Lapis Pulut Serunding

Layered Spiced Coconut in betweens Steamed Glutinous Rice. It's a savoury lapis btw. My "B" adores pulut aka glutinous rice like crazieee... Anything associated with the pulut he'll savour them heartily. Be it ketupat pulut, lepat, pulut serunding, pulut cicah kari, kueh lopes, putri salat/serimuka, bubur pulut hitam, pulut durian, pulut inti and so many-many more. Thus, for a Sunday brunch, I decided (since the night before) to make "B" the Lapis Pulut Serunding. I knew, he'd be happy waking up to his favourite food. Weeeee...!

I woke up earlier especially to get the kueh ready by brunch time AND also to 'catch' Mr Sun to dry out my bedsheet cover and duvet. Lucky I caught Mr Sun in the am coz now (as I'm typing), it's raining mad outside. I had the serunding done much earlier and froze a tub in the freezer. All I need to do was soak some glutinous rice overnight and steam them. Then, put two together in layers. I did 5 tiers starting with the steamed glutinous rice below in a baking tin. The trick was to make them all real compact thus having an easier time cutting them into pieces. "B" ate half of the lot and I guess another half should be done by latest say... tomorrow??? I'd do anything for my "B"!

Ingredients for Serunding
1 whole fresh white grated coconut (kelapa parut putih)
30 pcs dried chillies - blend (cili kering)
2 large onions - blend (bawang besar)
4 garlic - blend (bawang putih)
2cm fresh tumeric - blend (kunyit hidup)
1cm galangal - blend (lengkuas)
2 tbsp coriander seeds (biji ketumbar)
2 tbsp fennel seeds (biji jintan)
1 stick lemongrass - smashed (titik serai)
3 kaffir leaves (daun limau purut)
1 tumeric leaf (daun kunyit)
sugar & salt to taste
oil for frying
Method
Heat oil and fry all blended ingredients till fragrant. Add in sugar and salt to taste. Throw in tumeric leaf and lemongrass. Stir well. Add in whole coriander and fennel seeds for extra crunch. Optional though. Lastly, add in white grated coconut and mix thoroughly till all coconut bits are covered. Let it cook for a while under low fire. Let cool before serving so that all the taste are combined and settled well. This serunding can be kept frozen or refrigerated for up to 6 months in an air tight tupperware. It's a good sidedish to have with rice, ketupats, puluts, lemangs, lepats, lontongs etc. Just add in more dried chilies IF you want it hotter. Btw, I like my serunding a little wet and not sooo dry. Drier version just needed to be fried on the stove just a tad longer.

Ingredients for Pulut
500g glutinous rice - washed & soaked overnight
Half tsp salt

Enough water to cover glutinous rice. Water level = same level as glutinous rice (1:1)

Method
In a rice cooker, pour in soaked glutinous rice and cover with water till the same level as rice. You can also use coconut milk to get a creamier taste. Add in salt and press timer to 'cook'. When cooking's done, stir glutinous rice and let stay in the cooker and put on timer to 'warm' for a couple of minutes. Put aside to cool and settle before scooping for the layerings. Compress each layer (both pulut and serunding) with the back of a spoon during each layering. I had made Pulut Serunding in ball forms before. In fact, these two ingredients can be paired in many possible ways. Perhaps I'll roll them like a sushi and wrap each with a seaweed. Should be ok too!