Cook the local flavors once more

Rice cooked over a kamado

From: Lighting the kamado in a house in the sky

Steam escaping from under the lid

In this house the tiled kamado is still in daily use. What a rice cooker normally does, I did myself with firewood and a match. The heat depends on how much wood you feed in, and white smoke drifts from the chimney over the village. Rice cooked this way comes out fluffy; I packed it in a lunch box and ate it on the mountain.

Ingredients

Rice
Water
Firewood

How I made it

Wash the rice in the pot, draining the cloudy water and repeating a few times
Fill the pot with water, set the wooden lid on it and place it on the kamado
Lay thin sticks of firewood in the firebox and light them with a match
Control the heat by the amount of firewood, and cook until steam bursts from under the lid
When done, fluff the rice with a paddle

This moment in the journey

Lighting the kamado

First, I would cook rice over the kamado. I poured rice into the pot, added water and washed it, draining the cloudy water and repeating a few times. I hoped it would turn out well.

I set the wooden lid on the cast-iron pot and placed it on the tiled stove. Thin sticks of firewood went into the firebox, and I struck a match. I like how soft the flame of a match is. The fire caught, and soon flames filled the firebox. White smoke drifted from the chimney into the sky above the village. Ignition successful.

You control the heat by the amount of firewood. Steam burst from under the lid and clouded the air around the pot. Doing by hand what machines usually do for me was quietly moving. While the rice cooked, I stepped out into the narrow lane in front of the house.

Watch this scene on YouTube0:42

Read this scene in the full journey