More Nonya Goodies

Seems like I've been admiring a lot of other peoples nonya cooking but have yet to venture into the depths of this culinary landscape myself... I was simple browsing Lily's website and came across her recipe for Rempah Udang. I thought I test out this recipe (but also vary it a little, because I enjoy the intense flavour of belachan). So here goes...

Rempah Udang

Ingredients For Rice:

- 3 cups of glutinous rice, soaked overnight and drained

- 300mL of coconut milk

- 2 tbsp sugar

- 2 tsp salt (or more, to taste)

Ingredients for Shrimp Filling:

- 1 large onion (or use shallots if you wish)

- 3 cloves of garlic

- 1 lemon grass stalk

- 1 tbsp oil

- 1 cup of cooked frozen shrimp, thawed and chopped into fine pieces

- 2 tsp tumeric

- 2 tsp coriander

- salt to taste

- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut

- 2 tbsp belachan paste

For Assembly:

- Banana leaves (7" by 5", washed and greased)

- Wooden skewers (for easier assembly use staples)

Method:

1. Steam the glutinous rice for 10 minutes, or until cooked.

2. Add in coconut milk, sugar and salt. Mix until well combined, steam for another 15 minutes. When done, set aside for assembly.

3. Meanwhile, dry-toast the desiccated coconut in a frying pan over medium heat, until the coconut looks light brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Place onion, lemongrass and garlic in a food processor (or manually grind) until it forms a fine paste. Add in tumeric and coriander.

5. Heat oil in at frying pan, add your fine paste and fry over medium heat until aromatic. Add in the chopped shrimp and salt to taste.

6. Continue frying until the mixture dries up; then add in the toasted coconut. Add in the belachan paste and mix well. Remove from heat and prepare for assembly.

7. Take a banana leaf and spoon rice onto one end. Make a crater in the middle and fill it with the shrimp filling. Cover the crater with more rice and tightly roll up the leaf. Secure the leaf with skewer or stapler and prepare the rest of them in the same fashion.

8. Grill Rempah Udang for about 3 minutes, serve hot.

My parents loved it, but my sisters on the other hand would not touch them. Jacqeuline doesn't like shrimp and Janessa is allergic (*sniff*). So I used some of my leftover glutinous rice to make them some pulut inti. I'm always thinking :) I'll post my recipe for that later, it's so simple but soo delicious!