Traditional South Indian Curd Rice Recipe

Traditional South Indian Curd Rice - made with soft rice, yogurt and a tempering made with cumin, mustard, ginger, curry leaves and chillies.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Traditional South Indian Curd Rice

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 5

Total Time 25

Servings

Calories 187kcal

Author Chhavi

Ingredients

1 Cup Rice Short Grain Rice- Sona Masoori or regular rice
3 Cups Yogurt more if required.
½ cup Milk
¼ Cup Coriander Leaves Chopped

Tempering

1 Tablespoon Oil Gingely/Groundnut or vegetable oil.
½ Teaspoon Black mustard Seeds smallest you can find.
½ Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
½ Teaspoon Grated Ginger
1 Green Chilli Sliced
10-12 Curry Leaves
1-2 Dried Red Chilies optional

Optional ingredients

1 Tablespoon butter melted
1 Teaspoon Milk Powder

Instructions

Cook the rice so its soft and mashable.
Instant Pot- 1 cup rice, 2.5 cups water, 6 minutes on High Pressure.
Pressure Cooker - 1 cup rice, 3 cups water, 10 minutes on medium flame.
Stove Top- 1 Cup rice, 3.5 cups of water, cover the pot and simmer till cooked soft.Check in the middle if it overflows.
Spread the hot rice on a plate , lightly mash it and let it cool down.(If adding butter, add when the rice is hot.)
Once it's at room temperature(touchable) , add the yogurt and milk.(If using milk powder, mix it with the milk before adding)
Add the chopped coriander and give it a mix. Adjust with more milk if needed.

Tempering

In a small pan or wok, heat the oil. Once it's smoking, switch the gas off, add the mustard and cumin. Let it splutter.
Add the ginger, curry leaves, green chillies and red chillies
Pour the tempering over the curd rice and give it a mix.
Serve at room temperature or cold.
Optional Steps- You can top the curd rice with one more tempering, pomegranate seeds, and fried cashews.

Video

Notes

Serving

Curd rice is best served with pappadam(Papad) and pickle.

We love eating it with Potato fry or Bombay Potatoes too

It also goes famously with Chicken 65

Notes

If using leftover rice, refresh is with a few drops of water , and microwave is covered till its hot and steamy.
Make sure you mash the over-cooked rice while it's still hot.Once it cools down, mashing becomes difficult.
Let the rice cool a bit before adding curd. It should be cool enough that you can feed it to a child.
Curd rice is best served cold.
The Rice will absorb more moisture as it sits.

Top Tip - Add a tablespoon of butter to the freshly cooked rice and then proceed to mash the rice. It adds richness to the curd rice you associate with restaurant curd rice.

Heat Level

To adjust the heat, follow the tips below

Mild heat: 2 whole red chilies

Moderate heat: 2 whole red chilies & one pierced green chili

Spicy heat: 2 whole red chilies & 2 Chopped Green chilies

The whole red chilies will not add any heat but just the smoky flavor of tempered chilies.
On the other hand, green chilies will add the heat which contrasts very well against the cooling curd rice.

Nutrition