Chef Sunil Chauhan

Ingredients

• Add oil to a small pan or tadka pan and heat it.
• Reduce the flame after the oil is heated. Sprinkle with mustard seeds.
• Allow the mustard seeds to pop.
• Then add the urad dal and chana daal. Daal is an optional dish that can be skipped.
• However, I enjoy daal because it adds crispness to the recipe.
• Fry on low heat, tossing frequently until the daal turns brown.
• Finally, add the curry leaves, red chili powder, and asafoetida. Mix thoroughly to avoid burning.
• Turn off the heat, before pouring the tempering into the curd rice mixture and mixing together.
• Remove the fried red chili and a few fried curry leaves for garnish and stir thoroughly once more.
• Mix tempering well with curd rice mixture.
• Arrange pomegranate arils, fried curry leaves, and fried red chili on top of curd rice.
• Serve velvety curd rice with papadam and a spicy south Indian mango pickle.
• If desired, sauté the ginger while tempering.
• I recommend using freshly homemade curd
• The dish might be ruined by too much sourness or aged curd.
• This recipe can also be made with skimmed curd.
• Always use fresh curd, but if it's a bit sour, add a little more milk.
• You might add a few tablespoons of cream while mixing curd and rice to make it richer.
• In the summer, add a little milk or cream to prevent the curd rice from becoming sour.
• If serving to children, omit the green chilies and ginger.
• Cashews can also be added for extra crunch.
• Curd rice can be eaten straight or offered as a side dish to a South Indian dinner.