Bamboo used for cooking rice and meat
There are many ways to cook using bamboo. Raman’s wife prepares rice for lunch using bamboo and some leaves from the jungle carefully for our group that visited the orchard that day. Though I missed it, Meun (my better half) manages to capture part of the process in cooking hill rice in bamboo.
Bamboo, being is one of the fastest growing plants on earth and luckily it is quite readily available in the surrounding jungles where Raman lives. Before the group arrives, Raman was out it the bush early collecting bamboo for the group’s use. To use it for cooking, the bamboo is firstly cut and then washed thoroughly to remove any dirt or particles inside the bamboo.
Raman’s wife cuts bamboo carefully using a sharp parang
The cut bamboos are then clean and wash thoroughly
Raman brought some hill rice. Something that the indigenous communities treasure very much, probably because its aromatic smell which reminds them of the good old days. The rice are carefully laid in small batches and folded in Bemban leaves. A particular leaf from a Bemban plant that has stalks that looks a bit like bamboo. The leaves are wide and safe to use for cooking food. The rice is not wrapped tightly, in fact, it is wrapped rather ‘loose’ to allow the space for the rice to expand when cooked. Once wrapped, the small packets are then slowly lowered into the bamboo.
Raman’s daughter wrapping rice in Bemban leaves for cooking in bamboo
Raman prepares food using bamboo and other jungle materials
Rice in bamboo and skewered meat slowly cooks on fire
I brought some wild boar meat this time around and the ‘chefs’ decided to cook some in bamboo and the other half skewered to bamboo to cook slowly over fire. The sweet potatoes on the other hand go straight into the fire. Nothing beats simple way of cooking food I reckon.
The potatoes cooked over fire
No lunch is ever complete without some spicy dipping. Raman’s daughter prepared for us some mango sambal. She used a coconut shell and a stout piece of wood to mix these two incredible ingredients (mango & hot kampong chilies). It was really hot but eaten with rice and the meat…it is simply heavenly.
The yellowish mixture is really good!
As usual, when it comes to eating time, eating is the only thing in everyone’s mind. We enjoyed lunch so much we forgot totally to take pictures of the food served. But be rest assured, the food cooked in bamboo over fire by Raman’s wife is simply delicious. And we are lucky cause we will be doing this every now and then!