Popping Rice In Isaan - Kao Tawtek Time.

Popping Rice In Isaan

I first encountered the Isaan specialty, Kao Tawtek, seven years ago.  I often refer to Kao Tawtek as "Thai Cracker Jacks"

Cracker Jacks are treat for the past 129 years in the United States.  They are molasses flavored, caramel covered kernels of popcorn and peanuts.

Early September is the time, when Lao Loum families gather together to make Kao Tawtek.  Rice is one of the main components of the delicious treat.  Last year's harvest of rice is stored in small raised sheds adjacent to each house.  Large 50 kilogram (110 pound) recycled fertilizer bags, sugar bags, and rice bags are filled with sun dried rice kernels each October and November.  The bags are kept in the raised granaries and removed as needed to feed the family or opened to obtain offerings at special events such as funerals, bone parties, Tambon Roy Wan -100 day death anniversary, weddings, and Monk ordinations.  Families who are unable to make offerings of cash, make donations of rice.  The cash as well as the rice are then offered to the Monks in merit making rituals.

The stored rice has husk in tact.  In order to eat the rice, the rice is brought to a local miller to remove the husk, rendering the rice to the state that most people in the USA are familiar with at their grocery store.  Many bags of rice are not milled in Isaan because they are the seed stock for next year's crop.  Other bags of unmilled rice are saved to make kao tawtek.

I suspect that it is not by coincidence that the time to make kao tawtek is a month before the harvest of this year's rice crop.  Families now know how much rice they have as surplus from the last harvest, so that are able to make the special treat without fear of running out of rice before the new harvest is available.

Early last month, after our return from Vietnam, we drove out to Thasang Village.  Members of Duang's extended and extensive family were popping rice as part of the process to make this year's Kao Tawtek.



We ended up at one of Duang's Aunt's house.  Alongside of the house underneath the shelter of an overhanging corrugated metal roof, there was a stove made out of a modified steel barrel. The barrel had been cut in half with a large notch cut into the side. The barrel was then placed upside down on the dirt so that the notch served as a door to the interior of the barrel. A small wood fire was burning inside of the barrel using long pieces of fire wood. As the fire burned down, people shoved the unburned portions of the logs deeper into the barrel. On top the barrel was a large and heavy wok type iron frying pan. A woman was popping rice in the hot wok. She would take about a quart of brown rice seed from a woven wood basket and sprinkle it into the wok. She constantly stirred the seed inside the wok with a rustic broom made with a wood handle and reed bristles. In no time at all, the seed started to pop. With snap, crackles and pops the white interior of the kernel burst forth - much like popcorn.  She continued stirring the seeds despite the updraft of hot rice puffs. When the wok seeds were fully engaged in popping, she placed a battered old metal container attached to a wood handle over the wok to contain the rice puffs.

The sound of the popping rice seed, the swirling smoke, the swishing sound of the stiff reeds on hot metal, the sight of white rice puffs bursting upwards, and the smell of a wood fire all created quite a sensory explosion.  The shelter of the overhanging roof ensured that the pending rain would not interfere with the activity.



 

 

Occasionally another woman would stoop down and tend the fire. Most of the time tending the fire was adding just a couple more inches of the small pieces of wood into the fire. Other times tending the fire involved splashing some water on the coals to maintain a desired temperature in the wok - too hot a temperature would end up quickly burning the popped rice before it could be removed.

As the popping came to a conclusion, another woman would approach the fire to take hold of the large metal bowl that had been used over the top of the wok. She held the bowl at an angle as she swept the hot rice puffs into it.



The puffed rice was then carried to another woman who was tending a woven basket suspended from the overhead beams. The hot rice puffs were dumped into the woven basket that she rocked back and forth by hand to sieve the product. Unpopped seed and smaller puff pieces fell through the basket onto a mat comprised of sahts, woven reed mats, along with flattened recycled rice, sugar and fertilizer bags.. The rejected product is used to feed chickens and cattle. The acceptable puffs were dumped into metal pots and eventually placed into clean empty fertilizer plastic sacks to be used another day with the other ingredients.



