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Clay bowl with a green banana leaf filled with white curd and rice, with garnish of green cilantro leaves and tempering of chilies and mustard seeds in oil, with a mango pickle seen on one side. A pale green napkin to the left
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Curd Rice/ Thalicha Thayir Sadam

Easy Curd rice or Thayir Sadam made by mixing cooked rice with fresh curd/plain un-sweetened yogurt and tempered with mustard seeds, curry leaves and green chilies. Other items like grated carrot, cucumber may be added.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Lunchbox, Main Dish
Cuisine: Indian, south indian, Tamilian
Keyword: Curd Rice, Thayir Sadam, Yogurt
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 850kcal
Author: Sujata Shukla

Equipment

  • Pressure Cooker
  • Small frying pan for tempering
  • Bowl for mixing the rice

Ingredients

For Cooking Rice

  • 1 cup Raw rice
  • 1 cup Water For pressure cooking the rice

For Frying Mor Millagai (if using)

  • 8-10 Curd chilies/ mor millagai
  • ¼ cup Gingelly oil

For Mixing Curd Rice

  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • ¼ cup Milk See instructions below
  • 3 cups Curd
  • ½ cup Carrot Peeled and grated
  • ½ cup Cucumber Peeled and grated

For Tempering

  • 1 teaspoon Gingelly Oil Til/ Indian Sesame Oil
  • ½ teaspoon Mustard seeds
  • 1- 2 Green chilies Sliced
  • teaspoon Hing/ asafoetida
  • 1 inch Ginger Peeled, minced
  • 1 stalk Curry leaves about 10-12 leaves, shredded

For Garnish

  • 2 stalks Dhaniya/ coriander leaves shredded leaves

Instructions

To Cook Rice

  • Rinse and clean rice several times, drain.
    Pressure cook with enough water for 3 whistles or till rice is very soft and mashable. The rice should be soft but not watery as that would reduce the taste.
    Once taken off the heat, let the pressure cooker release steam on its own.
    While it is still hot, mash it well and add salt. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
    If the curd rice is meant to be taken after several hours, add ¼ cup milk at this stage and stir it into the mashed rice.

Preparation

  • Peel and grate carrot and cucumber (or raw mango if using. Mango need not be peeled)
    Slice green chilies. Peel and mince ginger.
    Shred curry leaves (I always do this so that they get eaten and not discarded at the side of the plate)
    Whisk the curd.
    Fry mor millagai/ curd chilies in gingelly oil or sunflower oil. Drain and set aside in an airtight container.

To Mix Curd Rice

  • Add curd to the cooled cooked rice.
    Add grated carrot and cucumber. Mix well. Check for adequacy of salt and a little more if required. The dish is not meant to be salty, just mildly savoury.
    Small thin slices of raw mango may be added instead of cucumber and carrot. I try not to add too many flavours here.
    One or two fried curd chili/mor millagai may be crushed and added to the curd rice.

Tempering

  • Heat oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds.
    Once they crackle, add green chilli slices. Stir.
    Add hing.
    Add minced ginger, saute for 5-10 seconds.
    Add curry leaves
    Pour the tempering on the curd rice.
    Have it with your favourite pickles and mor millagai

To Garnish

  • Shred and add coriander leaves. Pomegranate arils or other preferred garnish may be added.

Nutrition

Serving: 2.5cups | Calories: 850kcal | Carbohydrates: 97g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 42g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 569mg | Potassium: 840mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 5787IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 495mg | Iron: 1mg