Yogurt rice

I love eating rice with different things added to it. In South Indian cuisine rice is a staple and there are different things that can be added to rice such as sambar, rasam, kootu etc. These are different kind of gravies added to cooked white rice . There are also rice dishes called ‘variety rice’ which are rice dishes with stuff already added to them such as biryani, lemon rice, coconut rice etc.

Yogurt rice can be as simple as adding yogurt to plain white rice with a little bit of salt and mixing it together or it can be served premixed in a little fancier fashion as shown below. Yogurt rice is eaten at the end of the meal since it cools down the palate.

Ingredients

Cooked medium grain white rice (cooking rice)- 1 cup

Warm milk - 1/4 cup

Plain yogurt or sour cream- 1/2 - 3/4 cup 

For seasoning 

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal- Split dehusked black gram 1/2 tsp

Peanuts or cashews  - 2 Tbsp

Ginger - cut into small pieces- 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - pinch

Green chilly- 1/2 de seeded and finely chopped ( optional) 

Curry leaf - 4 or 5

Cilantro leaves - chopped 1 Tsp

Salt to taste 

Oil - 1 tbsp for tempering the seasoning 

Instructions 

1. In a bowl let the rice cool down
2. Add the warm milk and mix well ( this is added to the rice so that the yogurt doesn’t get sour if serving later)
3. Add the yogurt to the rice and mix well. You want the rice in a rice pudding like consistency.
4. Place a pan on the stove on medium heat and add oil to it.
5. Now add the seasoning ingredients one at a time to the oil in the order that they are listed. Ensure the mustard seeds sputter and the urad dal gets slightly brown before adding the peanuts ( roasted until golden brown). Now add the rest of the ingredients and roast  for a few seconds.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Take off the stove. Now add the seasoning to the yogurt rice, add salt to taste and mix well.
7. Yogurt rice is ready to serve ! It can be eaten by itself or with vegetables ( poriyal)  like potato poriyal (potato poriyal) eggplant poriyal, etc. or with pickle.