Pakhal

Pakhaḷa (ପଖାଳ)

Pakhaḷa seasoned with curry leaves, cumin and fried chili peppers with alu-potala bhaja (potato and pointed gourd deep saute) and Badi bhaja
Course	Hot pakhaḷa, jira (cumin) pakhaḷa, basi (stale) pakhaḷa,Dhai (Curd) Pakhala
Place of origin	India
Region or state	Odisha
Serving temperature	Hot and cold
Main ingredients	Cooked rice

Pakhaḷa (Odia: ) is an Odia term for an Indian food consisting of cooked rice washed or little fermented in water. The liquid part is known as toraṇi. It is popular in Odisha, Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

The Bengali name for this dish is panta bhat, in Chhattisgarh it's called bore bhat, in Jharkhand linguistic communities use names like paani bhat, paakhaal or pakhala, and in Assam it's called poita bhat.

Eating pakhal has been recommended to prevent heat stroke in hot weather. A traditional Odia dish, it is prepared with rice, curd, cucumber, cumin seeds, fried onions and mint leaves. It is popularly served with roasted vegetables—such as potato, brinjal, badi and saga bhaja or fried fish.

The term "pakhala" is derived from Pali word "pakhaliba" (Odia: ପଖାଳିବା) as well as Sanskrit word "Prakshāḷaṇa" (Sanskrit: प्रक्षाळन) which means "washed/to wash." The word pakhaḷa was used in the Odia poems of Arjuna Das in his literary work Kaḷpalata (1520-1530 AD).

It is unknown when pakhaḷa was first included in the daily diet of Eastern India, but it was included in the recipe of Lord Jagannath Temple of Puri circa 10. Pakhaḷa is eaten in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent (including Nepal, Bangladesh and some parts of Myanmar).