A meal of leftover rice soaked in water overnight. Sounds familiar? The Assamese call it poita bhaat . In Tamil Nadu it’s pazhayasaadham . Pakhala bhat for Odias, panta bhaat for Bengalis, tanajana for Tullus, and chaddannam for Telugus.
“The Pumpkin Flower Pakhala Bhat, a super “cool” dish inspired from Orissa is our way of welcoming the onset of Summer at @thebombaycanteen and paying tribute to the Indian pumpkin!” announced Thomas Zacharias, chef-partner at The Bombay Canteen recently on Instagram, prompting 1630 Likes, and 56 enthusiastic comments by Instagrammers giving their regional versions.
Popular with farmers, fishermen and people who labour outdoors, this underrated dish rarely made it to posh dining tables, which is why the fact that it is now on a hipster restaurant menu is so exciting. I was mocked by my paternal aunts for relishing poita bhaat with my mother during summer holidays.
I thought that maybe this was because it was so ordinary. This view, however, changed when I was reviewing a restaurant in Hyderabad and spotted panta bhaat on the menu. Surprised, I called a friend in Singapore — a professional storyteller — to tell her about it. To be on the safe side, I started the conversation by asking: ‘Do you know what poita bhaat or panta bhaat is?” My friend, broke into a folk-tale which her mother told her to make her develop a liking for this humble dish.
Another cinema buff friend told me about a Tamil film song titled ‘Pazhaya soru pacha molaga’ (old rice and green chillies), composed by Srikanth Deva. As with anything that has a strong prescents in folk lore and pop culture, this is evidently a well-loved dish, even if it’s cooked and eaten without fanfare.
Happy start
Lately there have been a spurt of articles and excitable Whatsapp forwards celebrating the virtues of fermented food, particularly rice served this way. South Asia’s tradition of consuming the previous day’s cooked rice soaked in plain water overnight, reportedly makes for an ideal breakfast.
So, why did we take to eating leftover fermented rice? Old-timers will point towards necessity. Farmers didn’t want to throw away rice in the past. In the absence of refrigerators, cooked rice was probably soaked in water. Novelist Mitra Phukan says, “For some reason, poita bhaat is a breakfast dish. Great for farmers in a hurry to get to their field. It is a time-honoured dish to feed people with diarrhoea. Makes sense: the liquid’s easily digestible, and the salt is good for you. Native wisdom!”
This dish also finds mention in journals that date back to the 17th Century, as the most inexpensive way to improve gut health.
Zacharias says, “ Pakhala bhat traces its origins to the Eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent surrounding Bangladesh. It finds a prominent place in the cuisines of several Indian states, including Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. It is considered a cooling food according to Ayurveda, and hence is perfect during the scorching summer months.”
He adds, “In its most basic form, it constitutes boiled rice mixed with water, and there are several variations depending on what is added to flavour it, or how the water rice is treated after it is mixed. The dish, for me, is best served with accompaniments which have a myriad textures and flavours.” Every household has its way of flavouring the dish.
Simple pleasures
“The real joy lies in sipping the water at the end. Fermented rice is flavoured with a dash of mustard oil, salt and green chillies. So the water gives a burst of various flavours. My all-time favourite accompaniment is the fermented kharoli (sesame paste). It’s best relished as a jalpan for a mid-day meal. I love this dish and hope to put it on my Assamese pop-up menu,” says home chef Kashmiri Barkakati Nath.
Irin Kashyap, food stylist, lists her favourite side dishes to be had with this summer speciality. “After returning from school, I would pour cold water on my poita bhaat and eat it with alu bhaji (potato fry) or fish fry. My favourite, however, was alu koni pitika (mashed potato-eggs). Apart from alu bhaji, the other favourite was pura bengena pitika (coal or fire-roasted eggplant mash).”
South Indians relish their chaddannam with a tweak.
“On a particularly hot day, when the regular dosa-chutney breakfast seems boring, my mum gave me a bowl of chaddannam — a mix of rice-water-curd. It was like manna from heaven, that instantly cooled my body. I felt hydrated and refreshed and it saw me through lunch time. There are many households, be it rural or urban, that savour chaddanam, especially in summers. In the morning, the dish has to be mixed well; add salt and buttermilk and have it with a dash of pickle or just plain. Known to be a good source of B12, it helps the body withstand summer heat,” says Sharada S.