 

 

The plan for the day was only to pop the rice and to wait until another day to cook in the sugar, millet, coconut, peanuts and package the delicious treat.

The work proceeded with a great deal of laughing and talking - very little transpires here in Isaan without a great deal of talking and gossiping.

The Kao Tawtek is finished for  Wan Kao Saht the Mid Autumn (Moon) Festival.  On this day, the Lao Loum people of Isaan make offerings to the hungry phii (ghosts).  In making the offerings to the phii, the people ask the ghosts to watch over and take care of this year's rice crop which will be harvested in October and November.  Close to the harvest, the people want to ensure that there are no problems with the crop.  The kao tawtek is a special treat for the spirits.

 

Kao Tawtek is also offered to the Monks as they complete roughly 60 days of the 90 day Buddhist Lent also referred as the Buddhist Rains Retreat. Families can also make extra income by selling surplus kao tawtek to people who want and need it but are not able or willing to make it themselves.

 

I am in constant admiration of the local people's self reliance and willingness to take advantage of the opportunities, many of them self-made, to support themselves.  Fortunately, especially for them, there is not much interference from government in the people's efforts.

The Lao Loum people, be they living in Thailand or in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos), may not live in "the land of the free ..." but they are free to make a living without cumbersome regulation.  My experience is also the same for the people of Vietnam.


 

 

Kao Tawtek - The Rest of the Story; Final Process

Popped Rice Is Added to Other Ingredients

Last Thursday, as promised, we received the phone call from the family out in Tahsang Village that the next day 13 Friday, they would be finishing up making their Kao Tawtek (Thai Cracker Jacks).  Once again Duang and I drove out to her mother's home to help, and photograph the last steps of the process to produce the special treats that are used to mark the Mid Autumn (Moon) Festival on 19 September (yes, yet another trip out to the village).

In my previous blog regarding offering the treats to the Monks, I stated that the ritual was part of Kao Patducdin.  In speaking with her mother, Duang realized that she had given me the wrong information.  Although the date is the same and the purpose is the same, the day is actually Bun Kao Sa rather than Kao Patducdin.

The previous day the family had grated mature coconut meat and cooked the shavings over an open outside fire in water, and sugar.  When we arrived at Duang's mother's house.  The family was assembled next door under the protection of the covered porch area.

Duang's Aunt Adding Margarine to Kao Tawtek Mixture

Open pots of cool cooked coconut and sugar water mixture lay on the ground next to bags of the popped rice that we had seen prepared earlier in the week.  There were also several cans of sweetened condensed milk awaiting to be opened.  On the raised wooden platform that serves as a combination table, couch, bed, playroom, and food prep area, there were clear plastic bags of "Kao Pong" and bags of roasted peanuts. Unlike my previous experience with another aunt on the other side of the village, there was no millet to add to the kao tawtek. I guess family recipes can even vary amongst family members.

Kao Pong is a rice product very much like "Rice Krispies" - a sort of puffed rice as opposed to "popped" rice which is more like popcorn.  The family did not make the Kao Pong .  They purchased it at a local market.  According to Duang, Kao Pong is produced by cooking rice seed in water and some coloring.  The Kao Pong was beige and yellowish in color.  When we arrived, a cousin was sifting the Kao Pong with a fine fish net to separate powder and fine fragments from the product that would go into the Kao Tawtek.

Sifting Kao Pong To Get Rid of Fine

The fines that ended up on the ground did not go to waste.  Both local dogs and the village "free range" chickens made periodic forays amongst all the  family workers to feast upon the unexpected treat.

Mixing Up the Sifted Kao Pong

A caramel type sauce was made by heating industrial strength margarine (I call it "industrial strength" because of its color.) and, the coconut mixture, and cans of sweetened condensed milk.  No attempt was made to confuse anyone into believing this margarine was butter!  It hearkened back memories from my very young years when a deep yellow capsule had to be mixed into Oleo to make margarine).   The margarine and sweetened condensed milk mixture was stirred with a wood paddle that typically is used to propel the family steel pirogue in the nearby flood plain.

