Panta Bhat

Leftover rice soaked overnight and eaten in the morning, with mashed potato beside it.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 400 g cooked rice, left over
• 1.2 litres water
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 onions, finely sliced
• 4 green chillies
• 500 g potatoes, boiled
• 2 tablespoons mustard oil
• 1 onion, chopped, for the potato
• 20 g coriander leaves

Method

1. LEFTOVER RICE SOAKED OVERNIGHT AND EATEN IN THE MORNING, WITH MASHED POTATO BESIDE IT. Its article is specific about all three: cooked rice soaked and fermented in water, prepared by soaking rice GENERALLY LEFTOVER in water OVERNIGHT, and served IN THE MORNING with salt, onion, chilli and Aloo Makha or Alu Pitika, mashed potato. Leftover is not a concession here, it is the recipe -- rice that has already cooled and dried out takes up water differently from fresh.
2. IT IS THE SAME DISH AS PAKHALA UNDER ANOTHER NAME, AND ITS ARTICLE SAYS SO. Listing the regions, it writes "Odisha (Pakhala)", and notes that the Odia dish is documented from the 10th century, against the 17th century for its own earliest record. Pakhala, as on its own page, has curd, cucumber and mint in it and is a summer lunch; this one is water, salt and onion, and it is breakfast.
3. THE SOAK IS OVERNIGHT AND UNCOVERED IS FINE. Eight to twelve hours at room temperature. It will smell sour by morning.
4. THERE IS NO CURD AND NO TEMPERING IN THIS ONE. That austerity is the dish. Anything added makes it the other one.
5. THE POTATO IS MASHED WITH RAW ONION AND MUSTARD OIL, NOT COOKED. Boiled potato crushed by hand with chopped onion, salt, a green chilli and a spoonful of raw mustard oil. That is aloo makha, and the raw oil is the point of it.
6. THE GREEN CHILLIES GO ON THE PLATE WHOLE. Bitten between mouthfuls rather than chopped in.
7. THE WATER IS SERVED WITH IT, NOT DRAINED. Its article names it Torani, the same word the Odia dish uses.
8. IT WANTS A COARSE RICE, AND ITS ARTICLE EXPLAINS WHY. It records that farm workers preferred BOLD AND BROWN RICE as MORE SUITED FOR WATERED RICE, and that the popularity of some varieties is still driven by their suitability for panta bhat. Polished white rice goes slimy.
9. IT IS EATEN COLD, WITH THE FINGERS, FROM A WIDE BOWL. Nothing about it is reheated.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes