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History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s3.t3: Parched, puffed and parboiled rice

History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s3.t3

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Parched, puffed and parboiled rice

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Parching : Even the Rgveda mentions dhanāh, which is beaten or parched barley, as well as saktu (the present sattu), which is the gritty brokens derived initially from parched barley grains, and later from rice (Prakash, Om, 1961, pp. 7-33). In the early stages, these grits were eaten as a solid ball (pindi), or as a paste (avalehika), but by the time of Suśruta, saktus were being blended before consumption with acid fruits, grapes, ghee, sugar, guda and dilute honey (Prakash, Om, 1961, pp. 7-33). Parching of sprouted barley is recorded by Caraka, who also lists a variety of parched pulses (called ulumbah) like mung, masoor and mattar under the common name bhristadhanya. Other Sanskrit words for parching are lajah, prthuka and cipita (Gode, 1948, p. 43); the last of these persists in civda or cidva, the fried and spiced snack made from parched rice. Cūra is the current term for beaten rice.

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In south India, aval is still the word for beaten rice. The Kuruntogai (of about the 6th century AD) describes its manufacture by beating flat wet paddy, using a pestle of black heart-wood (Srinivasa Iyengar, 1932, pp. 253-300) and the Perumpanurrupadai, one of the Ten Songs (Rasanayagam, 1926, pp. 130-160), mentions aval itself.

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Even though beaten or parched rice was available commercially both in north and south, its production appears to have been effected in the same pounding device as the one used domestically, first moistening the grains with water before flattening, and then parching them slightly afterwards on hot sand.

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Puffing : The terms missita and dhanidhaka have been suggested as the Sanskrit equivalents of puffing of grains, but are believed to be uncertain in the context in which they occur. The Tamil term pori occurs in the Sangam literature of the 6th century AD (Srinivasa Iyengar, 1930, pp. 57-20), and its production was probably effected by the simple technique (even now current) of throwing handfuls of rice on very hot sand. The cikpea or cana, especially the large Kabuli variety (after it arrived in India) was also subject to puffing to give a porous, crunchy product; this could be ground into besan flour, which is the batter of choice all over India for making a variety of deep-fried snacks. Again production in volume could be achieved by merely multiplying the domestic puffing operation.

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In south India, the term pori, still used for puffed rice, finds mention in the early Sangam literature (Srinivasa Iyengar, 1930, pp. 57-70). In the Karuntogai, it is a favourite food eaten with milk or as a sweet (Arokiaswami, 1972, p. 92).

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Parboiling : Parboiled rice is called *pulangalarisi* in Tamil. It first occurs in the *Sirupan-arruppudai* of slightly late Saṅgam literature (Srinivasa Iyengar, 1930, pp. 57-70), but the means of production is not described. Perhaps it was the same technique now followed of soaking paddy in cold water for a few days, then boiling the water till the grain is soft, drying the grains in the sun, and then dehusking them either by pounding in a mortar or grinding between stones.

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