Curd rice
Soft rice mashed with curd and a little milk and tempered with mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, ginger and green chilli. Thayir sadam ends almost every Tamil and Kannada meal and on its own is the cooling summer dinner, eaten with mango pickle and papad. With leftover rice it is ready in 10 minutes. Jain homes leave out the ginger.
- 40 minTime
- 20 minHands-on
- 4Portions
- 15 gprotein per portion
- 430kcal per portion
Ingredients for 4 portions
- 250 gRice, sona masoori or ponni
- ≈ 1 lWater
- 200 mlMilk
- 500 gCurd
- to tasteSalt
- 1 tspGinger, grated
- 2Green chillies, finely chopped
- 2 tbspCoriander leaves, chopped
- 1 tbspRefined oil
- 1 tspMustard seeds
- 1 tspUrad dal
- 1Dried red chilli
- 1 sprigCurry leaves
- 1 mlHing (asafoetida)
- ½Pomegranate, seeds (optional)
On the side
- 4Papads
Method
- Rinse the rice and put it in the pressure cooker with the water. Close the lid.
- Pressure-cook on medium for 5 whistles, about 15 minutes, until the rice is very soft, and let the pressure drop by itself.
- Grate the ginger, finely chop the green chillies and coriander leaves, and take the seeds out of the pomegranate.
- Mash the hot rice well with a ladle and stir in the milk.
- Leave the rice to cool for about 10 minutes, until barely warm; hot rice turns the curd sour.
- For the tadka, heat the oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the urad dal, dried red chilli, curry leaves, ginger, green chillies and hing and fry until the dal is golden.
- Roast the papads one at a time over the gas flame with tongs, turning, until blistered all over.
- Stir the curd and salt into the rice until creamy, then mix in the tadka and coriander leaves. Top with the pomegranate seeds, if using, and serve with the papads, or chill it for a while first.
