Curd Rice Recipe, How to make South Indian Thayir Sadam

South Indian Curd Rice Recipe (Thayir Sadam) with step by step pictures – A perfect one pot yogurt flavored south indian rice dish tempered with spices. This recipe of “curd rice” is the most basic of south indian flavors. No South Indian thali is complete without this comfort food. It’s easy to prepare and can fill in for dahi raitas.

During summer we tend to increase our daily intake of yogurt based dishes. Whether its raita or butter milk. Yogurt helps to reduce the body temperature and keep it cool during summer season. Curd based side dishes like cucumber raita, onion tomato raita and masala dahi are served in meals to balance the heat. So here is yet another yogurt based traditional recipe that I thought to share with you guys.

This recipe of curd rice or dahi chawal is very simple and quick to make. I have been making curd rice this way for quite a while now. Normally for lunch I make Gujarati dishes but once a while when it I feel lazy of making full-fledged lunch menu, I skip everything and make either curd rice or lemon rice. Both are my favorite. Being bought up in Gujju family in South India I guess I have developed taste of both the cuisine 🙂

The recipe of curd rice is also a “left over rice recipe”. If you have left over rice and are confused what to make either go for rice & sweet corn bites or skip everything and make this curd rice. For curd rice we need rice to be little mushy. So if left over rice is a bit hard then cook it again by adding little water till they are over cooked. Then simply follow the recipe and curd rice will be ready in no time.

Related: lemon rice recipe | sambar rice recipe

In South India the curd rice is also known as “thayir sadam“. Thayir means curd and sadam is rice. In any south indian restaurant if you order a “mini meal”, they serve four varieties of rice: sambar rice, rasam rice, lemon rice and curd rice. Rice being one of the staple food is must in any thali.

Curd rice with fruits

The recipe of curd rice is simple. You can give a twist to traditional curd rice by adding your favorite fruits in it. You can add fruits like strawberry, mango, pomegranate etc. Add the fruits in curd rice just before serving. That way it will preserve its white color.

Usually curd rice is prepared by adding tempered spices like red chilies / ginger etc. However if you are making this curd rice for babies you can skip it completely. Just mix curd and rice together and season it with some salt. That’s it.

Usually if curd rice is made a while before serving (for example if made for lunch box), it might get sour. Here are few tips or do’s and don’ts for making south indian curd rice for lunch box without letting it turn sour.

Do‘s & Don’ts If you are making curd rice for lunch box or tiffin for travel

1. Curd rice if kept in lunch box for long time can turn sour. To avoid that add some milk in the curd rice.
2. Before mixing curd in boiled rice keep in mind that rice is completely cool down. If not then water might oozes out of curd and leak out of the lunch box.
3. If the curd is too sour then you can use fresh cream in curd rice to balance the sourness of yogurt. It also makes curd rice rich and creamy.
4. If curd rice becomes thick once you open the tiffin then add a tablespoon of water and mix it again.

Let us check the recipe of curd rice with step by step photo.

Recipe of Curd Rice or South Indian Thayir Sadam with step by step pictures

The recipe of curd rice is divided into two sections. First we need to boil the rice for south indian curd rice. Then we will make tadka or tempering of red chili, cumin, ginger etc and pour it on curd rice.

1. Recipe of boiling rice for curd rice

Wash the rice thoroughly for 4 to 5 times in water. Remove the starch and let  the rice get soaked in water for 10 minutes.

Take the rice in a sauce pan or kadhai and add water. For 1 part of rice we are going to add 2-3 parts of water. For curd rice the rice needs to be a little over cooked.

Heat the pan and let the water comes to boil.

Cover the lid and let the rice gets cooked for 5-6 minutes.

Remove the lid and check if rice is cooked properly. If required add a little water and cook it again.

To check if rice is cooked properly for curd rice recipe, take some rice grains in hand and mash them between your figures.

Strain the excess water from boiled rice by keeping it in strainer for 5 minutes.

Now take the boiled rice in a bowl and add yogurt / dahi. I have used homemade curd to make this curd rice. Whisk the yogurt properly before adding it into rice.

Now combine the yogurt into boiled rice thoroughly.

Add finely chopped green chilies (hari mirch) and coriander leaves (hara dhaniya).

Add salt as per your taste.

Mix well all the ingredients.

2. Recipe of making tadka / tempering for curd rice

Now let us make the tempering or tadka for our curd rice recipe. For that:

1. Heat some oil in a tadka pan and add dry red chili. Sauté the red chili in oil for 20-30 seconds.
2. Add mustard seeds (rai) in the tempering and let it crackles.
3. Now add white lentil (urad dal) in the oil and sauté for few seconds.
4. Add curry leaves (kadi patta). Soon after add hing (asafoetida).
5. Now add ginger paste and with the help of spoon mix it in oil. sauté ginger for few seconds until the raw flavor is gone. Our tadka or tempering for south indian curd rice (thayir sadam) is ready.

Pour the tadka (tempering) on yogurt/rice mixture.

Mix well the tadka into curd rice and that’s it. Delicious south indian curd rice or thayir sadam is ready to serve. Serve curd rice with pickle (achaar) and papad or applam.

South Indian Curd Rice Recipe Box

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