(Dahi, Thayir)
Jump to recipes ↓
Recently I was talking to my grandmother about my hectic schedule with kids and how times have changed where need to adhere to so many challenges all arising at the same time. My grandmother, a wise lady, kept listening to me, acknowledging all things I spoke. I just did not stop and continued talking about planning, its importance and necessity in our life and many more things. For a moment or two, I began to sound like some “head of planning commission”!! Poor my grandmother, all she was doing, was just acknowledging. I then stopped a bit and asked her what she cooked today. She said today, only “thayir samayal”, meaning menu using only curd. I was surprised and I asked her does she mean she is just going to eat curd rice. My grandmother laughed and replied that there are many number of recipes that can be made using curd as the basic ingredient. She also challenged me and said, “Now you have become an expert yourself, you find out the recipes”. My grandmother was so true; there are indeed so many recipes that can be made using curd as the basic ingredient. So, this collection of curd based recipes is dedicated to my grandmother.
Curd or dahi or thayir, as we all know is obtained from milk and is counted as the world’s healthiest food because of its great health benefits. Adding curd to the diet makes it a balanced diet and is considered as the adequate nutrition which plays major role in preventing the osteoporosis as it contains more calcium and vitamin D. Inclusion of curd on a regular basis helps in managing the normal blood pressure. It makes the digestive system healthy and strong by helping in various problems like lactose intolerance, diarrhea, constipation, inflammatory bowel disease and gastro intestinal infections. It also prevents from the ulcer of stomach and small intestine and decreases the risk of stomach cancer. It is also a good source of easy to digest protein than the same amount of milk. It has the ability to lower blood cholesterol levels thus preventing variety of heart diseases.
It is perhaps for all these reasons that our traditional south Indian meal comprises of curd rice or masala butter milk or a sambharam. A fibre rich, healthier version of curd rice is the curd savory oats. Each and every spoon of it just melts in our mouth. Just not the south Indian meal, even a Punjabi meal is incomplete without a sweet lassi. Or even a Guajarati feast is not complete without its dessert shrikhand. Our traditional salads were mostly raitas or thayir pachadi made with variety of vegetables like onion raita, cucumber thayir pachadi, and now we infuse in our modern day vegetables by making a yellow squash raita or even zucchini raita. Another traditional dish that is a part of every regional cuisine, be it Gujarat, Kerala or Tamilnadu is the mor kuzhambu or kadhi or mor kootan. There are several variations to it depending on the region we hail from along with many instant variety versions added to the list.
Blending curd is just not only in traditional recipes, there are many modern adaptations too… smoothies are the new age health drinks that is consumed as meal replacements to aid in weight loss. The main ingredient in smoothies is curd along with a mix of fruits and vegetables. A mango smoothie is definitely a must try. Some of the other modern versions of curd based recipes are dahi kebab, wheat berry parfait, and Greek tzatziki sauce.
Be it traditional or modern, curd based recipes are easy to cook, less time consuming, tasty and most of all nutritive. Do try all of them at home and reap in the rich nutritive benefits of curd.
Recipes With Curd / Yogurt & Buttermilk