With the eleventh month of the Burmese (Myanmar) calendar, the month of Tabodwe (January/February) has arrived. As it is rice harvest time, this is a very busy month for the rural people of Burma. Tabodwe is also an important month for both the country and the people as rice is the staple diet of the Burmese people. Rice subsequently plays an immensely important role with regard to sufficient and healthy nutrition of the Burmese population.
Now the whole country is harvesting rice and there is not much time for celebrations. However, Tabodwe is also a joyful time that culminates in the harvest festival, the Burmese equivalent of Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day as it is called in North America. Enough rice means people don’t have to go hungry. So the rice harvest time is not only a time of hard work but also a time of joy.
This festival is called ‘Htamane’ for the special food offering that is cooked and eaten at this time. This gives women the most welcome opportunity to demonstrate their culinary skills. Htamane consists of sticky rice, coconut (shredded), peanut or cooking oil, peanuts (shelled), ginger (sliced), sesame, and salt.
There are three ways in which the htamane, or rice cooking festival as it is also called, is usually celebrated. These are in the private family circle or together with selected friends and neighbors or in community. Whichever way htamane is chosen to celebrate, it always means a big happy gathering because it takes a lot of hands to do all the necessary work. There are many things that must be done; from the preparation of the htamane ingredients to the cooking itself. Rice grains and sesame seeds must be winnowed, rice must be properly washed and soaked, coconut shells must be broken, fibers removed, water/milk poured out and pulp crushed/sliced, peanuts must be shelled and shell removed, ginger must be peeled and sliced, and so on.
Cooking htamane is hard work as extremely sticky htamane which, if, for example, the party is held together with a large number of people, is cooked in large iron bowls or pots over wood or charcoal fire and must over a period of about half an hour be permanently crushed and stirred with long wooden ladles. However, this part of the cooking process, although supervised and controlled by the women, is carried out by two or three men simultaneously, as it requires considerable strength.
While doing their soporific work, the men are prodded and encouraged by shouts from onlookers and, occasionally, by the rhythm of dobats played by dobat troupes. When the first batch of htamane is ready and the first serving is offered to Gautama Buddha and pongyis, the exhausted members of the kitchen team sit down to enjoy the fruits of their hard work and the next kitchen team takes over, then the next, and so on.
Below I will give you a more detailed description of how htamane cooking works; you can try to do it yourself.
The first step is to pour the peanut oil into the pot and fry the ginger and coconut one after another. Do not forget to strain the oil after each frying. The fried coconut and ginger slices are then reserved. The next step is to get about half of the peanut oil out of the pot.
Next, the rice enters, which was about two hours before washing it and then putting it in clear water to soak until it is put in the pot with the remaining peanut oil. Water is added and then the rice should be cooked. About 30 minutes later the rice is soft and then some of the fried coconut and ginger is reserved for use later, to decorate the htamane portions served, that is, all the ingredients except sesame are added to the rice. Some people at this stage remove the pot from the heat as the htamane can easily burn when it remains on the heat and is not stirred very, very properly. However, the flavor is much better when the pot remains on the fire until the htamane is done. Both paths have in common that now the touching act begins. First the rice is kneaded and mashed between the wooden ladles and properly mixed with the ingredients while the dough becomes more and more sticky so that in the end it takes a lot of force to make the htamane yield to the ladles.
The last and easiest part is sprinkling the sesame seeds. This – so it is said – requires great skill as the flavor of the htamane depends on the person sprinkling the seeds handful by handful at regular intervals into the htamane while the strong men do the hard work of stirring and mixing the very sticky dough with their ladles. When the last sesame is sprinkled on the htamane it is done and the pot is removed from the heat.
By the way, ‘sprinkling sesame seeds’ is a Burmese idiom used derogatorily to put the finishing touches on something after others have done the main heavy and/or dirty work. So when, for example, you’re adding some seasonings to an already-cooked meal that your mother (or wife) took time to prepare and cook, she’s ‘sprinkling sesame seeds’. This idiom can be applied to any type of work and is not limited to cooking.
When the htamane is ready, it is divided into portions (which is best done with a spoon or knife dipped in oil so that the htamane does not stick), garnished nicely with grated and sliced fried coconut and ginger and sesame seeds, and served. The taste of htamane is… well, all I can say is, “Hmmm, delicious, delicious.” And he is very rich; You don’t need much to have your fill.
The traditional way of serving it is on a banana leaf properly washed and rubbed with cooking oil. Tradition is very important in Burma, which shows in many aspects of daily life for the Burmese, as it permeates and sometimes even controls them.
Especially in rural areas, rice is often still cooked in clay pots with a hump fired. This means that when the rice is ready it has a peak-shaped top (called a crown). This ‘crown’ is the most select part of the rice. It is carefully separated from the rest of the rice and, according to an ancient tradition, set aside and reserved for food offerings to Gautama Buddha and pongyis. This tradition is called ‘top priority for those to whom respect is due’ and is a custom that is still practiced today.
