Meticulous steps to make bamboo rice of Thai ethnic people
(Baonghean.vn) - When the rice season ends and the new offering tray for the ancestors is ready, it is also the time when the Thai people in the highlands of Tuong Duong and Ky Son (Nghe An) go into the forest to cut young bamboo to make sticky rice - a simple dish with the typical flavor of the mountains and forests of the people.
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| According to the experience of the Thai people in Tuong Duong district (Nghe An), to make delicious "bong khau lam" (sticky rice) requires many steps. First of all, you have to choose the thorny bamboo - a type of tree that grows naturally in the forests. When choosing bamboo to make bamboo tubes, people often choose trees that are not too old and not too young because these are trees that are in the process of transforming from bamboo shoots into trees. Photo: Lu Phu |
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| The priority is still trees with long, straight, beautiful, worm-free tubes, cut off one end, forming a tube with a bottom. The type of bamboo that Thai people choose to make sticky rice is the type of bamboo that, when the sticky rice is cooked, peel off the hard bamboo shell, leaving a thin layer of membrane covering the cooked rice, so when holding the rice, it does not stick to the skin of the hand, when eating, it has the sweetness of bamboo, the aroma of new sticky rice. This is also the difference between thorny bamboo and reed when used to make sticky rice. In addition, bamboo tubes have a thicker shell, so when making, there is no fear of the rice burning like other types of tubes. Photo: Lu Phu |
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| The rice used to make bamboo rice is newly harvested sticky rice from the fields, which can be white sticky rice or fragrant purple sticky rice. Before putting the rice into the bamboo tube, people usually add a little water first, then put the rice into the tube and fill the tube with water to the top of the tube and soak it overnight. Before making the bamboo tube, the mouth of the bamboo tube is plugged with wild banana leaves so that when making the rice, the smell of smoke is not heard and the flavor of the new sticky rice is still preserved, combined with the aroma of the bamboo tube. Photo: Lu Phu |
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| When making rice, you also need to be skillful, keeping the fire so that the bamboo tube does not burn and the rice in the tube is cooked. When making rice, the fire must be big and you must do it from the bottom of the tube up or the mouth of the tube down, depending on the different places and always turn the tube evenly so that the rice is cooked evenly and not tough. When the tube is burnt and the smell of sticky rice is emitted, it is a sign that the rice is cooked. Photo: Lu Phu |
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| Before eating, use a knife to split off the burnt outer layer, then peel off the thick layer, leaving only a thin white layer inside to see the sticky rice shaped into a solid tube and surrounded by a thin white membrane of bamboo core. Photo: Lu Phu |
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| When it is ripe, peel off the hard shell of the bamboo, leaving a thin layer of paper film to prevent the rice from sticking to your skin. Bamboo rice is a dish with many spiritual meanings. The Thai people often believe that thanks to favorable rain and wind, the crops will be lush and lush, and they will have fragrant sticky rice to make bamboo rice. Photo: Lu Phu |
