Bhubaneswar, April 1: ‘Pakhala’, the traditional Odia cuisine, comprising cooked rice washed or lightly fermented in water, has been one of the most popular dishes across the state for ages.
The dish is traditionally consumed round the year in Odisha though it is specially looked forward to during the summer for its myriad health benefits.
‘Pakhala’, known in other names or its variants, is also popular in eastern India and several other neighbouring countries including Nepal, Bangladesh and parts of Myanmar. It is also offered to the deities at the Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri.
Of late, it has found its way to high-end restaurants and its popularity has been on the rise. To popularize the dish and help the people relish its taste, School of Hotel Management (SHM), SOA’s faculty of hospitality and tourism management, will be organizing a five-day ‘Pakhala Festival’ at the institute from April 3 to 7.
“The main objective of organizing the event is to popularize the traditional and unique Odisha cuisine among the food lovers of the capital city,” Prof. Susant Ranjan Chaini, Dean of SHM, said.
Visitors would be served the dish, said to be a cooling probiotic, with a number of mouth-watering accompanying dishes in an ambience highlighting the Odia culture and lifestyle.
Students, guided by Prof. Chaini and faculty members, will be organizing the festival, an annual feature of the institute. The restaurant at the institute will serve ‘Pakhala’ and accompanying dishes to the guests between 12 noon and 3 pm on all the five days of the festival.
Several variants of ‘Pakhala’ like ‘Usuna Pakhala’, ‘Arua Pakhala’, ‘Dahi Pakhala’, ‘Lembu Pakhala’ and ‘Ada Pakhala’ would be served to the guests with accompanying dishes which include ‘fish patrapoda’, ‘chingudi chhecha’, ‘chuna machha bhaja’, ‘kukuda kassa‘, ‘sukhua bhaja’, ‘pohala bhaja’, ‘chingudi jharjhari’, chhatu patrapoda’, ‘alu kalara batti tarkari’, ‘alu bhaja’, ‘saga bhaja’, ‘baigan bharta’, ‘gota bhendi bhaja’, ‘poda tomato chutney’ and ‘amba chhecha chutney’.