Malay wrapped rice cakes or Ketupat

Ingredients:

• Glutinous rice (beras pulut type)
• Daun Palas leaves (which are long leaves from a palm tree of the Licuala species)
• Santan (coconut milk)
• Pinch of salt to taste

Steps:

1. The leaves need to be wiped clean from their hairy husks before you start working on them. Trim the tips and unfold them in a fan-like leaf.

2. Roll each leaf up like you would make a homemade cigarette in order to make it more flexible.

3. Fold each one corner of the daun palas into a cone.

4. After a series of funky twists and turns of the daun palas, you'll get a pile of beautifully woven ketupat shells.

5. Stuff your ketupat up with rice (cooked until halfway done with coconut milk and a pinch of salt).

6. Knot the long end of the ketupat. This secures the ketupat content from spilling out.

7. Don't make your ketupat too big. Bigger ketupats take longer to cook. So make small and medium-sized ketupats, you'll be glad you did.

8. Once you've stuffed all your ketupat shells with the half-cooked rice, heap them all up in a giant pot, after filling the bottom of the pot with few inches of water. The ketupats will take about an hour or two to cook, depending on how many exactly you lumped into your pot.

9. When done, the color of ketupat leaves will turn to a yellowish brown.

10. A well-made ketupat daun palas will turn out nice, firm and chewy. It will also taste flavorful and rich, and will be somewhat oily to the touch. Ketupats are best eaten with beef or chicken rendang.