Pressed Rice Cakes

In Singapore and Malaysia, artisan cooks weave the palm fronds into small pouches for this dish. The pouch is with raw rice, pulled closed, and then boiled until the rice expands and compresses inside to form a tight cake. The cakes are cooled, cut into bite-size pieces, and eaten with satays and other flavorful dishes. I’ve created a more practical method for preparing the rice cakes, using standard baking pans. This is very authentic, albeit non-traditional. Many Malaysian cooks now prepa