Thayir Saadam / Yogurt Rice

This post had to come some day :). A South-Indian cannot ignore the most humble and distinctive dish in our community for too long. What is yogurt rice? It is just as it sounds. It is yogurt mixed with rice. That's it, you ask? That's it, I say.

Well, almost.

Before I go further, I must clarify one thing. This post is by no means a recipe for yogurt rice. If I call this a recipe, I am inviting unending mockery from my entire community! This post is just an ode to thayir saadam where I highlight a few additions to make it really special. It would have never even occurred to me to talk about yogurt rice until a few years back.

South-Indians don't think much about yogurt rice, but can hardly survive without it! A few years ago, I brought it for lunch to work because I had nothing else in my kitchen. As I munched on it while continuing to work, I heard a collective gasp around me. My three American lab mates were around me, gazing at the thayir saadam with awe. A stream of questions followed...

"What is that?!"

"Is that pudding?!"

"Are you having sweet rice pudding for lunch?! A whole box of it?"

"What's that reddish thing in the middle?" (an innocent pickle)

I laughed and explained that it was just rice mixed with yogurt, a common dish from where I come. This elicited more questions, clarifications, and a collective conclusion...

"This is ingenious!!"

"Why didn't we think of this?!"

"I'm going to mix rice with different flavored yogurts when I get home. Can't wait!"

And I laughed more! Really? Ingenious? I would have never thought of that adjective in a million years. And one of my friends in particular, still tells me he buys flavored yogurts to mix with rice, and buys dill and pepperoncini pickles to have with it! I got an American hooked on to yogurt rice! Such is the simplicity and inexplicable allure and comfort of thayir saadam.

Traditional Tamil Brahmin meals have four courses. A prototypical meal would consist of...

First course: A spicy lentil and vegetable gravy stewed in tamarind extract (sambar) is mixed with rice, and had alonside one or two stir-fried vegetables. The spicy gravy sometimes will not have lentils (a kuzhambu).

Second Course: A warm, tangy tamarind and tomato based broth (rasam) is mixed with rice, and had with more vegetable sides or a lentil stew (kootu).

Third Course: Dessert. Oh yes, you read right. A sweet and runny porridge (paayasam) is a classic South-Indian dessert. It is served during festive occasions, not on a daily basis. On regular days, this course is omitted.

Fourth Course: Yogurt rice! It is served with pickles, thokkus, or spicy sides. After the spicy dishes of the previous courses, the yogurt cools down the stomach and provides useful probiotics to aid digestion.

Yogurt rice is the grand finale to the meal. Like Pavlov's dogs, we are behaviorally so habituated, that in our minds, no meal is complete without the cooling, reassuring presence of yogurt (carb-phobia has made us look past the absence of rice). So, even today, thayir saadam has to be present to make any meal a minimum of two courses, otherwise our stomachs refuse to release any digestive juices. Even after a meal of rotis, some people search for yogurt and rice. Thankfully, quinoa and yogurt are divine together, so on busy days and evenings, the mix of the two comes to our comfort and rescue! With protein, useful nutrients, and probiotics from the two, they elicit no scorn or complaints and can be even had as a one-course meal.

Fussy kids (like I used to be) subsist exclusively on yogurt rice (lovingly called thachchi mum-mum by young ones). So it also comes to the rescue of many parents desperate to get some food into their kids!

The beauty of thayir saadam is that it's actually a pretty versatile dish. You can make it as simple and humble as you would like, or as fancy as your would like!

What do I mean by fancy? Add some fruits - diced apples, sliced grapes, cherries, pomegranate pearls, and raisins. Season with tempered black mustard seeds, ginger pieces, curry leaves, green chillies, and hing. Hing and ginger are great digestive aids too.

How exactly do you do this? Heat a little oil (a tablespoon or two, depending on the quantity of yogurt rice you are seasoning), splutter some black mustard seeds, add split black gram (optional), curry leaves, hing, ginger pieces, and chopped green chilli(es). Fry a little and add to the yogurt rice (that is seasoned with enough salt). Mix this with some chopped coriander leaves and serve. You get bites of sweetness from the fruits, a distinct mix of aromas from the ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves, and hing, and a mild heat from the chillies.

Mor Milagai

Another spicy variation to this is to fry mor-milagais (chillies that were soaked in buttermilk and sun-dried) and add them to the tempering I mentioned above. Skip the green chillies and fruits in this version. The resulting yogurt rice will be spicy and delicious in a unique way.

Depending on specific family traditions and creative innovations, I am sure there are many more ways to decorate and dress up thayir saadam! Do you know of more variations? Please do share!

So, there's my little nod and salute to our elementary but indispensable dish! The one dish we crave for when we want to snuggle into something warm, familiar, and comforting!

Addendum:
1. Add a splash of milk to make your yogurt rice if your yogurt is really sour. It cuts down the sourness and makes the rice moister and delicious!
2. I also add some sour cream to infuse just a hint of sourness and a whole lot of creaminess to the yogurt rice! It's especially good for special occasions!
3. My mom mixes rice + milk + a tablespoon of yogurt while preparing my lunch during schooldays. In the wonderful heat of my Indian city, the milk would turn into fresh yogurt by the time I was ready to eat during lunch time. It's a nice way to make sure your yogurt rice doesn't turn sour in the heat. So, if you are planning to carry some during travel or in hot places, try this!

PS: Please refer to the Glossary if you'd like more information on the Indian ingredients listed here