Kuji patalia

Kujipatalia came to us through family—a farmer in Sompalyam, experimenting with growing native rice varieties on a mere ½ acre for the locals working there in dry/rainfed land that is otherwise mostly mango orchards. There is a still-unfolding story about the revival of desi seed in Andhra Pradesh (and Telangana) hidden in these small, “sanna” but slightly stout and very faintly aromatic grains which don’t need much more dressing than munagaaku [drumstick leaves, preferably tender] fried in a spot of ghee to make a meal unto themselves—because this rice is often mentioned in Telugu language YouTube videos on “Mana uru, mana vittanam” [Our town, our seed] as part of a handful of native varieties slowly being revived in an otherwise heavily HYV-driven state.

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Categories: Andhra/Telangana, Dryland, White Rice Tags: Andhra Pra, fine rice, Kuji patalia

Description
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Description

THE CULTURAL AND ECOLOGICAL LIFE OF THIS RICE

Kujipatalia appears to be a rice that is featuring prominently in Andhra Pradesh’s revival of native paddy. There isn’t much information about this rice, except that it is a long-duration shorter grass which is therefore non-lodging and that it produces a fine, tasty, strength-giving rice. Bapa Rao, a young graphic designer-turned farmer in Guntur, founder of the seed bank and farmer association Bhoomi Bharati—speaks of it as a native, local alternative to the “fat” rices that many consumers do not prefer, possibly one that is proteinaceous, possibly also relieving of the gaseousness caused by other grains, though these things are yet to be demonstrated by science. In general, there appears to be the sense that any desi paddy is going to be more healthful [and less carcinogenic] than those grown with heavy inputs of chemicals.

N Chandool Kumar Reddy in Palamaneru near Chittor puts up a video of his field of lush, green Bahurupi next to one of ripening Kuji Patalia, the relative short stature of the latter with its golden ripening panicles and fine grains. In addition to Bahurupi and Kuji Patalia, he also grows Navara, Kalabati, Chitti muthyalu, Rathnachodi, Kothambari, Mappilai Samba, and Kullakar—a mix of Andhra, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu landraces. Both he and Bapa Rao have given seeds to neighbouring farmers at organic producer meetings in the region. This is how our Sompalayam contact got the seed and came upon the knowledge that Kuji Patalia is a rice that was once eaten even by kings, and that cows, too, love its hay.

All the farmers we know who are growing Kuji Patalia also appear to be using Subhash Palekar’s method of “natural farming,” ZBNF: Zero Budget Natural Farming, which typically rests on four main practices: jeevamrutha [fermented microbial cultures], beejamrutha [treatment and preparation of seed], acchadana or mulching, and whapasa or moisture, which holds that what plants need is vapour far more than the typical irrigation. It is unclear how these practices are being applied in these farmers’ fields, but this methodology, more than Fukuoka’s “do nothing” farming which has been influential in Tamil Nadu’s revival, seems to be more important in this Andhra context.

We will update this profile as we know more!

Other names for this rice: Kuji Pataliya, Kuzipatalia

NUTRITIONAL AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

No verifiable information on this rice. Even what is reported above, by the farmers’ own accounts, are anecdotal.

CULINARY USES

Eminently suitable as a table rice; would be a good pairing with an ulava chaaru
If the cooking time is efficiently controlled, can work really well for mixed rices, too.
Pictured: lemon rice, tomato rice, and a “neichoru” or ghee rice with fried tender murungai/drumstick leaves.

WHO GROWS THIS RICE & WHERE CAN I BUY?