The Comforting Indian Dish Kamala Harris Grew Up Eating

Vice President Kamala Harris is a known foodie. She's a fan of famed historic Georgia restaurant (and small business!) The Busy Bee Café and has proven her cooking chops time and again. She inherited her love of Indian food from her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan. In 2019, she posted a video of herself and actress Mindy Kaling cooking the popular Indian dish masala dosa on YouTube, and it has since amassed over 6 million views. Food-wise, no subject was off the table, including Harris' favorite South Indian foods. That includes one comforting dish she often ate while growing up.

In the video, Kaling asks Harris if she was raised eating South Indian food. Harris responds, "Lots of yogurt and rice, potato curry, dal — lots of dal — [and] idli." The former senator also talks about her family's dietary preferences, stating that her grandmother, whom she would often visit in India, strictly followed a vegetarian diet. The dishes Harris listed are common in the South Indian diet, with yogurt and rice being the components of a popular and easy-to-make dish called curd rice. 

Curd rice can be traced back to between the first and fourth centuries CE, known as the Sangam era, when it was deemed acceptable for both humans and gods. As time evolved, the dish became valuable to laborers and was served as breakfast to lower the body's temperature ahead of a day's work in the hot sun. Now, the simple dish is common among all classes in Indian culture. You can even order curd rice in restaurants. 

It consists of cooked rice and Indian yogurt – which is often thicker than Greek yogurt with a sour flavor. You can customize the toppings, but common options are pickle, cucumber, onion, and pomegranate. For those who desire extra flavor, traditional spices like coriander, cumin, chana dal, and red chili are also options. It's popular for breakfast, a midday snack along with idli (rice cakes) or lentil crackers, or as a side with dinner.  All types of rice work in the recipe, though it is traditionally prepared with white basmati rice, which you should thoroughly cool before adding the yogurt to prevent the dish from congealing.