By Boni Hashim
One day, I interviewed my grandma “Amina” and she said that Modu Bhat is one of the most important traditional foods in our Rohingya culture. People commonly prepare it during the rainy season, it is eaten by gathering family and also on special occasions. It is very sweet and delicious food.
This is not just a food but also a symbol of identity and tradition. As my grandma said, when she gets Modu Bhat she feels that if anyone places two things ( one thousand Taka and on the other side Modu Bhat” she will select only Modu Bhat not the money, because she likes it very much.
The main ingredients of Modu Bhat are millet rice, milk, sticky rice, coconut, sugar, salt and water. We heat the water 2.5 litres in the stove still 20 minutes after that we add salt then sticky rice and stir for 5 minutes then we mix all the rest items. However, there was not one thing available, which is called the service of fire. So, they had to go to another village to bring fire but this time there is an available fire light.
After that, when they get fire from another village or we get fire from stone by rolling two stones very quickly, if they get fire then they start making Modu Bhat after making it. The older people gave the children hand to hand with some pieces of banana leaf.
Finally, older people are allowed to eat how much they want. In my childhood I went to a mosque to learn Arabic . When I came back from the mosque my grandma gave me a plate of Modu Bhat. I appreciated it but in the camp it is very rare to get ingredients to make Modu Bhat.
During this interview, my grandmother and Dil Bahar told me, “When we make Modu Bhat together, it brings the family closer and gathering.” She also said, “Even if we live separately from our homeland”, this food keeps our memories alive. Therefore, Modu Bhat represents unity, dignity, cultural pride and the strong connection between generations in the Rohingya community, welcoming the rainy season.
Specially, nowadays most of the people in my community don’t know about Modu Bhat because we unfortunately displaced to Bangladesh due to political issues about the genocide in our country Myanmar from Rakhine State. We are living as a Refugee in the camp of Bangladesh so our generations are forgetting day by day as we have no items to make Modu Bhat in the camp.
In Myanmar we had available coconut trees, cow’s milk, sticky rice and jackfruit trees so, without these items we couldn’t make Modu Bhat easily, only we can receive the ration under World Food Program (WFP). So, it’s not possible to make Modu bhat [Honey Rice] in the camp.
Ingredients:
millet rice – 250g, stocky rice – 2kg, coconut pieces, sugar – 200g, salt – 4 tblspn, water 2.5 liter
Note:
Boni Hashim is a student of Life Destination High School and also studying at Brac University ( Centre for Justice and Peace-CPJ).