Stirring the Caramel Base With Pirogue Paddle

Occasionally, Duang's aunt, using the paddle, would take some of the hot bubbling caramel mixture and drop it into a small bowl of water to determine if the mixture was ready for the next step of the process.  When the sauce had been heated to the proper temperature and reached the desired condition, other workers came over to the large wok with the bags of popped and bags of puffed rice as well as the peanuts.  They poured the ingredients into the bubbling brown sweet liquid using large metal serving trays to direct the cascade of dry ingredients into the wok as well as to immediately commence mixing all the ingredients together.

Time to Mix The Kao Tawek

After the ingredients are quickly and completely mixed in the hot wok, the amalgamated kao tawtek is scooped out of the wok using the same metal serving trays used for mixing.  The Kao Tawtek is placed into a large plastic tub and placed on the elevated platform where the majority of the workers sat.

Kao Tawtek Packaging Circle

Most of the workers have the responsibility of filling small plastic bags with the still warm Kao Tawtek. There are two methods used to fill the individual bags.  The first method is to grab the appropriate amount from the plastic tub with a bare hand and shove it in the bag.  The other method is to invert the plastic bag over your hand and grab the required amount of kao tawtek with the covered hand - just like selecting pastries or donuts in a bakery. The selection of method is an individual choice.

The bags are stuffed with the warm mixture and are formed into uniform bricks of sweet treat by squeezing and pressing with the hands.

Duang Seals A Bag of Kao Tawtek Using Heat From A Candle

The remainder of the seated workers are occupied sealing the filled bags of Kao Tawtek.  There is no need for specialized equipment such as electron beam sealers or even heated metal plate sealers.  The workers use a lit candle to seal each bag. A thin yellow candle that is used in rituals at the Wat is set on top of the platform and lit to provide the heat to seal the bags. The top of the plastic bag is folded over and the resulting seam created between the body of the bag and folded flap is melted with the candle.  Sealing the bag helps to keep the treat fresh and just as importantly - keeps the ants out.

All the activity is not performed in silence.  Everyone seems to be talking, talking loudly, all at the same time.  The din is often punctuated by laughing and exclamations of "Ugh Ugh".  Canadians are well know for incorporating "Eh" into many of their sentences.  Well the Lao Loum are even more apt to use the ubiquitous "Ugh Ugh" into just about every sentence.  "Ugh, Ugh" is an extremely versatile phrase - it means "Yes", "I agree". "For sure", "Definitely", and used to emphasize the previous statement.

QC Dept, Phere and Peelawat, Testing the Sweetened Condensed Milk

Periodically the workers would change jobs.  Duang helped out filling bags as well as sealing bags.  Her cousin stirring the pot, well actually "wok" and dumped ingredients into the caramel. Duang's aunt, Kwan's grandmother, concentrated on stirring the wok and mixing.  Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Little Packages Placed In Bag to Make A Bigger Package

The small packets of Kao Tawtek were placed into larger plastic bags to form big blocks of the treats.  Besides offering Kao Tawtek to the Monks, and the hungry spirits, the treats will be given to elderly family members as gestures of appreciation at this time of the year.  Besides donating their time and labor to produce the Kao Tawtek, family members also donate some of the ingredients such as rice and coconuts.

Cousin Youpin Gathering Somme Greens Alongside the Street for Lunch

After three hours it was break time - betel nut chewing and eating time.  Cousin Youpin went along the village street collecting some greens to add to the lunch of sticky rice, fish, and vegetarian curry.  Now that there has been so wet for so long, it is not uncommon to see people gathering food from the plants that grow wild along the roads and, in this case, village streets.  The Lao Loum people, long ago, learned to live off of the land - often making do with what is readily available.

Lunch Time!

Betel-nut Chewing Time

I had gone off to another outdoor raised platform to rest and cool off.  It was less "confusing" there and there was more room for my camera gear. Our days are still hot - 90F to 95F for high temperatures. All the stooping and squatting to get different perspectives for the photos had made me very sweaty, tired, and thirsty. Soon I looked up to see a common sight - Duang bringing me some Pepsi to drink.  I never have to ask, she just seems to intuitively know when it is time.

