Fermented Rice - Pazhaya Choru

 Pazhaya Choru - literally translates to old rice. Essentially, after a day's cooking and eating is done, the left over rice is placed in an earthenware pot and drinking water added so that the rice is just immersed in the water.  Close the lid and leave the rice and the bacteria to do its magic.  What you have after 8 to 14 hours is fermented rice.  This is frequently eaten in the South of India as breakfast. As a young girl I have turned my nose up at this breakfast many a time. I have seen my uncle who used to be a footballer and body builder have it for breakfast and wondered how he could eat this insipid dish.

Well, fast forward 30 years and here I am reading about the wonderful health benefits of fermented foods and how it is good for the guts and how the process of fermentation increases the protein, fibre and mineral content of the food.

There is a fine line between spoilt food and fermented food, though.  So be cautious and learn how to do it and the smells / taste before you do it yourself. I ferment milk to make yogurt quite regularly and I just left my pot of rice in the oven at 25 degrees C, exactly like how I ferment milk.

In the 80's wandering through the fields behind our University, I have often seen farming families bringing in their "lunch boxes" - with fermented rice, mango pickle, buttermilk or yogurt, fried yogurt chilli, coconut chutney, pappadam, fried fish, raw green chilli and shallots and enjoying their meal in the shade of a tree at lunch time.  Most often, the baby would also be there, in a cotton sling tied to the tree branches - rocking in the breeze and sleeping happily while mum and dad worked in the field.

This post is dedicated to our hard working farmers back home - who knew how to eat the heathiest of foods from the cheapest of ingredients available. 

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked rice and enough drinking water to cover it.

I have used a special Kerala rice called matta rice to make this dish.

You can use any rice that you have at hand.

Salt to taste

Accompaniments:

1 raw green chilli

a couple of shallots

1 deep fried pappadam

Mango relish

Yogurt

Coconut Chutney

Fried Sardines

Fried yogurt chilli

Method:

Place the rice in a bowl and cover with just enough water.  Keep in a warm spot in the kitchen - or if you live in a cold place like Melbourne, keep in the oven, covered, over night at 25 degrees C.

The next morning serve the rice with the water and desired accompaniments.

This breakfast is specially beneficial if you have it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

However, I served it for lunch - on a warm Spring day.