Curd Rice (Thayir Sadham) – Seasoned Yogurt Rice

I was boiling rice for making Pulav for a Party at my place. Unfortunately, I was busy with other things and the rice ended up being overcooked and was in no position for Pulav. I had to keep the rice aside and prepare another batch of rice for the Pulav. I didn’t know what I would do with all the overcooked rice. That’s when my friend Revathi came to my rescue. She suggested making Curd Rice and Sambar Rice with the overcooked rice. Though my husband loves Curd Rice, I have never made it at home. We have had Curd Rice at many South Indian restaurants and at a few of our friends’ places. Somehow, Curd Rice is not all that common in many regions of Kerala.

Curd Rice

As suggested by my friend, I made plain old Curd Rice with minimum seasonings and it simply tasted awesome. It is perhaps the easiest Rice recipe after Plain Rice 🙂 We ended up making Curd Rice 3 days in a row. So if you are wondering what to do with Over Cooked Rice, then go ahead and make this wonderful Comfort Food called Curd Rice (Thayir Sadham) – Rice simmered in thick curd and seasoned with mustard, chillies and other spices.

Thayir Sadham

Ingredients

1. Well cooked/Over cooked Rice – 2 cups (Ponni/Basmathi/Sona Masoori or any other white rice)
2. Thick Yogurt (which is not sour) – 1 cup (I used Plain Non Fat Yogurt)
3. Water/Milk – 1/2 cup
4. Oil – 2 tbsp
5. Mustard Seeds – 1/4 tsp
6. Dry Red Chillies – 4 or 5
7. Curry Leaves – a few
8. Salt – to taste

Preparation Method

1. Mash the cooked rice thoroughly with the back of a spatula.
2. Mix the yogurt with 1 cup water and salt to taste. Add it to the rice and start mashing it thoroughly so that is forms an almost gooey paste.
3. Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds, dry red chillies and curry leaves.
4. Stir in the mashed yogurt rice to the pan and mix well. Saute for around 2 minutes so that the curd rice gets heated through and then remove from stove top.
5. Serve Curd Rice with pickle and Pappadam/Chips.

Note

1. You can season Curd Rice with other ingredients of your choice like minced ginger, green chillies, roasted cashews, peanuts, urad dal, chana dal and so on.
2. If the curd happens to be slightly sour, then you can add milk instead of water to neutralize the taste.