Nothing Like Ice Cold Pepsi to Drink on a Hot Day!

Duang donated 1,000 baht to help pay or most likely pay for the store bought ingredients such as sweetened condensed milk, sugar, peanuts, plastic bags, and Kao Pong.  We left with four bags, little bags, of Kao Tawtek.

Like the fisherman who goes to Alaska to catch salmon, has it canned or frozen, and shipped back to their home, I realize that it would have been much cheaper to just buy some Kao Tawtek at the store (market). Just like that fisherman, I realize that buying it is not the same - not the same pleasure or experience that has been enjoyed.

For me there is also the added sense of being part of a family as well as community along with seeing the joy of my wife in her being able to make these things happen..

"Hey Kids, What Time Is It?"

Lao Loum Women Making Popped Rice

Back in the 1950's in the USA, there was a children's program named "Howdy Doody" which starred a puppet of the same name.  Each show would start with the host, "Buffalo Bob" saying "Hey kids, what time is it?"  The live audience of children would scream out "It's Howdy Doody time!"

Well it has not been Howdy Doody time in the USA since 1960 when the show went off the air.  To be truthful, I never liked the show.  However it is now "Kao tawtek time" here in Isaan and I love Kao Tawtek.

I first encountered the Isaan specialty, kao tawtek, almost five years ago to the day (6 September 2008).  I refer to Kao Tawtek as "Thai Cracker Jacks"

Early September is the time, when Lao Loum families gather together to make Kao Tawtek.  Rice is one of the main components of the delicious treat.  Last year's harvest of rice was stored in small raised sheds adjacent to the house.  Large 50 kilogram (110 pound) recycled fertilizer bags, sugar bags, and rice bags are filled with sun dried rice kernels each October and November.  The bags are kept in the raised granaries and removed as needed to feed the family or opened to obtain offerings at special events such as funerals, bone parties, 100 day death anniversary, weddings, and Monk ordinations.  Families who are unable to make offerings of cash, make donations of rice.  The cash as well as the rice are then offered to the Monks in merit making rituals.

The stored rice has its husk in tact.  In order to eat the rice, the rice is brought to a local miller to remove the husk, rendering the rice to the state that most people in the USA are familiar with at their grocery store.  Many bags of rice are not milled in Isaan because they are the seed stock for next year's crop.  Other bags of unmilled rice are saved to make kao tawtek.

I suspect that it is not by coincidence that the time to make kao tawtek is a month before the harvest of this year's rice crop.  Families now know how much rice they have as surplus from the last harvest.

Yesterday we had a family funeral to attend in the village near Duang's home village of Ban Tahsang.  We had also been notified that some of the relatives in Tahsang Village would be making kao tawtek.  Our plan was to attend the funeral after first watching the family make kao tawtek.

A Metal Pan Is Used To Contain the Popping Rice

After walking across the main farm road through Ban Tahsang we ended up at one of Duang's relatives house.  Alongside of the house underneath the shelter of an overhanging corrugated metal roof, there was a stove made out of a modified steel barrel. The barrel had been cut in half with a large notch cut into the side. The barrel was then placed upside down on the dirt so that the notch served as a door to the interior of the barrel. A small wood fire was burning inside of the barrel using long pieces of fire wood. As the fire burned down, people shoved the unburned portions of the logs deeper into the barrel. On top the barrel was a large and heavy wok type iron frying pan. A woman was popping rice in the hot wok. She would take about a quart of brown rice seed from a woven wood basket and sprinkle it into the wok. She constantly stirred the seed inside the wok with a broom made with a wood handle and reed bristles. In no time at all, the seed started to pop. With snap, crackles and pops the white interior of the kernel burst forth - much like popcorn.  She continued stirring the seeds despite the updraft of hot rice puffs. When the wok seeds were fully engaged in popping, another woman grabbed a large metal bowl and placed it over the wok to contain the rice puffs.

The sound of the popping rice seed, the swirling smoke, the swishing sound of the stiff reeds on hot metal, the sight of white rice puffs bursting upwards, and the smell of a wood fire all created quite a sensory explosion.  The shelter of the overhanging roof ensured that the pending rain would not interfere with the activity.

