Page 208 - The Guide To Sarawak

206 THE FLAVOURS OF SARAWAK
Lemang, glutinous rice cooked with coconut milk in a bamboo tube, is popular throughout the year but
a must-serve for Sarawak’s Malays during Hari Raya festivities.
Rice in All its Infinite Variety
Many traditional rice varieties extinct elsewhere in Asia can still be found in Sarawak – because
of our rugged natural terrain, many areas were spared the new seeds
and fertilizer tech of the ‘Green Revolution’ of the 1970’s. Thus there are more than 100 varieties of grain sizes, shapes and colours available throughout the
State. Rice is the staple food for all communities, usually steamed (plain or together with other ingredients such as coconut milk), but also fried, or wrapped in bamboo or pandan (screwpine) leaves. Local varieties can be found in native markets in all major towns and also in rural kampungs. The
most prized by gourmands is the delicate and fragrant Bario rice from the Kelabit Highlands.
Whereas the Malays use bamboo leaves as moulds for a variety of sweet rice cakes and dumplings.
The Orang-Ulu peoples wrap steamed rice in bamboo or pandanus leaves (packed, left and opened, centre) as a handy packed lunch when travelling or working in the fields.
Nasi Lemak, a traditional Malay meal of rice cooked in coconut milk with sliced cucumber, egg, peanuts, anchovies and spicy sambal.
The traditional accompaniments for satay; ketupat (diced glutinous rice steamed in palm leaves), spicy peanut sauce, cucumber and sambal belacan.