Odisha Pakhal Bata Fermented Rice Breakfast Simple

Method

1. 1

   Soak the cooked rice: Place left-over cooked rice in a clay pot (the traditional vessel — clay keeps it cool and adds a mineral character to the fermentation) or a steel vessel. Pour 4 cups cold water over the rice. Add salt. Stir.

2. 2

   Soak overnight: Cover loosely — allow air to circulate. Rest at room temperature overnight, 8 to 12 hours.

3. 3

   Check in the morning: The water will be slightly cloudy, the rice will have absorbed some water and there will be a mild, pleasant fermented-sour smell. The rice is now pakhal.

4. 4

   Stir gently: Stir the pakhal once in the morning. The rice grains should be swollen and soft in the water.

5. 5

   Prepare accompaniments: The pakhal itself needs no cooking — it is eaten cold. Fry the dried fish pieces in a few drops of oil until crispy. Slice raw onion into rings. Keep green chilli whole.

6. 6

   Serve in a deep bowl: Ladle the pakhal rice with its water into deep bowls — a ratio of about equal parts rice and water.

7. 7

   Add raw mustard oil: Drizzle 1 tsp raw mustard oil over the pakhal. The pungency of the raw mustard oil cuts through the mild sourness.

8. 8

   Arrange accompaniments: Place the fried crispy dried fish, raw onion rings and green chilli alongside the pakhal.

9. 9

   Add pickle: Place a small amount of pickled mango or any tangy pickle alongside.

10. 10

    Eat: Eat the pakhal with the accompaniments — mixing them in as you go. The temperature contrast (cold fermented rice with hot fried fish) and the flavour contrast (sour rice, pungent oil, crunchy fish) is the experience.

11. 11

    Note: Pakhal Bhata (pakhal = water-soaked and fermented rice, bhata = cooked rice in Odia) is the most fundamental preparation of Odia food culture — eaten daily in the summer months when the fermented-sour quality of the overnight rice is cooling to the body. Pakhal Dibasa (World Pakhal Day) is observed on March 20 annually — a cultural celebration of this most basic Odia preparation. Former President Pranab Mukherjee, of Bengali origin but with deep Odia ties, famously said that pakhal was his preferred breakfast.