Sweeping Popped Rice Into A Metal Tub

Occasionally another woman would stoop down and tend the fire. Most of the time tending the fire was adding just a couple more inches of the small pieces of wood into the fire. Other times tending the fire involved splashing some water on the coals to maintain a desired temperature in the wok - too hot a temperature would end up quickly burning the popped rice before it could be removed..

As the popping came to a conclusion, another woman would approach the fire to take hold of the large metal bowl that had been used over the top of the wok. She held the bowl as the cook swept the hot rice puffs into it.

Sifting the Popped Rice to Get rid of Unpopped Kernels

The puffed rice was then carried to another woman who was tending a woven basket suspended from the overhead beams. The hot rice puffs were dumped into the woven basket that she rocked back and forth by hand to sieve the product. Unpopped seed and smaller puff pieces fell through the basket onto woven reed mats. The rejected product will used to feed chickens and cattle. The acceptable puffs were dumped into metal pots and eventually placed into clean empty fertilizer plastic sacks.

Laughter Is Always Abundant Here - Or At Least When I Am Around

I had hoped to be able to photograph and, better yet, sample some completed kao tawtek.  Unfortunately the plan for the day was only to pop the rice and to wait until another day to cook in the sugar, millet, coconut and package the delicious treat.

Our time at the family home was not over  after I had packed away my camera gear.  Inside the house was a two month old baby boy that we had to meet.  It seems that no matter where we go here in Isaan we encounter children of all ages.  It is always nice as well as entertaining to meet the new generation.  After holding the baby, feeding him some water, and "talking" as well as "listening" to him, we left for the cremation ritual in the next village.

We were told that other relatives in Tahsang Village would be making kao tawtek today.  We left our home at 7:00 A.M. to get out to Tahsang Village early.  The work is hot so the family was going to finish in the morning before temperatures got too high.

Duang's relatives, who live across the street from the "inside" Wat of Ban Tahsang had set up their "kitchen" on the Wat's grounds under the shade of a large tree amongst the chedi which contain the bones of past villagers.

Processing Popped Rice for Kao Tawtek

This morning there was not a threat of rain so the process could take place in a more exposed location.

Popping Rice

Duang's uncle, aunts and cousins all took part in this effort - true family effort.  Their plan was to pop three bags, 330 pounds (150 kilos) of seed.  Unfortunately their plan for the day did not include producing a finished product.  They did promise to call us when they will assemble and package the kao tawtek.


Separating the Chaff From the Popped Rice

The work proceeded with a great deal of laughing and talking - very little transpires here in Isaan without a great deal of talking and gossiping.

Uncle Guhyoi (Banana) Winnows Rice Seeds to be Popped

"Chef" Yupin, Duang's Cousin Stirring the Pot

The Kao Tawtek will be finished for 19 September - "Kao Patducdin".  Kao Patducdin, my spelling of what Duang told me, is the Mid Autumn (Moon) Festival.  On this day, the Lao Loum people of Isaan make offerings to the hungry phii (ghosts).  In making the offerings to the phii, the people ask the ghosts to watch over and take care of this year's rice crop which will be harvested in October and November.  This close to the harvest, the people want to ensure that there are no problems with the crop.  The kao tawtek is a special treat for the spirits.  Kao Tawtek is also offered to the Monks as they complete roughly 60 days of the 90 day Buddhist Lent also referred as the Buddhist Rains Retreat. Families can make extra income by selling surplus kao tawtek to people who want and need it but are not able or willing to make it themselves.  During today's activities I heard and understood the family talking about how much money they expected to make this year.

Cousin Yupin Uses the Cover of Rainwater Collection Urn to Contain Popped Rice
 

 

 

I will be photographing the remaining steps required to produce Kao Tawtek when we get the word in the next week and one-half.  I am looking forward to ... providing QC feedback to the family cooks!

Of course I will be sharing the photos and writing a blog on the activity.

I am not planning on sharing any of my Lao Tawtek though.