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LoginMove Over Kombucha — India's Own Fermented Foods Are Reclaiming Their Spot on the Table
08/06/202608/06/2026
Indigestion and heartburn are the two evil twins of Indian gut health that seem to get worse with every Sunday puri with its sidekick chole or aloo masala, or the evening chai and pakora. As the internet tries to sell you pungent, fermented foods and drinks, you might want to rummage in your own kitchen or local repertoire of gut-health boosting recipes. Indian fermented foods are among the world's oldest and most nutritionally sophisticated preserved foods, and there is more in store beyond idlis and dosas.
The conversation about gut health went global, and the focus shifted to fermented foods. Of course, the online world tends to orbit a narrow set of Western and East Asian references, including kombucha from Russia, kimchi from Korea, kefir from Central Asia, and miso from Japan. India is rarely mentioned, despite a 2013 review published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition identifying dozens of distinct traditional Indian fermented foods with documented medicinal properties.
Foods such as gundruk, sinki, iniziangsang, iromba, fermented rai, kanjika, and handua have been reported to have significant medicinal properties, and some products, such as koozh, dahi, and kanjika, are unknowingly consumed as probiotic drinks by local people. While fermented foods around the world often focus on dairy, soy, or a single grain, Indian fermented foods and drinks include fermented rice, fermented soybeans, fermented leafy vegetables, fermented radish roots, fermented millet drinks, and fermented lentil preparations.
If there is one part of India where the fermented foods tradition is most richly documented, it is the Himalayan belt spanning the hills of Sikkim, Darjeeling, and the Northeast states, where winter makes fresh produce scarce and fermented foods become essential sustenance.
A fermented leafy vegetable preparation, gundruk is typically made from mustard greens, rayo-sag, cauliflower leaves, and radish tops. The leaves are left to wilt, then shredded, compressed, packed, sprinkled with water, and kept in a warm anaerobic space to ferment. It takes 10-15 days to be ready and yields a sourish product.
Gundruk is low in calories and high in dietary fibre, vitamins, and minerals, including vitamin C, calcium, and iron, and contains antioxidants. It is eaten by turning it into a soup, a pickle, or a side with rice.
Gundruk's quieter cousin is sinki, a fermented radish taproot product that follows a similar anaerobic pit fermentation process to gundruk. Sinki is very acidic with a pH of 4.4 and a protein composition of 14.6 g when dry. It is used in soups and pickles and is considered an appetiser that helps treat indigestion. Locals consume sinki to treat diarrhoea and stomach pain.
If you happen to eat with the locals in Manipur, especially with the Meitei community, you will find hawaijar among the many dishes. It is a sticky, pungent, alkaline fermented soybean that has been part of the local diet for generations. In the Manipuri language, ‘hawai’ refers to pulses, and ‘jar’ is an abbreviated form of ‘achar’, meaning pickle.
To make hawaijar, the soybeans are boiled and dehulled, then fermented using naturally occurring Bacillus bacteria, until a sticky, mucilaginous texture develops. It is quite similar to Japanese Natto, Chinese Douchi, Thai Thua Nao, and Korean Choongkookjang, all of which are fermented soybean products.
Long before packaged health drinks became popular, ragi ambali was a staple in many rural Karnataka homes. Ragi ambali recipe features a light and nourishing finger millet porridge, usually consumed for breakfast, especially during the summer months. The ragi flour is cooked into a smooth paste, which is mixed with buttermilk and seasoned with salt, green chilli, coriander, and onion.
Ragi is one of the richest plant sources of calcium, making it particularly useful for bone health, especially for women and growing children. Due to fermentation, ragi ambali has better nutrient absorption and reduces antinutrients like phytates, allowing minerals such as iron and calcium to be better absorbed by the body.
Fermented rice takes on different forms and names across the country: pakhala bhata in Odisha, panta bhat in Bengal, pazhaya soru in Tamil Nadu. In Ayurveda, the same sour rice gruel is called kanjika and is made with powdered rice or rice flakes to produce a sour, fermented liquid.
The simplest version of this fermented rice gruel involves cooking the rice, cooling it, and soaking it overnight in water to allow lactic acid bacteria to ferment it. Rice kanji is a similar fermented rice product that was historically used as a remedy for fevers and dehydration. It is dubbed the poor man’s drink for its rejuvenating properties in hot summer months.
More and more research is beginning to formalise what Ayurveda has documented for centuries. A 2024 study published in Biomolecules found that postbiotics for gut health of naturally fermented rice water help the cells lining the colon. The fermentation also reduces phytic acid, which can block mineral absorption, making nutrients like iron, calcium, and zinc easier for the body to use.
A fermented food that is not wet is hard to fathom, yet the Bengali bori exists: small, conical, sun-dried lentil dumplings that are a staple of Bengali cooking, used in everything from shukto to dal to simple stir-fries. It is made with urad dal with some boris using masoor, moong, and matar dals too. Some urad dal bori are made with urad dal and might include grated winter melon, asafoetida, and fennel seeds.
These sun-dried delights’ fermentation happens during the soaking and grinding phase, where ground dal batter is left to ferment before being piped onto mats and sun-dried for three to five days. Bori are nutrient-dense, low in fat, a great source of protein, and a healthy probiotic food. Once dried, they can be stored for months, providing a year-round protein source.
The gut-health revival in recent years has finally gotten the science backup, and this one is ‘proof’ for the naysayers or doubters. Going by recent data, India's probiotic market is set to grow at 17.8% between 2025 and 2033. This is hardly surprising given the Indian population’s ill-fated tryst with gastrointestinal issues.
Research has also identified probiotics that are congruent with the Indian diet to modernise local fermentation practices. Bacterial fermentation produces compounds that help maintain a healthy gut lining, reduce inflammation, and improve nutrient absorption. What makes Indian fermented foods unique is their rich microbial diversity: each food contains distinct beneficial microorganisms shaped by their respective climates and waters, which act on local ingredients.
The simplest way to get started with fermented foods is to make kanjika or panta bhat as summer looms overhead. Fermented rice takes 12 hours and requires no ingredients beyond using cooked rice and water, left outside to ferment. From there, an ambali recipe offers the next step: turning it into a fermented ragi drink that doubles as breakfast, or into pakhala.
A: Dahi is considered one of India’s richest natural probiotic foods because it contains live beneficial bacteria that support digestion, gut balance, and nutrient absorption.
