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1
Place the day-old cooled rice in a wide earthenware or ceramic vessel and pour over enough water to submerge it completely, with 2–3 cm standing above the surface, so the grains have room to swell and draw the souring water evenly into themselves rather than fermenting only at the edges. Add the jia starter if available and stir once to distribute it. The rice must be fully cold before the water goes in, because hot rice will kill the live culture before it has any chance to take hold.
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2
Cover the vessel loosely with a clean cloth rather than a sealed lid, so the gas that builds during fermentation can escape freely and does not collect at the water line and stall the process. Set the vessel at room temperature: 8–12 hours in summer, 16–24 hours in winter. This is where the dish lives or dies — taste the water when time is up; it should carry a clean, mild tartness, pleasant on the tongue, never sharp or acrid, and the grains should hold their shape while having drunk in the soured water.
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3
Serve the pakhala cold or at room temperature directly from the fermentation vessel, portioning the rice into deep bowls and ladling the fermented water generously over and around it, because the water is as much the dish as the rice and is drunk alongside, not poured away. Reserve 2–3 tablespoons of this liquid before serving, so you carry a live starter into the next batch and the sourness deepens in character over successive days.
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4
Arrange the accompaniments alongside: fried or dried salted fish (enduri), raw onion quarters, and a drizzle of mustard oil. Each of these is chosen to cut the quiet blandness of the water rice — the salt and smoke of the fish, the bite of raw onion, the sharp heat of the oil giving the palate something to push against. The table is correct when every element — sour rice water, salt fish, raw onion, pungent oil — sits together as a deliberate counterpoint.