Buras (a steamed, stuffed rice dish)

This is kind of stuffed Lontong, but for this you cannot use boil-in-the-bag rice. Make the filling first, using the following ingredients. The quantities given are enough to provide filling for 1 cup of rice, measured raw.

Buras

2 shallots

1 medium-sized potato

2 carrots

a slice of cold lamb, beef, or pork (optional)

a pinch of chilli powder (more, if you want it hot)

2 tsp dark soya sauce

1 tsp tomato ketchup

1 tbs vegetable oil

Slice the shallots. Peel and cut the carrots and potato into very small cubes. Cut up the meet, if you are using any. Saute all these in the oil for about a minute, then add all the other ingredients and mix well; add 1/2 a cupful of water and cover for 3 minutes. Then take off the lid and continue cooking until there is no more liquid in the pan. Add salt if necessary.

Now Prepare the rice as for Nasi Putih, but to cup of rice add 1 cup of water and 1 1/2 cups santen (coconut milk). Put in also a little salt - about 1/4 teaspoonful. Simmer until all the liquid has been absorbed, in the usual way. The rice, of course, will be softer and damper than Nasi Putih would be at this stage.

Next, if you have banana leaf squares, put a dollop of rice on each one, pat it flat, put on a little of the filling, and roll it all up inside the leaf. Fold over the ends of the leaf to seal it up, and put the filled packages into a rice steamer.

If you have no banana leaves, however, simply put a layer of rice on the bottom of a pudding basin and then a layer of filling. Go on with alternate layers of rice and filling, finishing with rice. Either put the basin into the basket of your rice steamer, or tie a cloth over the basin and stream it in a saucepan as you would a pudding. Streaming time will be 30-40 minutes, whichever method you use. Leave to cool for at least 30 minutes.

Buras can be eaten warm. or may be left until cold. It will keep for 24 hours, but no longer.