aulia is showing.

Nasi Tumpang

What you'll need:

3 pots of rice

4 pots water

Banana leaf

Meat floss

Shrimp Curry

-600g prawns

-2 medium onions

-4 medium tomatoes

-4 cloves

-2 tablespoon ginger & garlic paste

-1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

--1 teaspoon red chilli powder
-Cooking oil

Turmeric Powder: Turmeric powder is a bright yellow powder made by dry grinding of mature turmeric rhizomes (underground stems). The use of turmeric for coloring and flavoring food, for cosmetic purposes and for medicinal properties dates back to the ancient Vedic culture of India.

Instructions:

Banana Cones

 Prepare about 7 to 8 banana leaf cones. 

Cut them into six-inch squares, roll each into a cone, and fasten at the seam with a bamboo skewer.

Soft Rice

Boil the rice to 'overcooked'. Make sure it became a bit soft so that you can compressed it easily inside the banana leaf cone. 

Shrimp Curry

 1) Wash all the shrimps. You do not need to remove the shell, just cut the head. 

2)  Peel and finely dice 2 onions, then 4 tomatoes.
3) Start frying. Put a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add 3 tablespoon of cooking oil. Fry for about 30 seconds, stirring continually.
4) Now add 2 tablespoon of ginger and garlic paste. Stir well for a couple of minutes.
5) Add the spices: 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder. Fry for 5 minutes over a low heat, stirring frequently.
6) Add a cup of water and keep stirring until the water is absorbed. Turn the heat down, put the lid on, and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the oil separates from the dish and rises to the top.
7) Turn the heat back up to high and add the prawns to the pan. Then stir in 2 generous pinches of salt.
8) Add approximately 200 ml of warm water to the pan. Stir. Then put the lid on and bring the heat down. Leave for about 10 minutes or until the prawns are cooked. Check occasionally. The prawns are done when they turn pink and opaque. When they are ready, turn the heat off.


Nasi Tumpang:

So now that all your main ingredients are ready, we can start filling the banana leaf cone with the soft rice, meat floss and shrimp.

Each layers are stacked tightly and eventually the gravy from the shrimp curry will flow through the banana cones while the rice kernels still firm and stayed in shaped. 

The insider of Nasi tumpang

Introduction of Nasi tumpang from Indonesia

In Indonesia, Nasi tumpang is called by another name which is Nasi tumpeng or Nasi kuning. Nasi tumpeng is related to the geographical condition of Indonesia, especially Java as fertile island with numerous mountains and volcanos. Even though the shape of dishes is quite similar but there are some differences between each other. First of all, let’s look for the different recipe of Nasi tumpang from Indonesia website.

Indonesia style of Nasi tumpang

Ingredients:

2 (5 cm) of fresh turmeric, peeled and sliced ​​2 teaspoons ground turmeric or
¼ cup (60 ml) of water
1 ½ cups (300 g) of uncooked rice, washed and drained
1 ½ cups (375 grams), thin coconut milk
Chicken broth ½ cup (125 ml) and ¼ c. teaspoon chicken bouillon granules dissolved in ½ cup (125 ml) hot water
1 Salam, or pandanus leaves
1 stalk lemongrass, thick bottom third only, outer layers discarded, inner part bruised

1 (2 ½ cm) fresh galangal, peeled and sliced
1 teaspoon salt

Turmeric Root

Turmeric plant: Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native in southeast India, and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive.

Pandanus leaves: we also call it as “pandan”.

Galangal: Galangal is a rhizome of plants in the ginger family Zingiberaceae, with culinary and medicinal uses originating in Indonesia.

The plant of Galangal

Accompaniment

Fresh slices of cucumber and tomato

Part of TRASI Sambal ((see our Pickles, sambals and sauces)

A game of chicken on the grill (see our poultry dishes)

Sambal goreng tempe 1 serving (see our vegetable dishes)

1 egg sauce fragrant Lemongrass party (see our egg dishes)

Emping (Melinjo wafers nuts)

(Before cooking)

(After frying)

Tempe: Tempe is part of Malay cuisine in Malaysia. Often sold in most food outlets as an alternative source of protein and most of the time served deep fried.

Cooking Directions:

Prepare dishes according to the respective recipes

Grind turmeric and water up to the end of Malta. Strain through a sieve to extract all the juice. Discard the solids. If you use turmeric in March, powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

Combine rice, juice, turmeric, coconut milk, chicken broth, or pandanus leaf, lemongrass, galangal and salt in a saucepan and bring to high heat a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed, 10 to 15 minutes, then reduce heat to low and cook for 5-10 minutes, until rice is dry and fluffy. Remove from heat and mix well. Otherwise, cook the rice and ingredients in the bowl of Arica.

Salam throw or pandanus leaves, lemongrass and galangal. Press the cooked rice and turmeric Acone the form, if desired. Serve the cooked rice with accessories on the side.

Ingredients Culture Difference

According to the picture above, as known as Kelantan’s rice is white colour but Indonesia’s rice is yellow colour. Based on the history, Malaysian always import some spices from Indonesia during early stage. In contrast, Indonesia is a spices island since long time ago so Indonesians prefer seasoning their dishes with traditional spices. It is fairly obvious that Malaysia culture seasoning cuisine with spices is not more deep influence than Indonesia. Thus, Indonesian like using turmeric roots to increase the colour of rice as recipe above. In addition, Indonesian always use coconut milk to cook rice but Malaysian don’t. As a result that, Thailand is a largest coconut export country in the world. Indonesia cuisine had strongly been impacted by Thailand culture which always use coconut milk in dishes. In another view, Indonesian use coconut milk and pandanus leaf to replace the taste and aroma of Nasi tumpang because they didn’t use banana leaf on Nasi tumpeng likes Malaysia type of Nasi tumpang.

Regional History Difference

Nasi tumpang is a main grain for Kelantan’s fishermen and farmers. Due to busy on work, their wives always pack the rice together with leftover dishes and wrap it with banana leaf for their husbands who are busy on work as well as doesn’t back home till late. In contrary, Indonesian usually make Nasi tumpeng to celebrate important event. Nasi tumpeng dated back to ancient Indonesian tradition that revered mountains as the abode of ancestors and gods. The feast served as some kind of thanks giving for the abundance of harvest or any other blessings. In the gratitude ceremony, after the people pray, the top of Nasi tumpeng is cut and delivered to the most important person. Hence, their name are derived from different history.

Finally, I welcome everyone to kindly share the information or write some comments about this food. Thank you for view it!