Asian Cuisine
Lapek Bugih, Minangkabau-Style Sticky Rice Cake with Coconut Filling
Prep
30 min
Cook
30 min
Servings
10
Level
Medium
Lapek bugih is a traditional Minangkabau snack made from glutinous rice flour, wrapped in banana leaf, filled with sweet-savory grated coconut filling, then steamed until chewy and rich. The taste is a perfect blend of savory coconut milk and sweet palm sugar, making it a great companion for tea or coffee in the afternoon. This cake is commonly served at traditional ceremonies and is one of West Sumatra's must-try culinary heritages.
🧂 Ingredients
🍽️ Servings: 10
Adjust the servings and the ingredient amounts & nutrition below update automatically.
- White glutinous rice flour
- Slightly young grated coconut
- Warm water
- Salt
- Banana leaves for wrapping
- Palm sugar (gula aren), finely shaved
- Semi-mature grated coconut for filling
- Pandan leaves, tied in a knot
- Salt for the filling
- Water for cooking the filling
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👩🍳 Instructions
- 1 Make the coconut filling (unti) first: combine the semi-mature grated coconut, shaved palm sugar, pandan leaves, salt, and water in a pan.
- 2 Cook over low heat while stirring continuously until the sugar dissolves and is absorbed into the coconut; keep cooking until the mixture thickens and holds together (no longer watery). Remove from heat, set aside, and let cool slightly.
- 3 Prepare the dough: mix the white glutinous rice flour with salt in a bowl and stir until well combined.
- 4 Pour in the warm water little by little while kneading until the dough can be shaped and no longer sticks to your hands. Adjust the amount of water as needed, since flour absorbency can vary.
- 5 Take a sheet of banana leaf and shape it into a cone or a wide base. Take about 2 tbsp of the rice dough and flatten it in your palm or on the banana leaf.
- 6 Place 1 tbsp of the coconut filling in the center of the dough, then close and shape the dough into a ball until the filling is no longer visible, forming an oblong, flattened shape like a small lontong (rice cake).
- 7 Wrap with banana leaf, neatly folding both ends as if wrapping pepes (steamed banana-leaf parcels); secure with a toothpick or tie it so it doesn't open during steaming.
- 8 Heat a steamer pot until the water boils and produces plenty of steam. Arrange the lapek bugih in the steamer.
- 9 Steam for 25-30 minutes over medium heat until the cakes are cooked, chewy, and the rice no longer sticks to the leaf when opened.
- 10 Remove from the steamer and let cool slightly before serving so the texture sets better and is easier to unwrap from the banana leaf.
💡 Tips
• Choose coconut that isn't too mature so the filling stays soft and doesn't turn hard after cooking.
• Briefly warm the banana leaves over a stove flame to make them more pliable and less likely to tear when wrapping.
• Make sure the steaming water is fully boiling before adding the cakes so the rice cooks evenly and doesn't turn out dense.
• Store lapek bugih at room temperature for up to 1 day, or refrigerate for up to 3 days and re-steam before serving.
📊 Nutrition Facts / serving
180 kkal
Calories (kcal)
2 gramg
Protein
6 gramg
Fat
30 gramg
Carbs
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