Ketupat Weaving Instructions

The first of the Kampung crafts to be demonstrated here is ketupatweaving. The ketupat is still being woven and sold by the Satay vendorsof Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, but ketupat weaving in theseregions is fast becoming a dying craft among the Malays as alternativeand more expedient methods of making the rice cake have becomeavailable to the present generation. Ketupat casings are however stillwoven in homes for the Aidilfitri celebrations. During such times streetvendors can be found at the Malay Village at Geylang Serai Singaporeoffering ketupat casings and cooked ketupat as well throughout thenight till the wee hours of morning.

Materials for weaving ketupat casings. The Ketupat is a savoury

rice cake wrapped in woven coconut leaves. The stick which forms the spineof the leaves is removed with a paring knife so that the leaves are split in tworibbon-like pieces. The young leaves of the coconut plant are used. Theseyoung leaves are light yellow in colour with green edgings down the longouter sides of the leaves. The length of the coconut leaves is just right forketupat weaving. The wider the leaves the bigger the ketupat casing will be.The instructions given below is for the traditional ketupat - somewhat squarein shape. Another type of ketupat casing is woven in the shape of an onion -called ketupat bawang.

Pandan leaves may also be used. The pandan leaves used are of the longvariety and not the type commonly used for food flavouring. However,because of the scent or flavour of the Pandan leaves, such leaves are notusually used when the ketupat is served as a complement to certain dishes asthe pandan flavour might affect the taste of the accompanying dishes.Ketupat are therefore traditionally served plain without any flavour.However, some ketupat are boiled in coconut milk seasoned with some salt.

For decorative purposes, ketupat casings may be woven in multicolouredcraft ribbons.

How to cook & serve ketupat.The ketupat casings are filled with

uncooked rice at the top opening of the casing. It is filled two thirds or threequarters full. The more water absorbent Chinese rice is preferable to theThai variety as the Chinese rice makes a more compact ketupat and the

Ketupat Weaving Instructions http://web.singnet.com.sg/~hsh17/sect1ketupat.htm

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texture of the ketupat is also smoother. A whole bunch of filled ketupat isthen put into a big pot of water and boiled for about 3 hours. The ketupat arethen cooled. Serve ketupat cut across diagonally twice with the casing stillintact. Remove the casing after cutting. Ketupat are traditionally servedwith Sayur Lodeh, Serunding, Sambal Tumis, Soto or Satay. Because of the longhours of boiling, the ketupat will keep well and may last a few days evenwithout refrigeration.

Some Weaving Tips

Briefly stated the ketupat weave comprises three vertical and three horizontalinterlocking loops. The two ends of the split coconut leaves end up together at thediagonal opposite ends of the ketupat casing: the 2 narrow ends finish togetherdiagonally opposite the two broad ends. The opening of the ketupat (into whichrice is filled) is located at the top end where the broad ends of the leaves arelocated.

The leaves are initially handled iand placed in the manner illustrated in figure (1)below. When making the X, the B leaf should be longer than the A leaf so thatthere is sufficient space to line up the vertical loops.from the centre of cross to theB end of the leaf.

The 3 vertical loops (figures 2,3,4) are to be kept close together as otherwise itmay be difficult to handle the weave when you get to stage (8) where the weave hasto be turned around so that the bottom is turned up to face you. A loose weavemay just fall apart then. Furthermore, you may also run out of the lengths of theleaves if the weave is woven too loose.

Dexterity comes with practice. A skilled person can complete one ketupat casingin under 1 minute.

NB The illustrations below are sketched to show the weave in loose formation asotherwise the weave will not be shown clearly enough and the back portion of theketupat casing will not be visible. When weaving the ketupat all the vertical andhorizontal loops should be woven as close to one another as it is possible to allowyou to manouvre the next step. Try to keep the woven casing a square and not arectangle as shown in the illustrations. You can do this by tightening or shorteningthe horizontal loops. In the sketches, the elongated horizonatal loops are alsoexaggerated to aid visbility.

Weaving Instructions


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Ketupat Weaving Instructions