06 September 2008 - Thai Cracker Jacks

Thai Cracker Jacks
Saturday 06 September 2008

Today we were back at Tahsang Village for laundry and more importantly, for me, to watch the next and final steps in making what I refer to as Thai Cracker Jacks.

The day before yesterday I had watched the villagers pop rice and wrote about it in my blog.

Today the process involved shredding the mature coconuts, making caramel, roasting peanuts, roasting millet, and assembling these ingredients along with Thai rice krispies.

The Rice Krispies are made out of local glutinous rice called "Kao Knieouw" (Sticky Rice).

After the rice is cooked, it is placed out in the sun to dehydrate. The end product is just like what we know in the US to be Rice Krispies.

Since we didn't get up until 8:00 AM and with the time requirements necessary to get from Udonthani to Tahsang Village, we missed the actual process of shredding the coconuts.
We had also stopped in Kumphawapi to pick up Duang's new outfit for our house warming party next week - Friday 12 September.

She had a beautiful traditional Isaan silk outfit tailor made for her. The outfit is an ankle length straight skirt with multiple tiny floral patterns, a tailored short sleeve burnt red blouse, and another tailored 3/4 sleeved burnt red blouse of the same style. The total cost was 1,050 baht - $31.81 USD or a little over 15 GBP (for you, Jean).

Yes we will finally be moving into our home early next week. After consulting with the local Monk, Duang has determined that Friday 12 September is a "good day" to have the house blessed and to celebrate. This subject of "good days" will be the subject of a future blog.

When we arrived back at Duang's aunt's house, the production was in full swing.

Approximately 14 people were busy going through all the final remaining steps to produce "Kao Tawtek" or as I refer to it "Thai Cracker Jacks"

The large iron wok that had been used to pop rice the other day was filled with coconut milk and shredded coconut that was being reduced down along with added sugar into caramel over a wood fire. The coconut was finely shredded - shredded to consistency of a coarse Brillo scouring pad. The white bubbling mixture was stirred with a 4 foot long strip of green bamboo.

At the far end of the production area, one of Duang's elderly aunts was tending a small wood fire over which she was roasting millet. Her task was complicated and interrupted at times by her 27 month old granddaughter. The grand daughter was all over the place "helping out". She was especially interested in playing with, sampling, and once very nearly dropped the whole pan of millet.

During our time there, the baby also got involved in stirring some of the caramel sauce waiting to be put into the wok, played and ate some peanuts, and sat down amongst the adults to bang firewood on the ground.

In the center of the production area, woven reed mats had been placed on the compacted dirt floor. Nine aunt, uncles, and cousins were sitting there packaging the Kao Tawtek. From a large plastic tub about 3-1/2 feet in diameter, they would grab a handful sized chunk of the warm final product. They then placed the Cracker Jacks into a 5 inch by 7 inch cellophane bag. With their hands they squared and flattened the mass of product. Once they had gotten the square flat and just right, they carefully sealed the open end of the bag using a small birthday cake sized candle. Overturned wood stools sheltered the candle flame from any breeze. The sealed end of the bag looked as if it had been sealed by a machine – a tribute to the skill of the workers.

The whole operation was conducted to the sounds of village life - crying babies next door, barking dogs, clucking and peeping chickens, an occasional laments from cattle or water buffalo, and most of all family gossip.

I do not understand much Thai and I do not understand Lao at all, but like most people I have that intuitive sense when people are talking about me. I suspected and Duang confirmed that they were talking, and laughing about my previous sexual harassment by their neighbor.

Fortunately she was not there today to "help" out. The people were also quite amused at my passion for photography. Today I ended up taking 562 photographs. I try and shoot from all types of different angles so there is some physical exertion and animation involved. In no time at all I become drenched in perspiration but continue on unabated with my obsession. This is entertaining to them.

I did take a break to drink some water and eat some of the fresh Kao Tawtek. It was very delicious. Everyone is excited about taking the Kao Tawtek to the Monks on 14 September. I told them that it was very tasty and I liked eating it. Through Duang I told them that if the Monks didn't like it, they could give all the Kao Tawtek to me. That was good for a hearty laugh and many smiles.

As the people were taking a break and eating some food, I tried my hand at tending the caramel over the wood fire. Duang enjoyed photographing me - I dislike being photographed, but ...

As the day moved on, the rhythm of village and family life continued. Duang's son became the topic of conversation. It seems that everyone knows now that he is a "mutter fye" A "Mutter Fye" is slang for "Butter Fly" - a promiscuous person. Apparently years ago (1982) there was a Pia Zadora movie by the name of "Butterfly" that was seen in Thailand. Pia's character was apparently a very "busy" person so the term has been adapted to describe a promiscuous person. Duang's son has two girlfriends right now in addition to his "wife". This state of affairs, literally and figuratively, has the village talking. It is common knowledge because his "wife" has thrown him out of the apartment in Udonthani. He now spends his week nights at his uncle's place in Udon and weekends at his grandmother's house in Tahsang. His wife has also called everyone to complain about him and his behavior. Thai women do not suffer in silence or alone. Their pain is a community thing.

Back to making Kao Tawtek - when Duang's aunt had finished preparing the millet, she roasted peanuts to be added to the mix. Peanuts are grown locally as part of a crop rotation scheme. Unlike most areas in the USA, the peanuts are sold raw and eaten raw. Duang's relatives had purchased the raw peanuts, hulled them, and were now roasting them to add to the other ingredients. After the peanuts had been roasted, the aunt rolled them by hand and winnowed them to remove the thin paper like skins.

Back at the main fire, the one with the large iron wok, the caramel had thickened to the correct stage. As one person continued to stir the hot caramel, other people started to dump the other items into the wok. First a fertilizer bag of pop rice was poured into the wok, followed by a smaller bag of rice krispies, then the millet and finally the peanuts. The coconut was already in the mix as it was part of the formulation that became the caramel. The conglomerate was stirred to develop a homogeneous mass and then two metal serving plates were used to scoop the Kao Tawtek out of the wok and into the aforementioned large plastic tub.

Twenty four small packages of Kao Tawtek were placed into a larger plastic bag. The larger bags were put into large fertilizer bag which eventually were placed into a farm wagon to be transported to storage until 14 September.

Another great day concluded with us headed back to Udonthani in the rain with many wonderful memories, 562 photographs, and 24 small bags of Kao Tawtek.