Panta Bhat: From Humble Origins to a Celebratory Dish

This humble-looking dish made from soaked cooked rice is the comfort food of Eastern India and represents the geography and climatic conditions of the region. Panta Bhat also unites the Bengali people spread across the Indian Subcontinent.

The Full Boishakh Feast containing Ilish Bhaja & Panta Bhat | Source: Thespiceodyssey

When it comes to the list of comfort foods in North India, Khichdi takes centre stage and is widely popular. While khichdi is served warm and is eaten quite fondly even in winter, there is another variant of rice dish in Eastern India that deserves more recognition. Known as Panta Bhat in the Bengal region, the dish has variants in Odisha and Assam as well.

Panta Bhat, which means 'overnight steeped rice,” is as the name implies; leftover rice that has been fermented overnight. Traditionally, the overnight-soaked rice would be served with accompaniments like salt, lime, onions, and aloo bhorta. But the simple-looking dish has gained more complexity over time.

This dish has existed for a long time and was usually known as the poor man's food because it just needed leftover rice, and people ate it when they did not have many options to cook multiple meals. But now it has become a significant part of Bengali cuisine, so revered it is now that it is even the main dish of Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali New Year. Historians even trace the origin of this dish to proto-australoid people of the South Asian region, given the geographical conditions, which made this cold dish suitable for hot weather and the fact that rice would only need to be cooked once.

Panta Bhat even has connections with the monsoon season, when the weather is suitable for good fermentation and when people want something comforting and simple. During the month of Bhadra,  a monsoon festival called Ranno Pojo takes place where the hearth remains untouched for a day, and last night's leftover rice is used to make a Panta Bhat platter in the morning for breakfast, after offering it to the diety first. As the region is blessed with coast and fishes, Hilsa is the most praised accompaniment to the dish, and the whole dish is then known as Panta Ilish.

The dish is also nutritious, as it contains more micronutrients than freshly cooked rice. Rice is already considered a nourishing and healing food in Ayurveda, and fermentation improves the bioavailability of minerals. It is also considered a cold food, hence it also helps people keep their bodies cool and hydrated. Even Sushruta Samhita prescribes panta water mixed with salt to cure diarrhoea.

Often the best dishes are the ones that are cooked with a few ingredients, and Panta Bhat proves that. It is best for lazy weekends when the weather is pouring down and spending too much time in the kitchen might not sound appealing. And there are so many ways to eat this dish that everyone can make their favourite additions, starting from mashed potatoes to fried fish. Conventionally, in Bengal, Assam, and Odisha, Panta Bhat is eaten with mustard oil, green chillies, raw onions, and pickles with some differences.

Although Panta Bhat is a dish of Eastern India, there are similar dishes that are found in other parts of India as well. For example, Pazhaya Soru in Tamil Nadu, which means old rice, is eaten with sambhar and buttermilk. This is a testimony to the fact that despite there being no one Indian cuisine per se, as every corner of India has its distinct cuisine, there are similarities that unite the people.