On a weekend afternoon when you are just not in a mood to cook, too lazy to get out for lunch, and don’t want to have a heavy meal, make curd rice, or thair sadam as we South Indians call it. I feel if you take count of the top 100 contributions of Tamilians to the rest of the world, curd rice will undoubtedly top the list. It’s easy to make and it’s easy on your tummy too. Its comfort food for me. When I go to a buffet and see a huge spread in front of me, I suddenly feel really full. So I take some plain rice on my plate and some curd and eat that with dal and papad. If there’s pickle too, nothing like it..mmmm…yummy! If curd is not available, I try to sneak in some raita and mix it with rice. I know many of you might disapprove!

Let’s see how to make the simple curd rice.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice – 1 cup
Cooking oil – 1 tbsp
Curd – 3 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Split black lentil (urad dal) – 1 tsp
Ginger – 1/2 inch piece
Curd chilly/slit green chilies – 2
Curry leaves – 1 stalk
Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Preparation Time: 5 mins.
Cooking Time: 2 mins.

Method:

Pour oil on to a pan and put mustard seeds and split black lentil. Add slit green chillies or curd chillies. Chop the ginger finely and add to the oil after the mustard seeds splutter and split black lentil and chillies turns brown. Add curry leaves as well. Sauté until ginger pieces are cooked. Add cooked rice and stir well. (If you are using leftover rice from the fridge, you can cook the rice for 3 mins). Cook for a minute and turn off the fire. Sprinkle finely chopped coriander leaves. Let it cool for a minute. Add curd and mix well. You can add chopped cucumber pieces to the curd rice and make it healthier. If you won’t have the curd rice immediately, use half the amount of curd and mix some milk along with the curd and rice. This ensures that the curd rice doesn’t become too sour by the time you eat.

Serve with hot appalams (Madrasi papad) and fried curd chillies (Spicy green chillies slit and marinated in sour salted buttermilk and sun dried. Available in South Indian stores.)  and mango or lime pickle. Describing this is making me salivate!

Addendum: You just cannot afford to miss this blog post on Thair sadam!

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