Late rice harvest and putting ticks in boxes.

The monsoon was late and dry when we arrived in July. The last of the muddy paddy’s had been transplanted with young rice seedlings and now in mid-October the new crop is eagerly awaited. Across Nepal and in our district Lamjung, subsistence farmers want to fill their rice stores and plant the next crop of potatoes, cabbage, cauliflowers, beans or wheat. The rice berries seem to be filling and yet those late planted crops have still not come into ear.

Berries fill and the rice harvest in near.

 Small holders we have talked to are keen to stress they grow all their own requirements of rice, which is unsurprising since terraces are everywhere from the valley bottoms to high on precipitous slopes at 2700m. It is only here that rice gives way to millet as the favoured crop followed by potatoes which will be planted in late October or November – hinting that we must be in for mild winters as these tubers are not frost hardy. But this late harvest will affect crops next spring.

Two young women carry bags of rice.

Old and young women and men can be seen carrying bags of rice to and fro suggesting they must be buying or selling as stocks run out. On our evening walk we find those deductions are far from correct as we stumble across a block built shed with the sound of electric motors and chatter coming from the open door.

Not just a job but also a social gathering

Rice dehusking

Final process, polishing rice

A dusty mill worker

Rice, when thrashed from the straw, cannot be eaten until the husk has been removed to reveal what we know as ‘brown rice’. This type of rice is not eaten in Nepal, or most of Asia, until it has undergone the polishing process which quite successfully removes any hint of protein that the rice has to offer. So in this shed we witnessed the usual social gathering of women who had carried the rice to be milled. Unprotected ‘v’ belts zipped round, dust filled the air and settled on clothes but there was a moment for the women to rest and watch before carrying the heavy bags back to their homes.

The pressure cooker features in our kitchen, along with a 'silantaa'
a stone used to crush ginger, garlic and spices.

From early morning to late evening the sound of pressure cookers can be heard in every household as equal measures of rice and water are cooked for the daal bhaat. Once the cooker has given one hiss of steam and been taken off the heat for a few minutes it is done. Rice is the starch staple here but potatoes do feature as a popular veg. curry. Maize, millet, wheat and rice are also ground and the flour used for Nepali roti’s and momo’s a sort of little stuffed pudding that resembles a tiny pasty that is steamed.

Maize is ground to flour

 

A small isolated shed at 2700m.

 

A hint at the sheds contents, the mini mill race.

 

In the shed a water powered mill stone. The stone
is about 2 feet diameter.

 

Undaunted by a lack of rolling pins I was interested in re-living my student days by making a few roti’s to vary the diet and compliment Jude’s delicious daal. A small steel bowl found in all Nepali kitchens with wheat flour and some cold water was soon home to my freshly kneaded dough which I formed into a long sausage and divided into five golf ball sized lumps. Using an old beer bottle I rolled out each ball, rotating the disc between each roll but being careful not to turn it over. My dry frying pan was really hot as I carefully placed the roti into it and the tell-tail signs of small lifting bubbles happened almost immediately. I flipped the roti once and then to finish it off carefully lifted it out of the pan and placed it on the naked flamed where it blew up like a newly inflated tyre. My roti was cooked and tasted wonderful when dipped in the daal and eaten with the right hand only!

Beer bottle doubles up as a rolling pin.

 

Roti's are finished on the naked flame.

 

 

 Another tick in the box of my personal aims. It’s not all about saving the world and if my old mate Bob is looking down on me now he would chuckle with pride that I have not forgotten all he taught me. The next personal challenge is learning to juggle and for all those interested I’m at the two ball stage and about to take on the mighty test of 3 balls. Wish me luck!