How to make rice beer at home - The Indian Tribal Way
By C V Singh
Hadia or Handia is the rice beer, made after fermentation of rice starch into sugars, in eastern Indian states of Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. The leading wine manufacturers in India and elesewhere have got inspired by the concept and manufacturers like Anheuser-Busch Inc (ABI), which makes the Budweiser brand, has found that a rice variety blends well with hops. Rice gives the beer a different refreshing taste.
The Santhal and other tribal groups of Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal prefer to make this Handia at home. Product is believed to keep people cool in summer and it's customary to offer Handia to God, and to guests on the social occasions.The name 'Handia' is used probably because of the pot in which rice beer is fermented. It is a big earthen pot called"Handi" in local language.
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The stepwise process of preparing the rice-beer is shown below.
Step I: Dried rice is ground well. (Take care in selection of rice for Handia preparation. Handia can not be prepared using any rice variety. In Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh, rice variety "Karahani" and "Gora" (brown rice) are used for Handia making). Grinding of the rice is not done by all. In majority of cases, raw brown rice is cooked in Aluminium pot (Dagchi) with limited quantity of water.
Step II.Boil (cook) the rice and spread out on a plastic met to let it dry
Step III. A herbal root mixture called "Ranu" (Mulika in Santhali dialect) is powdered and mixed with rice. Small sized balls of rice (mixed with "Ranu") are prepared. (Ingredients of "Ranu" are kept a secret by tribals. It is said to be amalgam of 21 herbs mixed with polished rice and made in pebble shaped and dried for four days. Three "Ranus" are sufficient for one kg of rice).
Step IV. Put these balls in a large earthen pots. Cover the mouth of earthen pots with "Sal" leaves and leave for fermentation for few days (three to four days).
Step V. Sieve the fluid of the fermented rice and rice beer is ready for consumption.
Variants of Handia are found in different states and only difference in the process is because of herbs mixed for fermentation.
