CURD RICE

My humble Namans to The  Divine Lotus Feet of  Param Poojaniya Swamiji and  Sri Hari Bhagavan on the auspicious occasion of Mahashivaratri.

Shivaratri also marks the beginning of the summer season. We need to focus on summer foods now.  Let us welcome summer with one of my favourite recipes, a soothing and  delicious Curd rice. 

Curd Rice

Ingredients

1 cup rice ( I used broken Basmati rice and it was too good. Use good quality rice to get good results)

4 cups of water

1 cup milk

2 cups curd

½ cup roasted peanuts

2 green chillies finely chopped

 A small piece of ginger finely chopped

1 small cucumber finely chopped.

4 dry red chillies

Curry leaves

Mustard seeds

3 to 4 tablespoon ghee /oil for tempering

2 tsp sugar ( I like my curd rice lil sweet 🙂 )

Salt to taste.

Preparation

Cook the rice with 4 cups of water in a pressure cooker to 4 whistles. The rice should be overcooked.  After cooling mash the rice well.  Add milk, curd, chopped cucumber,salt and sugar and keep aside for 3 to 4 hours. Just before eating we can add the rest of the ingredients. Take a pan , heat the oil or ghee. Splutter mustard seeds , add the chillies , ginger and peanuts. Roast them and pour the tempering over the rice. Mix well and serve. We can eat the melting in the mouth curd rice as such. Any fried vegetables, papad and pickle are great combinations to be had with curd rice. Curd/yoghurt contains live bacteria known as probiotics, which is very good for a healthy gut. 

 Curd  is also rich in proteins, antioxidants and calcium too.  Let us make and enjoy this cool dish often during this season because the way to anyone’s heart is definitely through curd rice. 

Jai Sri Hari.