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Sekai Gohan
Rượu cần: Vietnamese Highland Rice Wine Drunk Through Bamboo Straws
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Amount | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Glutinous rice (gạo nếp) | 2.2 lb (1 kg) | The body of the wine, cooked with the leaves |
| Prareng leaves | 4.4 lb (2 kg) | Cooked with the rice for aroma and the bitter edge |
| Rice for the men | as needed | Soaked and ground into flour for the yeast ball |
| Hơ Muôn'L bark powder | as needed | Kneaded into the men for the bitter style |
| Water | as needed | For kneading the men, and poured into the jar before drinking |
| Rice husks (trấu) | as needed | Mixed into the mash and layered at the bottom and top of the jar |
Steps
1Grind the rice and shape the men
Soak the rice for the men, then grind it to a flour. Mix the flour with the Hơ Muôn'L bark powder and add water a little at a time. Knead until the dough holds together. Shape it into fist-sized balls.
2Rest the men under banana leaves
Set the balls on a nia and cover them with banana leaves. Put the tray somewhere out of the wind. Leave them for 2 to 3 days. The men is ready when a white bloom covers the balls and they give off a light, pleasant smell.
3Singe, dry and hang the men
Light the dry thatch grass and pass it over the balls to burn off the surface bloom. Leave the balls to dry thoroughly. Hang them above the kitchen hearth until you need them.
4Cook the rice with the leaves and cool it
Pack the glutinous rice and Prareng leaves into the bamboo tubes and cook them. The grain should come out neither too hard nor too soft. Spread the rice thinly on a nia and let it cool. Move on when the rice no longer steams and feels cool to the hand.
Firm grain, cool riceRice that is too hard or too soft spoils the mash. Cook it so the grain comes out neither too hard nor too soft, and add the men only once the rice has cooled.
5Pound the rice and mix in the men
Pound the cooled rice into a sticky cake. Crush the dried men to a powder. Sprinkle it over the rice, one ball for each 2.2 lb (1 kg) of rice, and mix it through by hand. For the K'Ho way, work in some rice husks so the mash stays loose. The mash is ready when the powder has disappeared into it and it no longer sticks together in lumps.
Keep to one men per kiloToo much men turns the wine sour. Too little lets the mash rot before it ferments. Keep to one ball for each 2.2 lb (1 kg) of rice.
6Pack and seal the jar
Lay a layer of rice husks in the bottom of the clean, dry jar. Pack the mash in and spread a second layer of husks over the top. Press it down with dried banana leaves. Seal the mouth with beeswax or ash-and-water paste, or close it with banana leaves and a cloth. The jar is ready when the seal sits tight all the way round.
7Leave it to ferment in the shade
Carry the jar to a shaded corner and cover it with a cloth. Leave a sweet jar for at least 20 days. Most jars need one to two months, rice jars about one month and corn jars two to three. A jar left longer only gets better. Check now and then that the seal stays whole and that the corner stays dark and cool.
8Open the jar and add water
Set the jar at the place of honour. Break the seal and pour in water from the buffalo horn or a ladle. Lay a leaf and 3 to 4 bamboo strips over the mouth to hold back the solids, then push the straws in. The jar is ready when the straw draws clear liquid with no grains.
9Drink together and keep the jar topped up
Guests and elders drink first, one straw for a festival, two for a wedding. Only the host adds more water. In the S'Tiêng way, a branch called Kê Nhệt Pê is laid across the mouth to mark the level, and each drinker empties at least one notch.