SUMAN (Rice Cake Wrapped in Leaf)
Serves 8
Ingredients:
For the rice cakes:
| Banana leaf, whole | 2 pieces |
| Glutinous rice | 300 g/10 oz |
| Coconut cream | 150 ml/⅔ cup |
| Water | 450 ml/2 cups |
| Sugar | 16 g/2 Tbs |
| Salt | a pinch or two |
For the coconut caramel:
| Sugar | 150 g/5 oz |
| Coconut cream | 250 ml/1 cup |
Procedure:
- Pass the banana leaf over a flame to make it more pliable. When the outer part of the leaf turns bright green after you pass it over a flame, the leaf will not tear easily. Alternatively, you may use a blow torch to heat it as well.
- Cut the banana leaf into 7×14 cm/3 x 6 in. rectangles. Set aside.
- Mix all the ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
- There are many fancy ways of wrapping the suman. But to make it easier, we roll the glutinous rice into a cylinder of about 3 x 15 cm/1 x 6 in. Next, take two tablespoons of the rice mixture in a banana leaf rectangle, forming a cylinder. Wrap tightly and fold both ends of the banana leaf. It will yield about 14 rice cakes.
- Steam the wrapped rice parcels for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, make the coconut caramel by melting the sugar in a pot until brown. Add coconut cream and simmer until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Keeping the coconut caramel even at room temperature, may crystallise the sugar again during the cold months. Place the jar of caramel in warm water until the contents melt again.
- After the rice cakes have been cooled, unwrap and drizzle with coconut caramel or dark sugar syrup. It is also lovely with tsokolate eh or fresh mango.
Note: when using freshly squeezed coconut milk for the rice cake recipe, simply use 300 ml/1 ¼ cups coconut milk and 300 ml/1 ¼ cups water.