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Best Lemper in Toronto

“Glutinous rice wrapped around seasoned meat, then folded in banana leaf into an elongated, portable packet.”

Lemper

What the real thing tastes like

Lemper (id ) is an Indonesian savoury snack made of glutinous rice filled with seasoned shredded chicken, fish, abon (meat floss) or serundeng. The specific lemper filled with seasoned shredded chicken is called lemper ayam (lit: chicken lemper). The meat filling is rolled inside the rice, in a fashion similar to an egg roll; this is in turn rolled and wrapped inside a banana leaf, oil paper, plastic sheet, or tinfoil to make a packet ready for serving. If banana leaf is not available, corn husk can be used. Lemper are most often seen as snacks, but may sometimes be served as appetizers as well. Lemper usually has an elongated shape, similar to lontong. Lemper is very similar to arem-arem and bakcang (Chinese zongzi), and also resembles Japanese onigiri.

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Lemper is an Indonesian snack built on a simple architecture: glutinous rice encasing seasoned shredded chicken, fish, or meat floss, then rolled tight and wrapped in banana leaf (or corn husk, paper, plastic—whatever's at hand). The result is an elongated packet, golden and substantial, that straddles the line between snack and appetizer. It belongs to a loose family of filled rice parcels—arem-arem, bakcang, onigiri—each culture rolling similar impulses into leaf or husk.

Order it here when it has

  • adaptable wrapping (leaf, husk, paper)
  • versatile filling options
  • distinct elongated form

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