Lemper

Man! Did I learn my lesson. Never underestimate sushi cooks! Why do you think the have such a long aprenticeship?! But I'm proud. I never made anything like this before. HA!

I did my first “Lempers” this weekend. You're surely wondering what lempers are. They're like big sushi rolls with a mildly spiced chicken filling. In the meatime, Orangex was preparing another batch of Risolles for the weekend. And they (Lemper and Risolles) are now resting in the freezer until next weekend. We invited a few friends for a “Taste of Indonesia” this coming Saturday. As you may know, OrangeX’s parents were both born in Indonesia, but decided to move to Holland in the 50’s, when they were given the choice to either give up the Dutch nationality or become part of the independant Indonesia (read more here).

To make it short, here are basic the ingredients (may differ slightly depending on the region)

500 gr. Ketan (sticky rice)
200 gr. Chicken breast, boiled and shredded
1 large Onion
4 cloves Garlic
1 stalk Lemon grass
1 Tsp. Trassi (shimp paste) finely chopped
2 Tsp. Turmeric (Curcuma, ground)
2 Tsp. Cumin (Ground)
2 Tsp. Coriander (Ground)
250 ml. Coconut milk
2 Tbl. Oil
Sugar to taste
Eventually salt
A BIG bowl a water (for your hands) AND a sushi mat (buy one, you won't be sorry!)

Boil the sticky rice (sushi rice) with double the amount of water. Let it cool slightly and then steam for another 10-15 minutes until the rice is soft inside (this is not a risotto) and leave to cool.



Boil the chicken in some lightly salted water. Set aside. Finely chop onions, garlic and lemon grass. Heat oil in a wok and fry onion, garlic and lemon grass mixture.

Once slightly browned, add shredded chicken and other spices. Keep frying for a further 3 -5 minutes then add the coconut milk and reduce until the mixture is almost dry again. Leave to cool.
NOTE: Not all coconut milks have the same sweetness. You may have to add a bit of salt and/or sugar. Just try and adjust. I should have a slight sweet taste.

It should look a bit like this.


Make sure to have enough working space and lay your sushi mat on a wooden cutting board (easier to cut the platic Saran wrap to size). Pull a sheet of plastic foil over mat and cut to size of the mat. Soak BOTH hands in water, take a handfull of cooled sticky rice (by then you’ll know why it earned that name... if you haven’t dipped your hands in water first, that is!), form a tight ball and spread approx. 12x8x1cm rectangle on a sheet of plastic wrap.



Then add approx. 1 tablespoon of chicken filling in the middle of the rectangle and bring both ends of the suhi mat together until the rice covers the filling and press slightly.


Now you gotta roll the sushi mat until the filling is covered wtih rice. Push in the ends (you still have plastic wrap in there, yes? Good.) and fold the sides of the Saran inwards and roll again tightly towards you. Then roll the Saran tightly to close and put aside. This is what it should look like.

Okay, once again, Mr. Blogger will not let me post more pictures, but you can find the whole procedure to follow here. Sorry about that. I added captions to the picts, so that you know what I'm doing.

Repeat until you’re done with the rice and the filling. Rinse your hands every time you take new rice. You might screw up the first 2-3 lempers (like I did), but you’ll get the feel and hang of it.

You can now either freeze them for later use (like we did) and/or steam them (in the Saran wrap) and serve hot or lukewarm just like that or with a sweet chilli sauce. If you like a decorative touch, take them out of the Saran and roll in clean banana leaves to steam.

This Friday, I took the day off (hey, no holidays, so I've gotta take some days off. :) to help OrangeX with the starters: Pangsit (fried Wonton). Read about it this weekend.

Bon appétit!