This Curd Rice recipe, also known as Thayir Sadam, Daddojanam or Bagala Bath, combines cooked rice with fresh curd (yogurt) and a tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves and spices. The texture is soft and creamy with mild seasoning. It is a staple South Indian preparation served as a main dish or as part of a traditional meal.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 5 minutes
  • Total time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Main Course, Side Dish
  • Cuisine: South Indian, Tamil Nadu

Ingredients

  • ½ cup rice (- 100 grams, any short grained to medium-grained rice)
  • 1.5 cups water (- for pressure cooking)
  • 1 cup curd ((yogurt) - 250 grams)
  • ¼ cup milk (- optional)
  • 1 green chilli (chopped or ½ teaspoon)
  • 1 teaspoon ginger (- finely chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon curry leaves (- finely chopped or 4 to 5 curry leaves, chopped)
  • 1 tablespoon coriander leaves ((cilantro), chopped)
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil ((gingelly oil))
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • ½ teaspoon urad dal ((husked and split black gram dal) - optional)
  • 5 to 6 curry leaves (- chopped or kept whole)
  • ⅛ teaspoon asafoetida ((hing))
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons pomegranate arils (- optional, sweet grapes can also be added instead)
  • 1 tablespoon coriander leaves (- chopped)

Method

Cooking rice

  1. Rinse the rice grains a couple of times in water. Then add the rice in a 2-litre stovetop pressure cooker.
  2. Add 1.5 cups water. Stir and mix very well.
  3. Pressure cook rice on medium heat for 5 to 6 whistles or 8 to 9 minutes till the rice is cooked and softened very well.
  4. When the pressure settles down on its own, remove the lid and check the doneness of rice. The rice has to be more softer than what we cook on a daily basis and look mushy.
  5. With a spoon or vegetable masher, mash the rice. Close the cooker and allow the rice to become lukewarm or come at room temperature.

Making curd rice

  1. When the rice becomes comes at room temperature and has completely cooled, add fresh curd and milk.
  2. Mix again very well and break lumps if any. You can either use the spoon or masher while breaking the lumps.
  3. Add finely chopped ginger, finely chopped curry leaves, chopped green chilies and chopped coriander leaves.
  4. Instead of adding ginger and curry leaves to the rice, you can also fry them in the tempering.
  5. Add salt. Mix very well. Keep aside.

Tempering

  1. Heat a small pan or tadka pan and add sesame oil in it. You can use peanut oil or sunflower oil instead of sesame oil.
  2. When the oil becomes hot, lower the heat. Add mustard seeds.
  3. Let the mustard seeds crackle.
  4. Then add urad dal. Urad dal is optional and can be skipped.
  5. Fry on a low heat stirring often till the urad dal becomes golden.
  6. Lastly add the add curry leaves and asafoetida. Mix very well.
  7. Switch off the heat and immediately pour the tempering in the curd rice mixture. Again mix very well.
  8. Serve Curd Rice topped with a few coriander leaves or pomegranate arils or grapes. You can skip the fruits too and just serve curd rice as is. You can also serve with fried sun dried green chillies or any South Indian mango pickle.
  9. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for some hours. Better to eat on the same day.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.