A Newbie Cook’s Guide to Great Curd Rice
Fond Memories of A Simple Dish
Curd Rice is one dish that is a subject of many, many family tales of many, many families from South India. Surely, it would be impossible to spot a South Indian without a lingering memory of the Thayir Saadham as it is known in Tamil. After a child in the family has gone through the weaning function (where the child gets introduced to cooked food and grains for the first time) curd rice is the dish that the child frequently has. You will hear tales of “Nila Choru” (roughly translated, “food in the moonlight), when the mother feeds her child, resting on her waist. She tells the child fairy tales of the moon and the child wonder-eyed at the marvel that is the moon finishes off the meal in no time. On all these occasions, the curd rice is the delicious constant.Unsurprisingly, my fondest memories of this rice, are associated with Amma. When the five of us siblings went to the school in Ahmedabad, early in the morning, Amma used to make curd rice even at that hour and used to give the rice in our outstretched hands – one at a time, as we took turns to gulp the curd rice down. The accompaniment to these dollops of this rice was Vadu Mangai Pickle Water (Tender Mango pickle water). Ask any Tamilian and he will vividly remember this combo from his or her childhood. You don’t have to look far to know about the popularity of this simple dish. According to this Divya Kanchibotla of NDTV Food, “Eating Curd Rice Makes You a Happy Person, Seriously! article. Arguably then, the world is clearly a fan!
