Preparing The Famous Penang Lobak

Penang Lobak

Last night my wife prepared about fifty rolls of Penang Lobak. She will usually prepare the Lobak for a few meals. Have the Lobak fried and keep them in the freezer for later consumption. It is chore for everyone at home when she does this. She will prepare the stuffings and one of us will help her with the wrapping and another with the frying. And sometimes we rotate the roles. But the process of making Penang Lobak starts with the shopping list.

The Famous Penang Lobak

Usually, I am assigned the role of buying the ingredients for the Lobak. I would go to T&T Supermarket where I can find all the right items for the Lobak in one place. The best part of the pork for Lobak is the butt. Then, the next item would be the taro. A whole medium size taro will be enough for fifty rolls. Three other items to make the authentic Penang Lobak would be a canned of water chestnuts (small canned), soy bean wrapping sheet, and a pack of five spices.

Pork Meat Stuffings

We will prepare the meat first. Cut the pork meat into long strips (four to five inches) and marinate with the five spices over night in the fridge. The next day before wrapping, clean and cut the taro to small cubes (about one cm cubes). Also cut the water chest nuts to the same cube size as the taro. Mix the meat, taro and chestnuts together. Add a pinch of salt for taste and start to wrap the mix into the Lobak rolls. We normally fry up all the Lobak rolls to keep for later consumption but steaming is another alternative. The Lobak is best served warm with tofu and slice cucumbers.