Tasting Kue Lompong, A Sweet Black From Purworejo

TALKING about Purworejo cuisine, we will mostly think of dawet ireng (black dawet). Dawet ireng is indeed a unique dish from Purworejo. However, there are many dishes to taste when you go to Purworejo.

One of the special snacks is kue lompong. This traditional snack is easy to find around Kutoarjo and Purworejo. The price starts from 2,000 IDR to 6,000 IDR each.

The unique characteristic of kue lompong is its color. Many traditional cakes have green or red color, but kue lompong is black. You should not underestimate its color since the taste of kue lompong is sweet, savory, and chewy.

The sweet taste of kue lompong comes from the filling of roasted, ground, and seasoned peanuts. Now, there are various fillings of kue lompong such as green beans, cheese, chocolate, etc.

Then, the chewy and savory taste of it comes from the main ingredients such as glutinous rice flour, merang flour (straw ash flour), brown sugar, or granulated sugar. Those ingredients coat the sweet filling of kue lompong.

For the serving, kue lompong is covered by klaras or dried banana leaves and then tied. Dried banana leaves will make the taste and aroma of kue lompong more authentic.

Well, the black color of kue lompong comes from the natural color of merang. Merang is the burnt dry rice stalks, so it colors black. Then, it is sifted and sieved to be a gray soft powder. This ingredient is also used for making black dawet which is popular in Purworejo and Kutoarjo.

The way to make kue lompong is so easy. First, prepare the mix of glutinous rice flour, merang flour, granulated sugar, salt, and simple seasoning. Those ingredients are kneaded with sugar water until the texture is solid and chewy.

In the past, the dough of kue lompong is made from coconut milk and brown sugar. Yet, the use of coconut milk makes kue lompong cannot stay long. So, the use of coconut milk is replaced by oil.

After the dough is well-kneaded, we can prepare ingredients for the filling. The special filling is peanut but you can vary the filling with cheese, chocolate, jams, green beans, and others.

The peanut is sifted and it is then separated with the soft skin. Next, the peanut is pounded, ground, and blended depending on the soft-level that we want. Do not forget to add seasonings such as granulated sugar or brown sugar and a little bit of salt for a savory taste. Then, it should be well-mixed.

Then, we can fill the filling inside the dough. After that, we just need to cover the dough with the dried banana leaves and then tied it. We can use root rope or just ordinary rope. Then, kue lompong should be steamed for two hours.

This traditional cake from Purworejo can stay for a long time. However, kue lompong will get dry and hard if we save it too long. Don't worry, we can steam again kue lompong and get the fresh taste. (Contributor)