Pitcher Plant Rice: Traditional Sticky Snack of Borneo Malaysia
Did you know people eat carnivorous plants? Every country has its own unique cuisine, and a country like Malaysia with mix of people from different ethnic backgrounds has a very wide range of cuisine. During the course of my internet research on Malaysia for Malaysia tourism project I came upon this strange dish, Pitcher Plant Rice. Other names to this are nasi pelut(white rice) in periuk kera (pitcher plant), lemang periuk kera or Nasi Periuk Kera in Malay. It is a carnivorous plant eaten by local people.
Pitcher Plant Rice
This dish is popular with the locals of the Land Dayaks of Sarawak near the district of Bau and Serikin in Malaysia. It is a delicious Bidayuh food.
The unique dish is “cooked hill rice (purple colored rice from Borneo) with peanuts in a cut opened pitcher”. By pitcher I don’t mean the ‘man made earthen pitchers’ but the natural ones. The pitchers of carnivorous plants, which trap insects in the sticky liquid ‘pitfall trap’ inside it, are used for making this dish. The fly traps of this plant resemble an urn or pitcher. The big ones of these plants are known to have eaten small birds. That is a bit weird I think, imagine eating a snack out of these carnivorous plants!
The cup like structure is filled with a mix of brown rice and peanuts, not many spices added to it but the peanuts lend a delicious flavor to it. You can have look at pics in Flickr here .
Pitcher Plant Rice: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jayusism/5972936657/
The rice is sticky. Of the various types of pitcher plant, the pitchers of curvaceous, nectar producing tropical Nepenthes are used for making this dish. Known as ‘monkey cups’ they grow abundantly in the rainforest of Borneo, locals around this place source these to prepare the snack. It is called Pitcher Plant Rice.
They are part of the rich culinary culture of Malaysia’s indigenous tribes. You can find this tropical dish in markets in Kota Kinabalu and across Malaysian Borneo.
Market vendors in Kota Kinabalu, the city where most Mount Kinabalu expeditions commence, line the streets, offering an array of local delicacies to weary hikers returning from the summit. Among the various local snacks there are pouches of sticky rice wrapped in dull in mottled packaging.
The pitchers are sold in market, which people buy just like buying any other vessel. If you are there ever and enjoy some cooking of local food you can try making this. Several variations can be made in the ingredients used, adding mushroom, garlic, non-veg stuff like pork and may be prawns too.
How to make pitcher plant rice snack?
The pitchers are cleaned and filled to brim with rice. They are then lined up upright into a steamer, covered with coconut milk, which is the main ingredient that makes the snack tasty. This is then steamed for an hour. The naturally glutinous texture of local sticky rice is transformed into delicious coconut-flavoured packages.
The picture below was taken at a botanical garden in Yercaud Tamil Nadu.
Pitcher Plant pic
About Pitcher Plant
Pitcher plants thriving in Mount Kinabalu use a variety of techniques to trap insects. The ploys of these plants are use of nectar, smells and colours. I have seen only the green colored ones in Yercaud botanical garden and multi-colored ones in Mount Kinabalu Botanical garden.
Their traps are mind boggling… sheer drops, smooth surfaces that cannot be scaled or blockades of bristles. The dry pitcher rim provides a safe foothold, from where they begin to descend. Once inside, the prey just can’t escape. It becomes the food for the pitcher plant to make it stronger to capture yet another insect.
Pitcher Plant Interesting Facts
The secret life of these carnivorous plants is deadly and scary.
- Pitcher plants, Carnivorous plants, commonly trap and eat ants, flies, wasps, beetles, slugs and snails. Large pitcher plants may even eat small frogs, rodents, or lizards. Don’t worry these carnivorous plants don’t eat humans.
- One plant can have as many as 10 pitchers. The pitchers only last a year or two.
- Pitcher plants have medicinal properties. The leaf and root are used as medicine for digestive disorders, for urinary tract diseases and fluid retention. It is also accepted that the plant extract is used as a cure for smallpox and to prevent scar formation.
- The plant itself can live for 50 years.
- If you are trying to grow one, you can feed it with live or dead insects such as ants, fruit flies, house flies.
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(This post was first published on Oct 14, 2012.)
Jeez. dint know people eat this…
How interesting! You have an intriguing blog. I love stopping here.
Dear Indrani, I thank you very much for sharing this unusual and interesting plant with us Today's Flowers. Great photo!
CCD is in fact selling something like this. I picked up one last month from one of their outlets in Kolkata. They call it 'friendship pot'– After sufficient watering the grass seeds started sprouting but didn't last long!:(
Interesting…
Brilliant picture and very interesting.
Cute!
Wish i had known this when i visited Malaysia…Very interesting dish. Pitcher plants are available abundantly in nurseries here in Seoul and i am growing one 🙂
Exotic & ethnic preparation. Nice post.
You always have such interesting posts on such a delightful variety of subjects, Indrani!! This one is a great example and a great capture! I do so enjoy reading them!! Thanks for sharing!! Have a great week!
That is something else!! The plant sure doesn't look like much, but the cooked snack is pretty!
quite interesting!
Very interesting… and little scary too! Hehe…
I'd like to try this culinary specialty!!.
Thanks for the comments.
The links in the post shows how it is cooked.
How fascinating. Is the rice cooked before it goes into the pitcher?
Nope. Rice is cooked inside the pitcher
Quite peculiar! And interesting!
That is a very uncommon dish. Thanks for sharing. I went to Malaysia (KL and Lankawi) but did not hear of this dish, maybe would have, had i been to serawak.
Interesting!!
Ahhhhhhhhhh…. This is news to me. Its really really weird!!!
What do you do one you fill it?
Boil the dumplings or how is cooking done???
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