Ka Ot bamboo rice

Once, while wandering to the border area of ​​Tan Chau district, Tay Ninh province, I happened to pass by a small hamlet of the Khmer community, in Ka Ot hamlet, Tan Dong commune. I don’t know what occasion it was that everyone gathered together happily. I stopped to listen to the story and learned that it was the day of the Kathyna Robe Offering ceremony of the Buddhists here.

While wandering around, I saw a man sitting by a charcoal stove. Around the stove were neatly arranged bamboo tubes. "What is this, uncle? Is it sticky rice?" - I asked. "Yes, ma'am, I'm making it for my children to eat when they come home" - Mr. Sa Vuon (67 years old) replied with a smile.

Mr. Sa Vuon has 12 children. Most of them have families and live on their own. On holidays and Tet, his children gather here. Since the previous afternoon, he and his wife have been busy preparing the ingredients to make sticky rice, waiting for the children to come home and eat happily.

Called rice, but the raw material for making bamboo rice is not from regular rice, but from sticky rice and the tool to make this dish must of course be bamboo tubes. Bamboo is full in the backyard, every time Mr. Sa Vuon makes this dish, he cuts down a tree, saws it into segments. Each segment of bamboo will keep one node, the other end is for putting sticky rice in.

After washing the sticky rice, soak it overnight. The next day, add soaked black beans, a little shredded coconut, a pinch of salt, mix well, and stuff it into the bamboo tube. "Don't fill the sticky rice too much, leave about a finger's length to add water like when cooking rice, then use a dry banana leaf as a stopper and close it," Mr. Sa Vuon instructed.

Because of the water content, the bamboo tubes must be kept upright when grilled, with the mouth facing up. The bamboo tubes are placed next to the banana tree trunks and placed next to the charcoal stove. "The banana tree has water, so it won't burn when the fire is big," Mr. Sa Vuon explained.

Mr. Sa Vuon grilled sticky rice waiting for his children and grandchildren to come home to eat on the day of the Kathyna Robe Offering Ceremony.

The bamboo tubes are continuously turned over by the fire. At first, after about 2 hours, the sticky rice inside is cooked.

To eat, first you have to peel off the outer bamboo skin like peeling sugarcane. The bamboo tubes that were initially black and smoky now become smooth and white. If you want to eat them hot, you continue peeling off the bamboo core.

From the mouth of the bamboo tube, Mr. Sa Vuong used his hand to gently strip the bamboo core down. "You have to keep the thin layer of bamboo silk that sticks to the rice like this. That's how delicious it is" - Mr. Sa Vuong finished stripping, broke off a piece of rice and gave it to me. The opaque bamboo silk stuck around the sticky rice grains mixed with black beans and coconut. I tried to put it in my mouth. Wow, what a strange aroma. It turned out to be the aroma of bamboo, sticky rice and the rich fat of coconut. Taking a bite, I was even more surprised. The bamboo rice was warm, not too sticky like sticky rice, nor too loose like white rice, each grain was delicious. But the best thing was still when I bit into the silk layer surrounding the sticky rice, the crunchy, crunchy feeling was very interesting.

After being treated to a hearty meal, I was sent a tube of rice by Mr. Sa Vuon "to take home for everyone to eat", how precious!

Source: https://nld.com.vn/diem-den-hap-dan/com-lam-ka-ot-20201029204235556.htm