Pakhala


Pakhaḷa is an Odia term for an Indian food consisting of cooked rice washed or a little fermented in water. The liquid part is known as toraṇi. It is popular in Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Tamil Nadu.
In Tamil Nadu it is called Pazhaiya Sadam. The Bengali name for this dish is panta bhat, in Chhattisgarh it's called bore bhat, in Jharkhand linguistic communities use names like paani bhat, paakhaal or pakhala, and in Assam it's called poita bhat.
It is a preparation that is had during summer, although many families and communities eat it throughout the year, especially for lunch. People who toil in the sun such as farm hands have it as it replenishes the salt and water lost by the body.
A traditional Odia dish, it is prepared with rice, curd, cucumber, cumin seeds, fried onions and mint leaves. It is popularly served with dry roasted vegetables—such as potato, brinjal, badi and saga bhaja or fried fish.

Etymology

The term "pakhala" is derived from Pali word "pakhaleiba" as well as Sanskrit word "Prakshāḷaṇa" which means "washed/to wash." The word pakhaḷa was used in the Odia poems of Arjuna Das in his literary work Kaḷpalata.
March 20 is celebrated as Pakhala Dibasa.

History

It is unknown when pakhaḷa was first included in the daily diet of Eastern India, but it was included in the recipe of Lord Jagannath Temple of Puri circa 10. Pakhaḷa is eaten in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent.
To beat the heat, this dish is cooked and cooled in a bowl with full of plain water. Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, and Chhattisgarh also have this dish in their cuisine. To promote this food, 20 March is celebrated as Pakhala Dibas or day.

Classifications

The dish is typically prepared with rice that is cooked and allowed to cool. Cook normal rice, then cool it. Pour water in a bowl and add rice to it. In a pan, heat a pinch of oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, dry red chili and fry well. Add this chhunka or tadka into the pakhala bowl with sour curd. One can add mint leaves and raw salt to enhance the taste. To add more zing, one may opt for fish fry or sukhua poda, saga bhaja, badi chura and much more. Cumin seeds are fried, ground into a fine powder and added to curd with coriander leaves and salt.
It is sometimes served with a fish fry and spinach.

Traditional preparation

Pakhaḷa is slightly fermented rice. The rice is cooked, water is added with little bit of old pakhal. Pakhaḷa tastes best when served after 8 to 12 hours after preparation; in this case, no old pakhal is required to be added to the rice as fermentation usually happens after 6 hours of keeping rice in water. The Pakhala by itself tastes a bit sour, but also paste of green chilli, Green Mango and Ginger is added to give the Pakhala a little bit hot and sweet flavour.
Generally burnt potato or aloo poda and other fried vegetables or fried fish is served with pakhaḷa. Modern-day variation is to add curd instead of fermenting it.

Pakhala Dibasa (Universal Pakhala Day)

20 March is declared Pakhala Dibasa by Odias worldwide. People eat Pakhala and promote the dish.