Homemade Nasi Impit (Compressed Rice)

Homemade Nasi Impit (Compressed Rice)

   March 15, 2020       Lyn Alina

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At first, I was hesitate to share this recipe but since I've promised to share on how I made my homemade nasi impit for my lontong yesterday in my IG post, I have no choice than to share my "secret weapon" of my successful lontong dish 😍

Nasi impit or also called compressed rice, is a must-have-dish during Hari Raya here in Malaysia.
It's basically rice, cooked in a woven coconut leaves, we called as ketupat, cooked in a plastic like the one available in groceries or cooked with a lot of water - about 10 cups for a cup of rice in a pot or rice cooker, stirred until the rice is smooth.
Then the cooked rice is transferred into a pan or casserole, compressed with a spatula or using your palms covered in plastic layered with a towel to prevent direct contact with the hot cooked rice when compressing.

Actually, I'm not skillful at weaving the coconut leaves to make ketupat, since all these times, during Hari Raya  it was done by my other family members.
And I am not too confident to make the compressed rice with the last method which I told earlier since it was a failure when I tried to make my nasi impit using that method.
I didn't know what when wrong at that time, because my nasi impit was not compact despite of my diligent effort to compressed the cooked rice with my palm.

So, since that incident, I try making nasi impit in a plastic.
Yes, I know what came out from your mind, and for a while, I was thinking the same...
I was thinking, is my way of making nasi impit safe since I'll be using plastic to cook my nasi impit?
And of course, plastic is not the best option to consider especially when it involves cooking with the plastic or filling it with hot foods or drinks because of possible chemicals leaching.

Then..how about the ready made nasi impit, which is also prepared in plastic that is available in the groceries?
Is it safe to consume?
So...here begins my research on which plastic code  that appears to be safe to make my nasi impit.

Based on my readings, plastics with the code of 1,2 ,4 and 5 are considered microwave safe when heated, but the best bet is the one with code 5.
However, we are going to boil the nasi impit, which involves a high temperature cooking process.
So, if you have to resort in making your nasi impit using plastic like me, make sure you're using the plastic with the codes that is appear to not cause any chemical leaching when heated and the cooked nasi impit should not be heated again in any method as long as it is still wrapped in the plastic.
For more information on the plastic codes, you may check in these two websites which I referred to :
http://tupperwarebrandst3ja.blogspot.com/p/bahayanya-bekas-plastik.html
https://www.hunker.com/12003478/what-are-the-numbers-that-say-that-plastic-is-safe-to-use-in-the-microwave-oven

I used plastic with code number 2, which is also called Hawkers plastic bag.
I weighed the rice amount for each plastic bag and measure the length between the top edges of the plastic and the seal point to ensure uniformity in the outcome in terms of the nasi impit's texture.
I made four nasi impit, which we managed to finished them all in two days.
I kept the cooked nasi impit refrigerated, and I took it out from the fridge 30 minutes earlier before to be eaten with hot lontong gravy.
I was taught by my mum to add some salt when boiling the nasi impit, to make it more delicious and the addition of pandan leaves into the boiling water will make your nasi impit fragrant.

I've shared my homemade nasi impit recipe before, see here.
The method is basically similar, the only difference is that this time I weigh the amount of rice I filled in each plastic bags.

Several factors of determining the success of making nasi impit are :

1. the portion of the rice packed in the plastic (generally, the rice amount should be 1/3 from the plastic's sealing point).
2. the type of rice used (use normal rice and not fragrant, basmathi or brown rice) since these types of rice have different texture and reaction when interact with water.
3. The boiling time (we want a smooth textured and compact nasi impit, that is not crumbled when is cut, so the minimum boiling time should be 1 hour and 30 minutes, but it is also depends on the size of plastic bags used and the quantity of the nasi impit being boiled at a time.

Nasi impit is best eaten with satay, Malaysian and Indonesian skewered and grilled meat, kuah kacang (peanut gravy), lontong (Malaysian and Indonesian dish made where nasi impit is eaten with lodeh; vegetables cooked in coconut milk) and rendang.

HOMEMADE NASI IMPIT

(COMPRESSED RICE)

Ingredients & Utensils:

4 sheets of plastic bag (Width:6" X Length:9")

A sealer

A ruler

A kitchen scale

A marker (if using)

A wooden skewer

640 grams of rice (160 grams for each bag)

4 pandan leaves 

3 teaspoons of salt

water for boiling

Instructions:

Boil large amount of water in a large pot (or more if the pot size is smaller) over a medium heat.

Meanwhile, transfer 640 grams of the rice in a large bowl for inspection.  Make sure the rice used is free of any dirt, particle or insect.  You don't have to wash clean the rice at this point.

Divide the rice into four portions to be filled in each plastic bag.  Weigh each plastic bag with kitchen scale to ensure accurate amount.

By using a ruler, leave a 5 cm gap between the top edges and the point where we're going to seal later.  Mark the point that you're going to seal.

Seal the marked point neatly with a sealer so the rice won't come out of the plastic bag during boiling process.

Poke small holes all over the plastic bags to let water coming in and out of the plastic bags during boiling process.

Wash the rice in each plastic bags under running tap water and place in the pot.  Add salt and pandan leaves and boil the nasi impit for 1 hour and 30 minutes over medium heat.

Flip the nasi impit occasionally and add more water from time to time to ensure nasi impit completely cooked.  (Flipping can be challenging since undercooked nasi impit contain a lot of water.  You can use a tong to do this).

Once your nasi impit are cooked, drain the water in the pot and remove the nasi impit into a large strainer to drain excess water.  Let the nasi impit completely cooled, which takes about 5 to 6 hours depending your living temperature.  Your can pop them in the fridge once they turned warm to fasten the cooling process.

Once your nasi impit completely cooled, cut the nasi impit with a sharp knife into two and gently squeeze the closed end of the plastic to push the nasi impit out of it.  Then, cut the nasi impit into bite size cubes and place in a container until ready to serve.

#NOTE#

Nasi Impit leftover can be refrigerated or frozen.  But freezing your nasi impit will somehow change the texture of the nasi impit.  But if you have to freeze your nasi impit, I would recommend to steam the frozen nasi impit (make sure to remove it from it's plastic first) until it is warm and no longer frozen.