When Rice Pops Out and Stick Together

Mekong River, September 2nd 2011

Actually I'm not at all unfamiliar with this snack. I used to munch them when I was a kid. Much of them. Every vendor in front of every school (and also in front of my church) would have this snack. However, I've never witnessed with my own eyes the making of it. That's why I like to travel.

Step one: Pour sand into the giant frying pan. Yes, sand.

Step two: Pour in the paddy grains.

Step three: Stir the grains of paddy and sand, round and round, and round, and round. Oval is also okay :-D

Step five: Watch out! From the brownish black stir comes out white little balls. Rice are popping out!

Step six: Don't you ever, ever stop stirring :-D

Step seven: The photographer must give a close up in order to convince her audience that the brownish black stir is turning whiter, and whiter, and whiter.

Step eight: Pour the pop rice into a container. Use a shovel spoon, not an ordinary spoon, as the pop rice has doubled, tripled, their sizes. You want to gain as much profit as possible, don't you? So don't waste your fuel! Watch your cycle time! This is not a photographer speaking, but a factory employee with more than 10 years of experience! :-P

Oops, what was the last step? Eight? Yep! Now, step nine: Pour the pop rice into a strainer. Swing the strainer back and forth with one hand and rub the pop rice with another, also back and forth. Let all the rice peel fall out.

Step ten: Once the pop rice is purified, pour it into a flat container. Into it pour also sticky sugar liquid. Then using a roller, compress the content, and refine the surface.

Step eleven: Ah... I missed my guide's information. Anyway, the sweet sticky pop rice just now is kept for a certain period of time, and then cut into small blocks.

This is the end product, ready for sale. Sorry for a blurry picture. My guide and my other fellow tourists have already left. I have to catch up! See you in the next chapter! **running along Mekong River.