Pakhala is cooked rice soaked in water. It is the midday meal of an Odia summer: cool, filling and quick, served in a deep bowl with fried, roasted and raw things on the side. It is so loved that Odia people have a day for it, Pakhala Dibasa, on 20 March.
- What it is
- Cooked rice in water
- When
- Summer, at midday
- Pakhala Dibasa
- 20 March
- Basi pakhala
- Soaked overnight
What pakhala is
Cooked rice, cooled and covered with water, sometimes with a little curd, salt and a squeeze of lemon. The rice softens and the water turns cloudy and faintly sour. You eat the rice and drink the water with it, mixing in bites of whatever is on the side.
The kinds of pakhala
- Saja pakhala: fresh pakhala, made from rice cooked the same day and soaked for a short while before eating.
- Basi pakhala: rice soaked overnight, so it ferments lightly and tastes sour. Many families prefer it.
- Dahi pakhala: with curd mixed into the water, and often curry leaves and ginger.
- Jeera pakhala and tempered pakhala: with roasted cumin, or with a tempering of mustard seeds, cumin, dry chilli and curry leaves fried in a little oil and poured over.
How to make pakhala, step by step
- Cook the rice: boil ordinary white rice until soft but whole, then drain it if you cook it in plenty of water.
- Cool it: spread the rice out and let it come down to room temperature. Hot rice in cold water turns mushy.
- Add water: put the rice in a bowl or pot and pour over clean drinking water, enough to cover it well.
- Soak: for saja pakhala, leave it for a short while before eating; for basi pakhala, cover it and leave it overnight.
- Season: just before eating, add salt, a squeeze of lemon and, if you like, some curd, crushed ginger, curry leaves or roasted cumin.
- Temper (optional): fry mustard seeds, cumin, a dry red chilli and curry leaves in a spoon of oil and pour it over the bowl.
- Serve: in a deep bowl, with the sides on the plate.
What to eat with it
- Badi chura: sun-dried lentil dumplings, fried and crushed with onion, garlic, green chilli and mustard oil.
- Aloo bharta: mashed potato with onion, chilli and mustard oil.
- Baigana poda: aubergine roasted over a flame and mashed.
- Saga bhaja: greens fried with garlic and dry chilli.
- Fried fish: small fish fried crisp, the favourite on the coast.
- Raw onion, green chilli and lemon: on the side of every bowl.
When it is eaten
Pakhala is eaten above all in the hot months, at midday, when nobody wants a heavy meal. On Pakhala Dibasa, 20 March, families, restaurants and offices across Odisha make a point of eating it.
Why people eat it
Tradition gives simple reasons, and these are the ones we can stand behind:
- It is eaten to beat the summer heat: the meal is cool, mostly water, and goes down easily on a hot day.
- It is filling and light at the same time, and keeps a worker going through the afternoon.
- Overnight soaking lets basi pakhala ferment lightly, and like other fermented rice it carries lactic acid bacteria, which give it its sour taste.
- It uses up rice cooked the day before, so nothing is wasted.
