Eaten as the last course of the your lunch every single day, this recipe comes forward in any health situation related to your stomach. For an upset stomach or gastritis, this simple food is the best. Its bland and doesn’t irritate your stomach when its sensitive. The tadka is optional and not done on a daily basis. Usually, you just add semi thick yogurt over well cooked rice and mix well and eat.

Served with pickles or vatha kuzhambu, this is one of the best comfort food for a South Indian. I cannot imagine explaining curd rice to the South Indian crowd, let alone present a recipe for that. Its like teaching someone to breathe. You just do it everyday without even realizing it.

It’s also kind of difficult to come up with accurate proportions for the basic recipes like this. Not just for this recipe, for cooking as a whole, its difficult to come with an absolute amount. Because the ingredients and their properties vary so much. Sourness of tomatoes, tanginess of  tamarind, spiciness of green chili, the mushy quality of rice and dal – all these differ so much. So we need to make adjustments according to what we have in our hand. In short, most recipes are guidelines and we need to make our own checks to suit our palate.

I realized that when I was measuring the yogurt quantity for the recipe. The quantity depends on the thickness and sourness of yogurt and wait time before the dish is served. But then, these are adjustments we do without even realizing it.

It’s no rocket science to serve a bowl of curd rice, its comfort in a bowl to say the least :-)

Makes one serving:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• salt as needed

Optional tadka:

• 1/2 teaspoon oil
• a good pinch hing
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1-2 dry red chillies

Method:

1. Cook rice separately and set aside. Left over rice also works well.
2. Once rice has cooled down completely, mix in the yogurt and salt. You might have to add more yogurt or water to get the rice to a soft mushy consistency. Its hard to assess the accurate amount as the thickness of yogurt and consistency preference varies heavily.
3. Heat a small pan and add the oil. Once oil is hot, add the hing, followed by mustard seeds and dry red chillies. Once the seeds pop, take off the heat and add it to the rice mix. Mix well to distribute evenly and taste test for salt. Adjust according to your preference.
4. The rice thickens as it sits. You can loosen it up at the time of serving with water or yogurt. If you are preparing this well ahead of time and you are in a hot and humid area, replace half the yogurt with milk. Else it might turn sour in places like Chennai. (personal experience, and yes- I was feeding a crowd :D. It was a very very silent lunch affair!)