Ketupat Daun Palas

This is my post for the coming Idul Fitri. This post will also serve to satisfy the craving for ketupat daun palas (palm leaves rice cake) by my brother Pakpayne who is so lucky (or unlucky) to be working in faraway land where the sands of the desert is more abundant than the green grasses and leaves back home in Malaysia. He had been salivating since I mentioned to him that I will be making ketupat daun palas(lets just call it ketupat) this coming Raya. Making not buying as I usually did. He wanted it so much saying that ketupat is his favourite and ordered some to be sent to him before Raya.
It's a no mean feat as this is the first time in my life I am doing this one delicacy that the rural Kelantanese must have on their table when it is time to celebrate Hari Raya. I was thinking of making the specialty from 2 kg gluttinous rice and my elder sister told me I could make 40 pieces of KDP and she wants half of it because she couldn't place any order for it and she doesn't know how to do herself. I doubt that I can make more than 40 as I am doing it for the first time after seeing and helping my late mum did it some 40 years ago.
When I mentioned to Pakpayne the cost of the delivery maybe prohibitive, we agreed on the ultimate solution of sending the daun palas instead via his friend Nik who is back for Raya. Pakpayne and his adorable wife Lil will attempt to do it on their own based on my description of how it is done in this blog.
Actually I have tried doing it with my wife Fatthiyah some 2 weeks ago. She herself had never done it at all as her family had been ordering it from their neighbour who made ketupat for a living. So it was really me recalling from memory, giving her instructions and ensuring her to do it the way I saw my late mum did it. The purpose then was to take some photographs to illustrate my article for a soon to be published magazine.
Fortunately the ketupat came out alright and we actually enjoyed eating it compared to those that I bought from the makcik at the last Friday sermons in Kota Bharu. Now I am resolved to make ketupat as my special dish for the coming Raya. My daughter who is coming back from Labuan is excited too because of the chance for her to learn handsdown on how this ketupat is made as her mum has never made it herself in the 25 years after she was born.
Pokok palas (licuala triphylla) grows in the wild in Kelantan. I saw them at Taman Negara Kuala Koh.I saw them near my mother inlaws home in Pasir Mas too.

To those who don't use the leaves for making ketupat, the plant is a weed. It is only for such occassions as Raya that the demand for the leaves increases. Then you will see people selling them in the market. The unopened shoot in the shape of a sword is the part required. Once it is opened the leaves become useless.
When the Hari Raya draws near, daun palas can be bought in bundles with the smallest bundle being sold at RM2.00 containing about 5 stalks which can yield about 30 casings.People selling daun palas at the Pasir Mas market.


I bought a small bundle and took it home to begin the first step in the making of ketupat. The first step is opening the leaves to make the casings. A casing is the leaf being folded into a triangular shell before it is filled with the steamed glutinous rice.

A few fronds of the palas shoot.


The end a single leaf is trimmed at the tip with a sharp knife so that the end will be straight and not serrated. One hand is used to hold the tip of the leaf while the thumb of the other hand is used to flatten the many ribs on the leaf. The process is repeated until the whole leaf is comparatively flat. It is quite a task as the leaf tend to close up again just like a concertina. When it is able to hold the flat shape, the first fold can be made.


Followed by more foldings. Care must be taken not to flatten the casing as the folding may result in ugly creases.
When the end of the leaf is near, the last fold will be a loop that will secure the leaf from opening up.

Making the last loop (above) is important before tightening up (below)

The picture below shows the correctly made casing (left) and the wrong last loop (right) which we call 'caping'.

It is ok if you dont get it right as it will hold just as well only that it is not right by the traditional way. Anyway this can be corrected later at the time of filling up.
The next process is preparing the glutinous rice to fill u the casing. This is usually done on the last day of the fasting month and this special day is called 'Hari Membuat Ketupat' (ketupat making day). In the days of old when the day of Raya was determined solely on the sighting of the moon determining the Ketupat Making day was a problem and thus the ketupat making is delayed till last so that should the moon be not sighted and Raya is delayed, the ketupat will be fresh and not hard.
'Beras Pulut' (glutinous rice) now costs at least RM3.00 a kg. My late mum would be shocked to hear of such a price. Anyway we are making our ketupat from 2 kgs of rice. The rice will be washed and soaked in water for an hour to soften it. This will hasten the steaming process.Then line up the steamer's bottom with sheets of banana leaves after making slits along the grain to allow steam to penetrate through. These banana leaves are necessary to keep the rice form falling through the many holes at the bottom of the steamer tray. If you in Dubai I guess you wont be able to find any banana leaves so you can use any other material like a muslin cloth or or new unused baby cloth napkin. Banana leaf is best because the cooked rice will not stick to the leaves.
At the same time santan (coconut milk) from 3 coconuts is put to the boil with a pinch of salt added. Add sugar to taste. If you like it sweet add more of course. Let it boil for ten minutes.
After an hour of steaming the glutinous should be done. Transfer the whole lot of cooked rice to a large container such as a basin or a large periok. Add the santan little by little while turning over the rice with a large spatula. When the rice is cool enough, use a plastic bag to cover your hand to turn over the rice so that it will be thoroughly mixed with the sweetened santan. This process is called 'mengarong'. Care must be taken to avoid any use of the bare hands as any contamination will shorten the shelf life of the ketupat.

When you are satisfied that the rice is thoroughly mixed, it is time to fill in the rice into the ketupat casing. By this time the rice should be cool enough to handle with the bare hands. If you have surgical glove it is best to use it. The fingers must be used to push the rice into the corners of the ketupat casing as tight as possible. After filling half way, put in some sambal daging or serunding daging as the non Kelantanese or meat floss if you cant pronounce the earlier two names. Fill up with the steamed rice till the casing is filled up to the brim while pressing the rice to compact it. When that is done continue wrapping the leaves until the ketupat attains a solid triangular shape.

Ensure proper compaction by pulling tight the leaf casing at every turn of the wrapping. Make sure that no rice oozes out from the corners called 'bucu' by the Kelantanese. To avoid the goey glutinous rice from sticking to your hand, apply some lime (kapur makan) to the fingers of your hands.

As in the making of the casing, the last loop must be correct and not 'caping' and pull it as tight as possible. Ensure that the casing won't open up by tying up the end of the leaf as per the illustration below.


The ketupat is now ready for the last process of boiling. The boiling can be done in any containers with a lid. The boiling will take an hour and should kill most of the contamination at the time of filling up.
Putting the water to the boil.

Immersing all the ketupat in one go.

Putting the lid will ensure the heat to remain within the pot

Remove all the water and after cooling down, cut the long stalk to make them look nice.

Ketupat ready to be served to your guests.

Ketupat lemak is not sweet as there is no sugar added. It is served with 'manisan cair' which is coconut sugar before it solidifies into gula melaka.
Do you know how to open the casing? Get some ketupats and start finding out how. If you try to open the knots, you may not be able to consume much because others will have eaten the rest by the time you finish opening up the knot. There is an easier way to do it. It is for you to find out.

Hopefully the above description is good enough to help you try it out. Should you fail to make it yourself, a visit to most pasars in Kelantan will ensure you will get your supply.

To all visitors to LAISI I would like to wish you Selamat Hari Raya. Should I have teased any of you in such a way as to hurt your feelings in whatever way, I beg for your forgiveness and likewise I will forgive you for any chiding which I believe to be all just for fun and never meant to hurt anybodys feelings.

Sorry folks, no time to make any corrections, will correct later.