Debbie'S Indonesian Lemper - cooking recipe

Ingredients

Rice
4 cups glutinous rice
1 (20 1/4 ounce) can coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
Chicken filling
1 lb chicken breast (I use 2 halves)
1 pint chicken stock
6 large garlic cloves
6 large candlenuts or 6 large macadamia nuts
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 ounces brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
1 ounce shallot, minced
1 pint coconut milk
2 kaffir lime leaves
salt and pepper

Preparation

Soak rice in water for 1 hour.
Drain, then, in a saucepan, cook in coconut milk with salt until dry.
Line a steamer with cheesecloth. Steam for 1/2 hour, or until fully cooked.
Set aside and keep warm.
Mash garlic and candlenuts into a paste. Put in a bowl and add coriander, cumin and brown sugar. Mix well.
Saute shallot in oil, add garlic paste, saute. Add chicken, coconut milk and lime leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Let simmer until coconut milk is gone. Remove lime leaves and let cool.
Once rice is finished steaming and cool enough to handle, take a 6\" wide piece of banana leaf, run it over the stove flame until bright green and fragrant. Then pat 2 oz. of rice onto the center of banana leaf. Add 1 T of chicken mixture onto the center of the rice. Fold over so rice encases the chicken, fold in the sides and roll the rest of the leaf, into a tamale shape. Tie with a long thin piece of banana leaf. Set aside and hold cold until service.
When ready to serve, Steam for about 5 minutes, turning half way through. Cut the tie, remove lemper and cut on the diagonal. Serve with your favorite hot sauce.
If banana leaves aren't available, you can use cornhusks, which have been soaked in hot water to encase the lemper. Then tie with string. Actually it's much easier than the banana leaves!