Lontong

Lontong is an Southeast Asian dish originally from Indonesia also known as (Malay: Nasi Impit or Nasi Himpit), and literally means compressed rice.
Lontong is often referred to as the plain compressed rice roll itself, but it is served as an accompaniment to other dishes. Lontong is traditionally made by boiling the rice until it is partially cooked and packing it tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf or plaited coconut leaf. It is then boiled until the rice is compacted. When cooled, it is then cut into small bite-sized cakes.
Lontong may be served in a coconut milk and vegetable stew gravy similar to Sayur Lodeh, and topped with sambal chili paste, toasted coconut (kerisik) and hard boiled egg. Dried shrimp or dried anchovies (ikan bilis) and fresh shrimp can also be added. Suitable vegetables for the stew gravy with coconut milk are cabbage, long beans, cauliflower, carrots, Turnips, zucchini, peas, Butternut squash, Eggplant, Mushrooms, Snow peas, bamboo shoots, Potatoes, broccoli and Broccolini or asparation (a cross between Broccoli and Chinese Kale (Kai Lan or Gai Lan).
Cooked Cellophane or Glass noodles (Tang Hoon/冬粉 dōng fěn), and bean curd (tofu) can be added for a substantial & satisfying vegetarian dish.
In Indonesia and Malaysia, the dish is usually served cold or at room temperature with sauce-based dishes such as gado-gado and salads, although it can be eaten as an accompaniment to other dishes such as Satay and curries. It is also used in Soto as an alternative to vermicelli noodles.
Alternative ways of cooking lontong in modern days include placing uncooked rice into a muslin bag then letting the water seep in and cause the rice to form a solid mass (Ingram, 2003).