Chokua rice is a semi-glutinous Sali (xaali, winter-ripening) rice from lower Assam whose most unique property is that it requires no cooking: typically parboiled chokua soaked in hot water softens enough to become edible as-is, giving it the name “kumo saul” or soft rice. Chokua is often cited as having been the source of nourishment for Ahom soldiers fighting the Mughals in the 17th century, but it is equally an important part of the proxad [prasad] distributed in Namghors [literally name-houses or community prayer halls dedicated to the recitations of the name of Krishna] where cooked food is prohibited, and to certain other Axomiya neo-Vaishnava traditions established in the 15th century by Xongkordew [Sankaradeva] which follow similar proscriptions.
We owe the insights offered in this profile to Dipankar Hazarika and his enormous generosity, and much gratitude to Jahnabee Borah for facilitating the interaction.
Description
THE CULTURAL & ECOLOGICAL LIFE OF THIS RICE
Chokuwa or chokua rice is a tall grass, photosensitive and long duration with relatively low yield potential. It is typically grown upland and on marginal lands, supplemented by other sali varieties, in the following districts of lower Assam: Tinsukia. Dhenra-ji, Dibrugarh, Lakrirnpur, Sivsagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Nagaon. Morigaon, and Sonitpur (according to the GI tag reports filed in 2019). It is one of two major types of Assamese waxy rice: bora saul being the more glutinous type while chokua is semi-glutinous.
As with many other rice varieties, chokua is a unique landrace with several ecotypes. When the Rice Experimental Station opened in Titabor in November 1923 [later to become the AAU-Assam Rice Research Institute, Titabor] to conduct research in the Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone (UBVZ) comprising of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, and Golaghat districts, some 23 varieties of chokuwa were said to have been collected. Das et al. analysing nutritional character in 2018, sample 17 varieties including maju chakua, kagoli chakua, lahi chakua and kalomdani chakua. Each has a unique neutraceutical profile.
Hunter’s account of Agriculture in Lakhimpur notes the fertility of the soil, the paucity of population and the indolence of the people, who only raise as much grain as is needed to “meet the wants of the local population” (1879: 370)—pointing to the primarily subsistence-oriented nature of rice cultivation, which from British times onwards have turned increasingly commercial. He records two main paddy planting seasons: sali and aus or ahu. Hunter lists 87 sali varieties, but only three chakua types: garu chakua, bar chakua, and saru chakua (1879: 370).
After threshing, seed-paddy is dried and stored in a toom, or a bamboo container covered with paddy straw. [This is later soaked in water to allow the stored seeds to hydrate and germinate.]
To process for consumption: Chokua is typically parboiled, by soaking in water for a few days for the grains to acquire a necessary moisture level. The paddy is drained and the grains are cooked in clean water in a kerohi or iron pot over a wood fire until the husks split. The water is again drained, and the grains are sun-dried immediately. The dried grains are then milled in a dheki, the traditional foot-operated pounding instrument, and the result is what is called kumo saul or soft rice [cf. Das et al., 2018]. The natural swelling of the rice kernel is so much that after the rice has been husked, the indentations of the paddy husk are visible on the grain’s surface. Chokua processing thus also gives the resulting komal chaul a unique visual character. The rice is typically brownish-hued: hence the name “boka” or red/brown, presumably because the husk color transfers to the grain during processing/parboiling.
Other names: chokuwa, komal chaul, kumo saul, boka saul (though these latter names refer specifically to the processed rice product).
NUTRITIONAL AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
- A low amylose rice, which possibly explains the readiness of the grain to softening when soaked in hot water
- Some varieties have notable crude protein and iron content [Das et al., 2018]
- Since the rice is grown in the summer months, it is thought to be cooling on the body.
CULINARY USES
- “Soak and eat” character: parboiled chokuwa is ready to eat just on soaking in hot water. It becomes soft, but retains a desired chewiness and bite. Many refer to it as an “instant rice” with multiple possible cereal and quick-food applications.
- Komal chaul is a breakfast staple in rural Assam, used to make the classic jolpan with milk or yogurt, jaggery, bananas.
- Hunter (1897: 253) lists “kamal chaul” as a “preparation made from uncooked rice.” He describes the meals of an “Assamese cultivator” thus: “An Assamese cultivator generally takes three meals a day; one fresh cooked early in the morning, consisting of about a pound of rice mixed with split-peas and vegetables. The second meal, which he takes at noon if he is out in the fields, is composed of uncooked kamal rice (a description which softens to the consistence of boiled rice after two hours immersion in cold water), eaten with molasses and plantains. Should he be at home, he eats boiled rice with fish curry. The midday meal is always eaten cold. About evening he has his supper, which consists of the same substances that formed his morning meal, but fresh cooked” [Hunter 1879: 250].
- Komal saul or mah-saul is also popular at ceremonies and community festivals, and is distributed as part of the proxad in the neo-Vaishnava namghars where the presence of a manikut or sanctuary hall means that cooked food is strictly prohibited. Some say this is a vestige of prior Buddhist traditions in the region, which similarly relied on raw or uncooked food, but which was continued after Xongkordew/ Sankaradeva’s reformations in the 15th Here, proxad consists of gram, sprouts, komal chaul, thinly sliced ginger, salt, and sometimes coconut, banana and sugarcane. This provides the needed nutrients to the body, and is distributed to all devotees, creating a sense of one-ness and non-differentiation. Those distributing the prasad are deoris: members of a tribal community of ritualists by the same name, or simply ritual specialists or community members of some standing [cf. Gogoi 2020].
- In our conversations with one Assamese grower from Jamugurihat in Sonitpur district, we learned, too, that chokua and komal chaul are also an important part of shrardha or funerary and mourning rituals where again cooked food is not permitted. Here again, komal saul may be offered along with sprouts and fruits in lieu of cooked meals.
- Chokua is offered to the priests who come to perform kirtans and at weddings and other ceremonies.
- Chokua may also be converted into akhoi or puffed rice
- This rice’s no-cook quality makes it ideal to prepare poka mithoi or rice flour larus/balls/laddoos for snacks, during Bihu, Krishna Janmashtami (where it may be distributed in the Namghars) and other festive times. These rice sweets are spiced only with black pepper, but other flavorings could be added. These have a reputation for attaining a tooth-chipping hardness, but this can be controlled by not over-heating the jaggery syrup and roughly following this recipe.
WHO GROWS THIS RICE & WHERE CAN I BUY?
- Our chokua rice comes from a grower in Jamugurihat, a picturesque little town in Sonitpur district.
- Please check our page of trusted sources for buying options.
SOURCES & FURTHER READING
- GI Tag Application for Chokuwa, 2019.
- Das, Priyanka & Singha, A & Goswami, K & Sarmah, Kritideepan. (2018). Detection of Nutritionally Significant Indigenous Rice Varieties from Assam, India. 59-64.
- Gogoi, Lima. “The Belief system of the Deori Tribe of Assam: a Socio Cultural Study.” International Journal of Modern Agriculture, Volume 9, No.4, 2020. Pp. 449-455.
- Hunter, William Wilson. A Statistical Account of Assam. Published by Triibner & co., London, 1879.
Additional information
| Region of Origin | North East |
|---|---|
| Grain Shape | short bold |
| Grain Colour | Brown |
| Fragrance | Light aroma |
