Lema — Indonesia

Lema belongs to the family of fermented rice preparations found across the Indonesian archipelago, where cooked or half-cooked glutinous rice is packed together with fish and left to develop sourness before being eaten. The result is a compact, leaf-wrapped block with a tangy, slightly pungent taste, closer to a fermented pickle than to plain steamed rice. It is reported mainly from parts of Sumatra, where river fish and bamboo shoots are cheap and plentiful and where wrapping food in banana leaf for short fermentation has long been a way of preserving a modest harvest. Villages along rivers and rice-growing lowlands are where the dish is most often mentioned, though similar fermented rice parcels appear under other names elsewhere in the country. To prepare it, glutinous rice is soaked, then steamed only until half-cooked. It is mixed with cleaned small fish, thin strips of bamboo shoot, sliced shallots, garlic and a little tamarind, then packed tightly into banana leaf parcels. Left at room temperature, the parcels sour gently over about a day as natural fermentation sets in, before being steamed a second time until fully cooked and safe to eat straight from the leaf. What sets this version apart within the wider group of fermented rice and fish dishes of the archipelago is the double steaming around a short fermentation rather than a long one, and the use of bamboo shoot alongside fish rather than either alone. Some households favour a sourer, longer rest; others prefer it milder and eat it within a day of wrapping, so the exact tang varies from one kitchen to the next.