Summers are finally here in Dubai and I am always reaching out for foods that have a cooling effect on the body; what we call thandi taseer in Hindi and Urdu. I’ve started making Dahi at home finally and that’s a great addition to our meals. Besides the mandatory watermelon overload (see our Insta post below), I look towards laban, homemade lassi and chaas but these don’t count as a meal. Most of our weeknight dinners comprise of a light dal or sabzi with rice and roti alongside a bowl of homemade Dahi or raita. But it’s at the time of lunch when the scorching sun makes me crave dishes that are not hot!
Enter, Cooling Curd Rice or Dahi Chawal.
Curd Rice, in my opinion, is the perfect lunch for summers because Dahi and Rice both have thandi taseer or cooling effect on the body!
I learnt the recipe for this cool and refreshing Curd rice from my mother-in law on a trip to Delhi during the summers a few years ago and have been making it since. It’s a great dish to pack for a work lunch as you don’t need to heat it up. If your workplace has a fridge then you can put it there but just keep it safe from prying eyes! lol!
All you need for this Cooling Curd Rice is yogurt/Dahi, leftover rice and onions! It’s really that simple!
There are a few other ingredients too of course but if you don’t have them you can skip them and make this with just a simple onion tadka!
When we have this for a light dinner we like to spice this up with a side of some papad or poppadum and some vadu mango pickle! For lunch, cucumber sticks with some hummus is great to refresh your system at work!
Here’s how you can make this simple, refreshing and cooling Curd Rice in minutes!

Cooling Curd Rice
Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
Ingredients
Homemade Dahi or Store bought Yogurt, 1 1/2 bowl
Leftover or *freshly made plain Rice, 1-2 bowls
Onion/ Pyaaz, sliced, 1 big
Sesame/Til/Gingelli or any Vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon
Ginger/ Adrak, chopped, 1/2 inch piece
Green chilli/ Hari Mirch, 1-2 , split into two halves
Salt to taste
Mustard/ Sarson seeds, 1/2 teaspoon
Split and Hulled Black lentil / Urad dal, 1 teaspoon
Split Chickpea or Bengal Gram/ Chana dal, 1 teaspoon
A sprig of curry leaves / Kadi Patta
Crushed black pepper/ Kaali Mirch
A pinch of red chilli powder / Laal Mirch Powder
Green Coriander leaves/ Hara Dhaniya, chopped, 1 tablespoon
Method
Incase you don’t have leftover rice, you can make a fresh batch. Just rinse a cup of rice till water becomes slightly clearer. Add one and a half cups of water for ever cup of rice. Place the rice and water in a vessel that you can cover. Cook covered on low heat for 12-15 minutes and then check if the rice is done. Cook till rice is done and no water is left.
Let’s start with this simple cooling summer meal
Start by gathering all the ingredients. Clean and peel the ginger and onion. Wash the curry leaves, coriander leaves and green chilli. Measure Dahi or yogurt in a big bowl and lightly beat it with a fork or spoon. Keep this aside.
Finely chop the ginger and keep aside. Slice the peeled onions. Slit the green chillies long into two halves. You can chop the curry leaves into a chiffonade if you prefer. Otherwise just use them whole.
There are two routes here – Either you could make the tadka in a small pan and pour over mixed curd and rice or you could make everything in one big pan. In hot summer days, I choose to make the onion tadka in a small tadka pan – it is quicker and easier when I’m making Curd rice to pack for work lunches. The tadka process is the same for both routes. Below are instructions for the latter.
The south Indian tadka
Place a heavy bottomed kadhai or big pan on medium high heat. Add oil and once the oil heats up, add the mustard seeds.
Let the mustard seeds splutter and then follow by adding chana dal and urad dal.
Then stir the urad and chana dals for a 10-15 seconds till they change colour to a golden brown. Next, add the finely chopped ginger, green chilli and cook for another minute. Follow by adding the sliced onions and stir them in.

Cook the onions for 5-7 minutes on medium high heat till them start becoming transparent. We don’t need the onions to turn brown but we do want them to retain a slight crunch.
If you are making the tadka in a small pan, you can mixed rice and curd in a another vessel and pour over the tadka on top. If not, move on to the next step.
Next, add the cooked rice and stir it in carefully so as to not mash the rice. Using leftover rice here gives the advantage of not being mushy as against freshly cooked rice. Cook this for 2-5 minutes.

Once you incorporate the onion tadka mix in the rice, you can shut the heat.
After this add the beaten Dahi or yogurt in the rice next and mix to soak all the rice. If the yogurt you are using is too thick, you can add a dash of water or even cold milk in it to make it slightly runny.

Add salt to taste and sprinkle some freshly grated black pepper on top.
Now sprinkle chopped coriander leaves in the curd rice and mix them well. If your curd rice seems too runny, don’t worry! The rice soon absorbs the water content and makes this a comforting and creamy dish.

