PAKHALA: Water Rice (Quintessential Odia staple diet)
Confession of a born-again Odia: Without any prejudice towards anybody I state:
Till I became 33 years old I had an aversion toward Pakhala. During childhood it was almost pathological. I thought it- Pakhala- was a sign of Barbarism! I could not stand the very smell of it, much less to talk of tasting it.
The rest of the family members were either neutral or fond of this typical Odia staple diet. Those days the leftover rice used to go to the Pakhala Handi and usually it smelled. In fact, the people who loved it, loved this fermented brew for this smell, which was a sign of the existence of alcohol perhaps! And for the exact same reason I hated it.
Then it all changed and I became a fan of Pakhala!
But, the moot question is: These days do we eat the same type of Pakhala that I detested? Certainly not. Gone are those smelly brews and now the Pakhala is made of freshly cooked rice. Badi ( a typical Odia preparation from black gram), Dahi (Curd) and Lemon are a must and then the flavor is so nice. Now, whenever we eat Pakhala, I demand an extra serving of the torani ( watery part of Pakhala) and I guess I do not have to explain why! My mother is puzzled but happy with the development!
So, dear Odia friends, if you are yet to realize the beauty of Pakhala, I’d say, wait your turn is also coming :)
Inspiration for the above confession came from a forum discussion in facebook, where, Ms Laxmipriya and a good number of Odiya participants proved that if there would be a contest for Odia National food, Pakhala would win hands down!
For me it was a revelation and hope in the form of a blog post this would keep our enthusiasm alive and someday we'd raise Pakhala to its rightful place to sit besides Sattu Paratha of Bihar, Rajma chawal of Delhi, Tandoori roti of Punjab, Idli Sambhar of Tamil Nadu, Bajri no Rotlo of Gujrat and Ilsi Macher Jhol of our neighboring state West Bengal; won’t we?
Hope we'd continue to debate and then the synthesis would be to everybody's advantage, including the government! For, if they could rechristen our state, they can also pass a bill to anoint Pakhala as the National food of Odisha; can't they?
One of the many modern-day variants:
Take fresh cooked rice, add ice cool water and then squeeze half a lemon into it and add a pinch of salt. You get a fantastic Pakhala. It appeals to both, your nose and also to your palate. Badi chura with Garlic and onion, with or without green chili, will make fantastic accompaniment. Especially if you are a diabetic, you cannot ask for a better wholesome lunch; for rice is gluten free and Pakhala consumption entails a lot of drinking of water and hence consumption of rice should be moderate.
A good diet during summer:
Pakhala is ideal during summer. In the past, summer months used to be a punishing time. Fomented Pakhala, which contained alcohol due to the process of fomentation, helped idle agriculturists doze off during summers when they had little else to do, after consuming pakhala, and thereby made Odia summers, where temperatures often hovered around 40 degree Celsius, somewhat bearable. As monsoon sets in, the farmers become active and Pakhala loses its charm. So, go and have your bowlful of Pakhala before the monsoon starts its dancing! Wait, now when does the summer go? Even in the peak of monsoon we are reeling under severe heat waves. So, I guess, the reign of Pakhala has prolonged.
Last words:
Well, well, well :) You always take Pakhala with a pinch of salt; so, wherever you wish, take these submissions with a pinch of salt and then you'll see it actually makes sense :) Does it? Now the ball is in your court.
(Word count = 650 (appx.))
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4 年Pakhal Bhaat!