Lopes

Ingredients
2kg glutinous rice
approximately 30-40g abuchang (soda ash)

banana leaves (approx 20 pieces)
rafia string or alternatives (I use dried grass straw. See lontong post for picture)

Syrup
gula melaka

a pinch of salt
2-3 pandan leaves
water

Coconut
grated coconut (white only)
a pinch of salt
2 pandan leaves

Directions

• soak glutinous rice in abuchang (leave it whole or I pound it to powder) for 2 hours or more and drain the water (rice will be a bit yellowish)
• dip the banana leaves in hot water or heat it over fire to soften the leaves. Cut away the hard stem.
• cut about 8cm width or bigger depending on how big you want your lopes to be
• fold firmly into triangular shape like samosa (see picture) and fill with the glutinous rice
• stack 3 to 5 pieces together and tie tightly with the string
• place the completed wrapped glutinous rice into a big pot and fill with water to cover the kueh
• boil for 3-4 hours and top up with boiling water whenever water level drops below the lopes level
• gula melaka syrup: boil chopped gula melaka, salt, knotted pandan leaves in enough water until syrup slightly thickens
• grated coconut: steam grated coconut with knotted pandan leaves and a pinch of salt for about 20-30 mins
• serve cooled lopes topped with grated coconut and drizzled with gula melaka syrup

Tips

There are 2 types of abuchang... white and orange. Both are fine. My aunt who is an expert in making lopes said that the abuchang helps to make the glutinous rice chewy and soft. She added air kapur for softer texture but I prefer without.

Keep excess lopes in the fridge and just steam it again when ready to eat.

Foodnote
Aaaah... who don't like kueh lopes. Was reluctant to make this for raya but got special request by my niece. Since I also like to eat lopes and it is quite fun to wrap the lopes because it took some special skill (ehem) so I make it lor. Bought banana leaves from tekka because the lady there sells nice longer width leaves that I can choose. Cheap too! 

I used dried grass straw as string because... I just want to keep things natural (avoid boiling plastic or rubber band for long hours with food).