To serve, sprinkle some red chilli powder on top. Please don’t heat this dish! It should be served cold or at room temperature.
I packed it in a lunch box with some cucumber sticks and homemade black chickpea hummus!
You can enjoy this delicious curd rice on the side of some papad, mango pickle and salad.

Full recipe for Cooling Curd Rice ~ Dahi Chawal
Curd Rice
Equipment
- A large Wok or kadhai or pan
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cup Homemade Dahi/ Curd or Store bought Yogurt
- 1 to 2 cups Leftover or *freshly made plain rice, 1-2 bowls the proportion of rice to yogurt can be changed based on your preference
- 1 tbsp Sesame/Til/Gingelli or any Vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp Mustard/ Sarson seeds
- A sprig of curry leaves / Kadi Patta
- 1 tsp Split Chickpea or Bengal Gram/ Chana dal
- 1 tsp Split and Hulled Black lentil / Urad dal
- 1/2 inch piece Ginger/ Adrak peeled and finely chopped
- 1 large Onion/ Pyaaz peeled and sliced
- 1-2 Green chilli/ Hari Mirch split lengthwise into two halves
- Salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp Crushed black pepper/ Kaali Mirch
- A pinch of red chilli powder / Laal Mirch Powder
- 1 tbsp Green Coriander leaves/ Hara Dhaniya chopped
Instructions
Prep the aromatics
- Start by gathering all the ingredients. Clean and peel the ginger and onion. Wash the curry leaves, coriander leaves and green chilli. Measure Dahi or yogurt in a big bowl and lightly beat it with a fork or spoon. Keep this aside. Finely chop the ginger and keep aside. Slice the peeled onions. Slit the green chillies long into two halves. You can chop the curry leaves into a chiffonade if you prefer. Otherwise just use them whole.
Make the South Indian Tadka
- Place a heavy bottomed kadhai or big pan on medium high heat. Add oil and once the oil heats up, add the mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds splutter and then follow by adding split bengal gram/ chana dal followed by urad dal. Then stir the dals for a 10-15 seconds till they change colour to a golden brown.
- Next, add the finely chopped ginger, green chilli and cook for another minute. Follow by adding the sliced onions and stir them in.
- Cook the onions for 5-7 minutes on medium high heat till them start becoming transparent. We don’t need the onions to turn brown but we do want them to retain a slight crunch.
- Next, add the cooked rice and stir it in carefully so as to not mash the rice. Using leftover rice here gives the advantage of not being mushy as against freshly cooked rice. Cook this for 2-5 minutes.
- Once you incorporate the onion tadka mix in the rice, you can take the pan off heat.
Assemble the Curd Rice
- After this add the beaten Dahi or yogurt in the rice next and mix to soak all the rice. If the yogurt you are using is too thick, you can add a dash of water or even cold milk in it to make it slightly runny.
- Add salt to taste and sprinkle some freshly grated black pepper on top. Now sprinkle chopped coriander leaves in the curd rice and mix them well. If your curd rice seems too runny, don’t worry! The rice soon absorbs the water content and makes this a comforting and creamy dish.
- To serve, sprinkle some red chilli powder on top. Please don’t heat this dish! It should be served cold or at room temperature. Enjoy!
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[…] Cooling Curd Rice ~ Dahi Chawal […]
[…] Cooling Curd Rice – Dahi Chawal […]
[…] Cooling Curd Rice […]
[…] Curd Rice […]
[…] Cooling Curd Rice ~ Dahi Chawal […]
[…] Cooling Curd Rice ~ Dahi Chawal […]
[…] Cooling Curd Rice ~ Dahi Chawal […]
[…] Cooling Curd Rice […]
That’s an interesting version. I’ve never before seen onion added to this. I bet the crunch is a good addition plus onions are also supposed to be good to eat in summer.
Thanks for stopping by Anita! 🙂 I learnt this from my mother in law who’s from Kerala. I’m no expert at Thayir Sadam but I guess each house has it’s own version of this. I like the other simpler version too but I’ll have to admit that I’m just biased towards the crunch and sweetness the onions add. And yes! My punjabi parents often tell us to eat kachha pyaaz to fight the loo here in Dubai. This is how I compensate for not eating the the pyaaz kachha I guess! 😛
Hi Sakshi, came here via Anita to see what you do with the onions. We add onions too to what is called as “dahi bhutti” in Pune.
Hi Asmita! That’s interesting. Is your recipe similar? I had to google Dahi Bhutti. Now I’m wondering if my mother-in-law’s upbringing in Mumbai and Pune influenced her recipes 🙂
I discovered some Dahi wali mirch on insta recently and was wondering about their origin. Are they also popular in Pune? Guess they too are served with Dahi Chawal.
Lovely outfits on your blog! Thanks for stopping by!