A delicious and creamy South Indian style spiced curd/yogurt rice recipe prepared with yogurt, rice, and milk with detailed instructions and step-wise pictures. It is popularly known as bagalabath or daddojanam or Thayir Sadam.

Yogurt Rice | Thayir Saadam:

This thayir sadam is a perfect travel food, a lunch box recipe, party, and potluck food, neivediyam (offering to God) and above all a healthy and great summer food. Also, it is a great way to use leftover rice. Let me share how to make creamy and rich bagalabath recipe today.

The meal at our house always ends with thayir sadam/curd rice or moru sadam/buttermilk rice. I am sure all Indian households carry buttermilk or yogurt. And making yogurt from scratch is a part of daily kitchen work.

I grew up eating fresh cow’s milk and yogurt prepared with cow’s milk back in Periyakulam. I love the taste of both, and it was hard for me to get acquired to the store-bought and even homemade yogurt here in the USA. It took me some time to fell in love with Greek Yogurt.

Depending on the time and season, I either buy Greek yogurt from the store or make it at home. For this recipe, I went with store-bought Greek yogurt. I personally prefer non-sour yogurt for curd rice.

Temple Curd Rice | Curd Rice as Neivediyam

We all know Ven Pongal and Puliodarai as famous temple prasadam. But curd rice is also a popular prasadam. During Chithirai Thiruvizha, we offer sukku vellam and yogurt rice as an offering to Lord Kallazhagar. Each and every temple has its unique style of preparing this daddojanam.

How to make creamy bagalabath?

Even though creamy yogurt plays a significant role, two main ingredients yield the richness. One is butter, and the other one is the sour cream. I always prefer sour cream for my yogurt rice, especially when packing it for a trip or for potlucks. I know both ingredients might sound odd, but do give it a try. If using butter, then ensure you are using hot rice while making the bagalabath. If you are using sour cream, then you can use leftover rice (as long as you are not making it for prasadam) or cold rice. I went with sour cream for my recipe.

Other yogurt-based recipes from my archives:

Without any further ado, here is my Bagalabath Recipe,

Rich and Creamy Bagalabath Recipe

Ingredients:

Raw Rice – 1 cup
Water for cooking rice – 2.5 cups
Pasteurized Milk – 1 cup (see notes)
Greek Yogurt – ¾ cup
Sour Cream – ¼ cup
Grated Carrot – 3 tbsps
Chopped Cilantro – 1 tbsp
Pomegranate Arils – 3 tbsp
Curry Leaves – 1 sprig
Salt – ½ tsp
Green grapes, cut raw mangoes are optional.
To Temper:
Oil – 2 tsps
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Hing – ½ tsp
Finely Chopped Ginger – 2 tsp
Finely Chopped Green Chillies – 1

How to Prepare Yogurt Rice?

Prep – Work:

Wash and cook the rice by adding 2.5 cups of water in your preferred way.
Allow it to cool.
Grate the carrot and chop the other required ingredients and set aside.

Steps:

In a big bowl, take the cooked rice and add the milk, sour cream, salt, and yogurt.

Mix well with hand or a ladle. If required add more milk or yogurt depending on consistency preference.
In a separate tempering pan, heat the oil. When the oil is hot add the mustard seeds, hing, and chopped ginger and green chilies. As the mustard seeds start to splutter, add it to the rice.
Add the chopped carrot, cilantro and curry leaves.

Mix them together.
Finally, add the pomegranate arils.

Serve hot with pickle or chips or dry curry of your choice.

Notes:

For this recipe, I used 2.5 cups of water for cooking. I love mushy curd rice, but if you prefer grainy rice, reduce the water.
Also, I prefer Ponni or Sona Masoori raw rice varieties instead of basmati or boiled rice.
You can include shallots, raw mangoes, and grapes also in this. But keep it at 1 tbsp level. Not more than that.
As I get pasteurized milk, I did not boil. I added the cold milk directly. But if you are using non-pasteurized milk, please cook the milk and allow it to cool and use it for the recipe.

📖 Recipe