Breakfast

Panta Bhat (Fermented Rice with Fried Ilish)

Name: Panta Bhat (Fermented Rice with Fried Ilish)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 8 h 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Bangladeshi
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked rice, day-old; water, enough to submerge the rice; salt to taste; 2 Ilish (hilsa) fish steaks, or a firm, fatty white fish as a substitute; 1/2 tsp turmeric; 1/2 tsp salt; 3 tbsp mustard oil, for frying; 1 small onion, finely sliced; 2 green chilies; 1 tbsp mustard oil, raw, to drizzle; lime wedge, optional

Overnight-soaked rice with fried hilsa, raw onion, and green chili -- Bengal's oldest breakfast.

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Egg-Free Nut-Free

Bowl of panta bhat (fermented rice) with fried Ilish fish, onion, and green chili — The overnight soak is what gives it a faint sour tang -- not just cold water added at the table.

Prep15 min

Cook15 min

Total8 hr 30 min

Servings 2 servings

DifficultyEasy

Day-old rice soaked in water overnight until faintly sour and fermented, served cold or at room temperature with a drizzle of mustard oil, raw onion, green chilies, and a piece of fried Ilish (hilsa) -- the traditional farmer's breakfast eaten across Bengal for centuries, and now the centerpiece of Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali New Year.

Ingredients

For the panta bhat

2 cups cooked rice, day-old
water, enough to submerge the rice
salt to taste

For the fried Ilish

2 Ilish (hilsa) fish steaks, or a firm, fatty white fish as a substitute
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp mustard oil, for frying

To serve

1 small onion, finely sliced
2 green chilies
1 tbsp mustard oil, raw, to drizzle
lime wedge, optional

Instructions

Place the cooked rice in a large bowl, cover completely with water, and season lightly with salt. Cover and let sit at room temperature overnight, about 8 hours. 480 min
The overnight soak is what ferments the rice slightly, giving panta bhat its faintly sour tang -- this isn't the same as just adding cold water to rice right before serving.
The next morning, rub the Ilish pieces with the turmeric and salt.
Heat the mustard oil in a frying pan until shimmering, and fry the fish over medium heat until deeply golden and crisp on both sides, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. 10 min
Ilish has a high fat content and delicate flesh, so resist moving it too soon -- let a real crust form before flipping or it will fall apart.
Drain the rice, discarding most of the soaking water but leaving the rice slightly moist.
Serve the panta bhat cold or at room temperature in a bowl, topped with the sliced onion and green chilies, a drizzle of raw mustard oil, and the fried fish alongside.

Notes

Panta bhat has been the everyday breakfast of Bengali farmers and laborers for centuries -- simple, cooling in the heat, and a way to use the previous night's rice rather than waste it.
On Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali New Year, panta bhat with fried Ilish and green chilies is served as a celebratory dish, even though it began as the plainest food of rural Bengal.
If Ilish isn't available, any firm, fatty fish fried the same way is a reasonable substitute -- Ilish itself is seasonal and can be hard to find outside Bengal.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving (1 bowl with fish) -- estimated, not lab-tested.
Nutrient	Amount
Calories	380 kcal
Total Fat	16 g
Saturated Fat	3 g
Carbohydrates	40 g
Fiber	1 g
Sugar	1 g
Protein	22 g
Sodium	420 mg
Cholesterol	55 mg
Values are estimates based on standard ingredient data, not laboratory analysis.

Photo: Tahmid Munaz from Dhaka, Bangladesh, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped to 3:2 and re-encoded as WebP/JPEG for web delivery.