Beating the Rice

A few Sundays ago, Scott and I were jonesing for a Sunday breakfast out, something along the lines of a Diamond C breakfast. Something greasy, big, and filling. Well, of course there's no Eggs Benedict or biscuits and gravy in Bhutan, so we settled on a late breakfast of greasy momos and fried rice at Shonzy, the restaurant right across the street from where we live. From the window of Shonzy, we saw some people in the fields below harvesting rice and, after our lackluster breakfast, we went to investigate.

I've never seen the harvesting of rice so have been anxious for this time of year. There are tons of rice paddies in the area. Most of the rice that is grown around here is a local red rice, which everyone loves. It's often referred to as a favorite food by many of my students. Most tourist hotels and guest houses in the country will, for red rice, charge double what they ask for boring ol' white rice. Red rice is good - heartier tasting and has a stickier texture.

To harvest the rice, they gather big bundles of it from the ground,

bring to an area set for beating, grab a smaller bundle that will fit in both hands, and beat away.

In the beating process, the grain falls from the stalk. Later, the rice will get pounded in order for the husks to come off.

Scott was an expert beater.