Traditional also The Savory Sweet Rice
This traditional Burmese Sweet rice snack is specially made at the end of February when the Lunar full moon night is still cold. In that chilly weather cooking on a big wood fire with a big Wok is also fun. In the villages, at the religious Buddhist center is a gathering place on every traditional occasion or event.
This traditional food is great for the body which can withstand the very hot summer season. That is why it might be made at the end of the winter season.
In the olden days in small towns, girls are usually not allowed to go out after dinner based on the traditional house rules. But an exception would be a special occasion or religious events, like this one, when the parents allowed their daughters to help with the preparation of food for early morning offering to the monks. This would be the time when men take the opportunity of showing off their biceps and triceps because they need to stir the thick sticky rice-food on the wood fire.
I could imagine their friendship and be teasing each other with pure loving kindness. I remember the art class project during my high school days, in which I had to draw the cooking of sweet sticky rice snack from our own imagination.
It was also the tradition for several teams to compete in making the rice snack. The village leaders would judge the taste and unity of each team. Scoring the team works too. Some of the small towns and villages still keep this culture as a traditional value.
This sweet sticky rice contains ginger, peanuts, sweet rice( glutinous rice), coconut, lots of sesame seeds( so much so that translation of the snack is " Loaded with Sesame Seeds". In Burmese name is " Hta Ma Nae" or " Hnan Ma Nae".
For the easy homemade version, we can cook in the rice cooker first and transfer it to the Wok for the later steps. This saves time and stirring sticky rice occasionally. Old folks said that by consuming this rice-snack has the medicinal cooling effect for the body to bear the heat of really hot summer in Myanmar.
( Note: It is good to eat together with crispy fried fish or smoked fish.)
Loaded Sesame Sweet Rice ( 4-6 Serving)
Ingredients
4 cups Sweet Rice ( soaked in water for 30 min and strain it)
1.5 cup Toasted Sesame Seeds
1.5 cup Peanut ( Salted roasted)
4 tbsp Thinly sliced ginger
1.5 cup Shredded coconut ( frozen or fresh)
1.5 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp Sugar
1 cup Oil
Instruction
1. In the stir fry pan add 1/2 cup oil and heat with the medium-high heat on the stove.
2. Add shredded coconut and stir frequently not to burn. When it turned to golden brown color, set it aside to cool in a dry bowl.
3. In the same pan, add the rest of the oil then add all the sliced ginger fry until fragrant.
4. Add the prewashed sweet rice to the fried ginger, add the half cup of peanut salt and sugar together and stir.
5. When all the ingredients are mixed, transfer it to the rice cooker 6 cups of water and cook.
6. After the cooking process is done add 2 more cups of water and cook again to make all the sweet rice turn into the dough like texture.
7. Add the sesame seeds, the rest of the roasted peanuts and toasted coconut into the pot and stir.
8. Transfer the mixture to the pan and stir all the water are gone. We may add more salt to our own taste.
9. Preparing the serving plate we have to sprinkle the crispy golden coconut flakes on top of that cooked rice to garnish.
10. As a "home away from home" family, this is an easy way to make our traditional food. Serves as a comforting traditional snack.
11. We may also use the black sesame seeds. (Optional).
