Go to any Tamilian household, and you will find leftover rice being soaked in water overnight. The next morning, it’s consumed with buttermilk, salt, onion, and some pickle on the side. Cover image courtesy: Vidhya's Vegetarian Kitchen

In fact, different variations of this fermented rice called kanji are consumed across the country — panta bhat in Bengal, poita bhat in Assam, pakhala in Orissa, and pazhan kanji in Kerala.

Each region has this concoction with different sides. Some have it just with salt, some with onions, chutneys, pickles, fish, vegetables etc.

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Odisha celebrates this dish on the Pakhala Dibas on 20th March. This humble panta bhat also wowed judges on Masterchef Australia as a ‘smoked rice water’ for the grand finale by Kishwar Chowdhury, the second runner-up on the season 13 of the show.

Kanji has cooling properties and is a probiotic, and has a long history with ancient South India. Image courtesy Vidhya's Vegetarian Kitchen

While coffee is a staple drink in Tamilian households today, it is accused of diminishing the importance of kanji.

Historian A R Venkatachalapathy, in his book ‘In Those Days, There Was No Coffee’, quotes ancient Tamil accounts that accused coffee of marginalising this drink and those like it.

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Until the 19th century, the common morning beverage was neeragaram — fermented rice water in most South Indian households.

It is also said that because farming was the major occupation for most families, this drink was predominantly consumed to energise yourself before the work day began.

Due to colonisation, coffee was considered a drink of the so-called elites, and people switched to it.

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Wondering how to make this drink yourself? Try this quick recipe by Vidhya’s Vegetarian Kitchen:

Ingredients: – 1 cup cooked rice – 3 cups water – 1 cup buttermilk – ½ teaspoon salt – ⅛ teaspoon fenugreek seeds – 2 shallots – 1 green chilli – 2 tbsp cilantro/coriander – 5 curry leaves

Method: 1. Add 3 cups of water, fenugreek seeds, and salt to the cooked rice and leave it overnight. 2. Peel the shallot skin and chop it. Also, cut the green chilies. 3. In the morning, mash the rice nicely and add the buttermilk, chopped shallots, cilantro, chopped green chilies, and curry leaves. 4. If required add more salt and serve your leftover rice porridge chilled.

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