Sticky Rice...

The other day I went over to a neighbours house to drop off a pair of pants for altering. This is a neighbour that I haven't mentioned before. She is a seamstress and her husband builds houses and is currently renovating their house. When I went over there she was busy "cleaning" rice. Cleaning the rice involved getting rid of any husks and little stones that were still hanging around. I asked her how much the rice cost. 6,000 rupiahs per kilo. She said that there was cheaper rice, but it's "jelek" (Indonesian for yucky). She said that it doesn't stick together. This is a real problem here as people usually eat with their hands only. They use a few fingers and their thumb to squish the rice into a ball and then put it in their mouth. So if the rice doesn't stick together it's pretty hard to do this. Eating with your hands is a Sundanese cultural thing. I think they would be horrified at such products as Uncle Bens converted rice or minute rice. I have to say that I agree now. There is nothing tastier, at least when it comes to rice, than some nice sticky Jasmine rice....