Yellow Rice/Nasi Tumpeng - Day 2

Tumpeng is a cone-shaped rice dish like mountain with plenty of side dishes from meat to vegetables. People in Java, Bali and Madura usually make Tumpeng to celebrate important event. However, all Indonesians are familiar with Tumpeng. The philosophy of Tumpeng is related to the geographical condition of Indonesia, especially Java as fertile island with numerous mountains and volcanoes. Tumpeng dated back to ancient Indonesian tradition that revered mountains as the abode of ancestors and gods. The cone-shaped rice meant to mimics the holy mountain. The feast served as some kind of thanks giving for the abundance of harvest or any other blessings. In gratitude ceremony (syukuran or slametan), after the people pray, the top of tumpeng is cut and delivered to the most important person. He or she may be the group leader, the oldest person, or the beloved one. Then, all people in the ceremony enjoy the tumpeng together. With tumpeng, people express the gratitude to God and appreciate togetherness and harmony. (from Wikipedia)

I’ve been making jelly for the past few days and it is time to create something savory using the jelly moulds. It took my over half a day to prepare this fancy meal. Everything was cooked from scratch from the Malay style BBQ Chicken/Ayam Percik , Chicken Rendang , Sambal Tempe , fried omelet and etc but I am not complaining as this is a very satisfying meal with plenty of leftovers. You can prepare any type of dishes to accompany the rice. It can be a vegetarian meal, seafood or meat. Traditionally there should be a balance between vegetables, meat and seafood. I made the cone shape rice with the a cone moulds. As for the rest of the dishes you can get the recipes from the link.

Ingredients for the Yellow Rice
Recipe source: My Kitchen Snippets

2 cups of long grain rice or basmati rice – wash and toss dry
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 cup of coconut milk
Enough water
2” cinnamon
3 cloves
2 slices of ginger
2 cloves garlic - smashed
Salt to taste

1. Heat up 2 tbsp of butter, sauté the cinnamon stick, cloves garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add in the rice, turmeric powder and continue to stir fry until the rice is coated with oil.
2. Transfer the rice to the rice cooker; add in salt, coconut milk and enough water to cook the rice.
3. Cover and let the rice cooker to do the work. Once the rice is cook, fluff it up with a fork. Scoop some rice into the moulds. and press it tight with a spoon. Unmold the rice and serve it with the side dishes of your choice.