RICE KERNEL OR FLAT RICE
Ok Om Bok Festival (meaning to eat a handful of flat rice) or the Moon of the Khmer on the 15th of lunar October. The most popular legend has it that: In the kingdom of the Khmer, a young king, after defeating his enemy, wanted to find a queen of integrity who is worthy of his kingdom. The king held a cooking contest in which the girl who made the best food would be chosen to be the queen. There were countless dishes among which flat rice had won the king’s and other people’s hearts. That dish was made by a girl of diligence, perseverance, and a pure heart. Finally, she was crowned queen. Since then, the dish had been made to offer the god of the Moon. Surprisingly, came with such an offering were prosperous crops in the kingdom. flat rice therefore become a cherished dish and an integral part of the Moon festival every year. Today, if you have the opportunity to see how the dish is made, you will value the cook’s hard work as well as his mind and heart which he puts all into the dish to make a delicious and beautiful plate of crispy tasty sweet rice kernels. There are two main types of sticky rice: white sticky rice (harvested after 4 months), and charcoal sticky rice (harvested after 6 months). Choose the sticky rice that has just ripen (local people would call it “dốt dốt”). Those grains are the best since they are still soft and keep the sticky rice fragrance. We cut this glutinous rice, soaked in water over night, over soaked rice will be sour. It is the cooked on a stove until all the grains have popped and smoke no longer comes up. Then they quickly poured into a pounding tool to get rid of the husk. The rice has not been well-cooked while the kernel inside will be flat. That is why it is called flat kernels. The pounding process is an arduous task requiring two people with strength and persistence. The pounding bat is made of a star apple tree trunk in order to retain the original taste of the kernel. Also this wood is good, firm and heavy. One person with the big bat in bold hands will pound first, and then his partner with a smaller bat will follow for the next pound with a bamboo stick in another hand to remove the sticky kernel around the bowl. The two then melancholy work together. The next step is to strain out the husks and select the best intact grains. Before serving, spray water all over the kernel; too much water results in too soft kernel, too little water, on the other hand, results in too dry kernel. Next, mix with grated coconut meat, salt, sugar, and mashed roasted peanuts and leave for 10 minutes. Finally, we have a very delicious and worth to cherish dish. This dish is not only an offering but also the Southern people’s favorite food sold in An Giang, Soc Trang and Tra Vinh.
Collected by Linh Trang
