Blogging Marathon 4, Day 1 ~ Fruity Yogurt Rice

Srivalli's Marathon 4 has started this time with three groups and I am in group 2. The fellow marathoners and their themes this time are as follows:

Diabetes Diet/Management:PJ  
Kid Friendly Recipes:Me, Priya Suresh, Divya
Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P 
Seven Days of Indian Bread:Monika
Seven Days of Cakes: Bhagyashri
30 Minutes Meals:Archana  
Seven days of Condiment:Kamalika, Srivalli

As mentioned above, I am going with kid friendly dishes this time. To start with, I am presenting a dish that is colorful, refreshing and lighter on tiny tummies. This can be served as part of a party meal too.
This spring has been really weird in the Midwest. We were in 40's last week and yesterday, it was 83 deg F (28 deg C). It was like a summer day and was quite a pleasant surprise though we slipped into 50s again today. Celebrating the warm weather and mangoes, I had prepared this fruity yogurt rice. Adding fruits to the yummy yogurt rice / daddhojanam is a common thing in South India. Grape - pomegranate combo is the most common one though I have used mango and grapes here. Rather than using the crunchy fruits that stand apart, go with the fruits that blend in well with the yogurt rice for a better feel.



Ingredients: (5 - 6 servings)
1 cup rice (I use extra long rice for yogurt rice since the cooked version would be softer than the sona masuri kind.)
Yogurt as needed (I used home made fat free yogurt)
2 cups finely chopped fruit (I used mango cubes and quartered grapes)
Minced cilantro to garnish
Salt to taste
For tadka: 1 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp urad dal, few curry leaves, 2 red chillies broken into bits

Method:
* Cook the rice in a pressure cooker. Let cool and spread on a wide plate.
* Heat oil in a small pan, add the ginger and fry till it starts to turn brown. Then add all the other ingredients and fry them till the dals turn reddish. Cool and add this tadka to the rice.
* Add yogurt & salt as needed to the rice and combine well. Then add the fruits and mix well.
* Garnish with cilantro.

Note:
1. If you are carrying this rice on a picnic or serving later on a hot summer day, add some milk as well to the mixture. The rice remains sweeter at the time of eating. Especially, the yogurt goes sour quickly during Indian summers.
2. Take care that the fruits being used are sweet.
3. When the yogurt is added to the hot rice / tadka, the yogurt may curdle sometimes. It is better to add yogurt to the cold rice / tadka.



This goes to Reva's Healing Foods - Mango, an event originally started by Siri.

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