Curd rice

A brilliant use for your leftover rice - try the North Indian curd rice! Often a simple dish that pairs curd, rice and thinly sliced raw onion, this version adds a homemade spiced takda, pomegranate and grapes to add plenty of flavour and texture. The secret to an authentic curd rice? Mash the rice until it resembles an almost pasty, congee-like texture!

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4-6

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Series. Cooking. Rated PG.

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The Cook Up with Adam Liaw

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Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked medium-grain rice, such as sona masuri (cooled to room temperature but not refrigerated)
• 1 cup milk
• 500 ml yoghurt
• Salt

Tadka

• 2 tbsp gingelly oil (untoasted sesame oil)
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp urad dal
• 3 dried red chillies
• 6 curry leaves, roughly chopped
• ⅛ tsp asafoetida (hing) powder

To serve

• 1 tbsp pomegranate arils
• 3 green grapes, halved
• 2 tbsp finely chopped cucumber
• 1 tbsp finely chopped onion
• 1 tsp finely chopped ginger
• 1 tsp finely chopped green chilli
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped coriander

Cooling time (for rice preparation): 20 minutes

Instructions

1. Lightly mash some of the rice with the milk and stir well, then mix the yoghurt into the rice. Season with salt and taste. The rice should be slightly salty but have a creamy texture.
2. To make the tadka, heat the gingelly oil in a small saucepan and add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the urad dal and chillies and heat until the dal starts turns golden brown. Add the curry leaves and asafoetida and mix well to combine. Pour over the curd rice and mix the tadka through the rice.
3. Fold through the remaining toppings to serve (reserving a few grapes and pomegranate arils to sprinkle over the top), then serve.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.