: Heres How Plain Rice Can Become a Superfood Packed With Vitamins Minerals #IndiaNEWS #Culture My mother strongly believes that the best things in life come simple — with a pinch of salt and a drizzle

Heres How Plain Rice Can Become a Superfood Packed With Vitamins Minerals #IndiaNEWS #Culture
My mother strongly believes that the best things in life come simple — with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of lemon juice. While the philosophical undertones of this notion only became clear to me as an adult, it is also amazing how it seamlessly translates into the food she cooks — heavily influenced by eastern India’s overlapping culinary textures, it is the epitome of gastronomic complexity packed inside a rather simple platter. One such wonder that she and many mothers of the region lovingly create, is the Bengali panta bhat, a fermented rice dish.
Also known as poita bhat in Assam, geel bhat in Bihar and pakhala in Odisha, this simple yet flavoursome dish is a centuries-old recipe of fermented watery rice, served with a variety of sides like spiced mashed potatoes (aloo sheddo), onion or lentil fritters, smoked eggplant (begun pora), deep-fried fish, curd or just a dollop of kasundi, a paste made using fermented mustard seeds.
In Assam, poita bhat is consumed during the Bohag Bihu festivities in small portions after whisking it with a hand fan, as a symbol of welcoming the summer season. Almost every region in India, including parts of South India where it is popular as pazhaya sadham (also known as pazhaya soru) and chaddannam (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), seems to have a variation of this dish, which is the ultimate cooling probiotic packed with various micro-nutrients including Vitamin B12.
Whatever the name, the simple combination of leftover rice, water, salt and lemon (preferably gondhoraj lebu) juice is not just breathtaking taste-wise but is also extremely healthy, and a rather useful tool to beat the scorching heat during the summers. Many elders, including my grandmother would often add, that consuming this in the morning would help in weight-control and enhance bone strength.
Source: Assamese Cuisine and Recipes (L); Odisha Tourism (R)
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Traditionally fermented for almost 12 hours overnight, this easy-to-prepare rice concoction continues to be served as a quick morning breakfast in various households, especially the ones run by people whose livelihood depends on physical labour. It not only fills the belly on a budget, but also provides the much-needed nutrition for the strenuous job.
It is for these reasons that panta bhat is considered by many to be a poor man’s breakfast. However, it is entirely possible that they did not know about its proven nutritional benefits.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Madhumita Barooah, an Associate Professor in the Assam Agricultural University, explained the nutritional value of fermented rice over the usual cooked rice.
“About 100 gm of cooked rice has only 3.

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