Food Talk: Cold rice to beat summer heat

I wish people would stop garnishing thayir sadam — or curd rice — with pomegranate seeds. It makes the dish look like a dessert, and reminds me of an incident my Haryanvi friends recounted many years ago. They had gone to Chennai for an all-India conference, and found at the buffet table what looked like a big bowl of chilled kheer. They helped themselves liberally to it, and — much to their surprise, or even dismay — found that it was not sweet, but a savoury dish of rice and curd. The pomegranate seeds fooled them; they complained bitterly later.Truth be told, I would have been happy. Rice in its various forms — from pilafs and biryanis to tahiri and muttar chawal — has a way of livening up a table. But when the sun is belching out fire, cold or chilled rice helps douse the flames. A few hot days ago, when we were thinking of a menu more exciting than our regular fare of hot rotis and curries, we zeroed in on thayir sadam as the entrée. This is one of my favourite summer dishes, for it is both cooling and delicious. It also comes with some of my much-loved add-ons — mango pickle and papadams. It is simply prepared, too. And you can vary the taste by adding some grated carrot or diced cucumber to the dish.I never gave much thought to rice as a cold or cooling dish till a friend invited us to a panta bhaat lunch one hot summer day. I had not eaten panta bhaat before that, though I had heard of it, of course. Like the pakhala of Odisha, or Bihar’s basi bhaat, it is a dish that sustains rural India’s hard-working people in the summer months. The dishes are prepared with leftover rice, which is soaked in water, usually in an earthenware pot. The rice is left to ferment for 8-10 hours. The watery rice dish — consumed with onions or chillies the next day — is nutritious, filling and cooling.But that’s the simplest way of eating this hearty one-pot dish. I have had it with various kinds of side dishes — from small fried fish and crispy spinach to mashed potatoes, burnt garlic, fried coconut, ginger slivers, peanuts, boiled lentils, and lemon slices. Lemon leaves, when added to the rice water, give the dish a subtle yet distinct flavour. It is our answer to Southeast Asia’s khao suey or laksa, with a similar array of side dishes and flavours, but with an added dose of micronutrients.Odisha’s pakhala is of different kinds — the basic one is not prepared with fermented rice but with fresh rice soaked in water and flavoured with lime juice. For basi pakhala, the rice is allowed to ferment overnight, or even longer. Then there is dahi pakhala, for which the rice is soaked in water and then mixed with curd for texture and taste.You will find great cold rice dishes in other parts of the world, too. Leftover risotto, for instance, can turn into a delicious dish when mixed with lemon zest and juice and veggies of your choice — say, sliced cucumber and green onions. Drizzle some olive oil over it, and top it with basil leaves.You can make cold rice salads with different flavours; for instance, you could rustle up a Mediterranean dish of cold rice, mixed with cherry tomatoes, cold chickpeas, pine nuts and olives. There is a South African dish of cooled rice, mixed with diced green or red pepper, corn kernels, raisins and cheese.Most of these dishes have very easy recipes. For panta bhaat, for instance, all that you need is a dish of leftover, short-grained rice, and ample water. The side dishes can depend on what you have in the kitchen, and how elaborate you want your meal to be.The important thing about fermented rice dishes is that these are easy to digest and good for your health. Fermented rice supports gut health by promoting beneficial bacteria, as a study conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar found. Pakhala and rice water, called torani, also help boost immunity. And while that’s great, what I really like about these dishes is their cool quotient. With the temperature skyrocketing, we could do with something that cools our system. ‘Ice, ice, baby’ is passé; it’s time now for some ‘Rice, rice, baby’.— The writer is a food criticChilled risotto salad IngredientsShort-grained rice (preferably Arborio, cooked) 2 cupsHam (optional, cubed) ½ cupCheese (cubed) ½ cupCelery (diced) 1 tbspOlives (sliced) 2 tbspRed pepper (roasted, sliced) 2 tbspFresh peas 2 tbspSpring onions (sliced) 2 tbspCherry tomatoes (sliced, quartered) 2 tbspFresh basil leaves A fewFresh parsley A sprigLemon juice 1 tbspExtra virgin olive oil 4 tbspSalt and pepper To tasteMethodPlace the cooked rice in a large bowl. Add the other ingredients. Toss, and mix them well. Add the lemon juice and drizzle olive oil over it. Season. Refrigerate, and serve.

Food Talk: Cold rice to beat summer heat

When the sun is belching out fire, cold or chilled rice can help douse the flames

Rahul Verma

Food Talk: Cold rice to beat summer heat

When the sun is belching out fire, cold or chilled rice can help douse the flames

Rahul Verma

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