Palak Raita

Ingredients:

• Spinach - 2 cups
• Curd - 1 cup
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chili Powder - to taste
• Roasted Cumin Powder - to sprinkle
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tsp

Directions: 

• Beat the curd and keep aside.
• Wash spinach and discard the stems.
• Steam on low heat until tender.
• Drain and chop very finely or grind roughly. Do not throw the drained water. I like to use that water to knead the dough for roti.
• In a small pan, heat oil and splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let it cool down a bit. Pour it in the beaten curd.
• Add chopped or ground spinach and mix well.
• Add salt, red chili powder and roasted cumin powder.
• Serve chilled or at room temperature with any paratha.

 ( picture coming soon )

Bhindi Raita ( Okra in Curd )

Ingredients :

• Orka ( Bhindi ) - 2 cups
• Yogurt - 2 cups
• Green Chillies - 1 or 2
• Ginger - 1/2 inch
• Mustard Seeds - 1tsp
• Asafoetida ( hing ) - a pinch
• Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 4 tbsp for frying bhindis

Directions: 

• Heat oil in a pan and add chopped bhindi. Fry till brown. Remove and keep aside.Let it cool.
• Grind ginger and chillies, make a paste and keep aside.
• Beat the yogurt and add ginger chili paste to it and mix well.
• Add the fried okra into the curd. Add salt to taste.
• For tempering, heat 1 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, let them crackle. Add urad dal and fry till golden. Add curry leaves and hing.
• Pour this tempering or tadka over the bhindi raita and mix well. 
• Serve as side to roti or even plain toor dal and rice.

Cabbage in Yogurt

Cabbage in yogurt gravy or Cabbage Perugu Pachhadi ( in telugu )
This dish is originally from Tamil Nadu and is called Cabbage Mor Kootu in Tamil.
This is traditionally made with the usual green cabbage, however, I experimented with the red cabbage and that tasted good too. You can try both.

Cabbage Mor Kootu with red cabbage

Ingredients:

• Cabbage ( red or green ) - 1/2 a head
• Yogurt - 1 cup
• Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup
• Green Chillies - 2-3 or to taste
• Cumin Seeds  -1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Hing -  a pinch
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Salt -to taste
• Water - 1/2 cup

Cabbage Mor Kootu with green cabbage 

Directions: 

• Shred the cabbage into thin strips. 
• In a pan, cook the cabbage in little water and salt till tender. Do not overcook , We don't want it mushy.
• In the meanwhile, grind coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds into a fine paste.
• Add this ground mixture to the cooked cabbage and heat for another couple of minutes.
• Now for tempering, heat oil in a small pan, splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves and hing. Pour this tempering in the cabbage kootu. Mix well. Let it cool.
• Beat the yogurt. Mix the cabbage kootu with yogurt. Adjust salt.
• Serve with any rice item.

Potlakaya Perugu Pachadi ( Snake Gourd in Yogurt )

Potlakaya or snake gourd curry mixed in yogurt makes a very tasty side dish. It can be eaten by mixing iwith plain white rice or as side to dal rice. You can find snake guard in Indian grocery stores either fresh or in the frozen section.

Ingredients :

• Potlakaya (snake gourd) -1 ( or 1 packet frozen )
• Yogurt - 2 cups
• Ginger-1 inch
• Green Chillies-3 or to taste
• Salt -to taste
• Turmeric Powder -1/4 tsp
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Fenugreek Seeds ( methi ) - 1/4 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp
• Hing - a pinch
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring

Directions: 

• Chop the snake gourd and keep aside. If using frozen, then thaw them.
• Grind chillies and ginger intoa fine paste. Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds. Add urad dal and methi seeds and fry till slightly reddish. Add hing and curry leaves.
• Add the chopped snake gourd, turmeric powder, salt. Mix well and cook till the snake gourd is tender and well cooked. Let it cool.
• Beat the curds and add the ginger-chilli paste to it. Mix well.
• Now add the fried snake gourd to the curd and give it a good mix. Adjust salt. 
• Serve with rice.

Tomato Perugu Pachadi

Ingredients:

• Yogurt - 2 cups
• Tomatoes - 4-5
• Red or Green Chillies - 2
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Hing - 1/8 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1 spring
• Turmeric Powder - a pinch
• Red Chili Powder - to taste ( optional )
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Cilantro - for garnish
• Salt - to taste

Directions:

• Beat the yogurd and keep aside.
• In a pan, heat oil and splutter mustard seeds.
• Add chillies, hing, curry leaves.
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook till they are totally mashed up.
• Add turmeric, red chili powder and salt. Cook till the oil starts to separate.
• Add this paste to the beaten curd. Mix well. Adjust salt. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Serve with dal rice or plain rice.

Alternatively, if you want to cook the curds, you can add beaten curd to the tomato paste in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Both ways work just fine.

Anaar and Boondi Raita

This beautiful colored sweet and  hot raita is so delicious that some times I just eat it like a dessert.
Of course it goes well with parathas and chapatis.

Ingredients:

• Yogurt - 2 cups
• Pomegranate Seeds ( anar ) - 1/2 cup
• Black Salt - to taste
• Red Chili Powder - to taste
• Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Boondi - for garnishing

Directions: 

• Beat the curd in a bowl. 
• Blend the pomegranate seeds with just 1/4 cup of water and extract the juice. Save 2 tbsp of anaar seeds for garnishing.
• Add this pomegranate juice to the beaten curds. 
• Add salt, chili powder, roasted cumin powder and mix well.
• Garnish with anaar seeds and boondi.  Serve chilled.

Variation:

• Add  whole pomegranate seeds to the raita instead of the juice. Add all the ingredients to the beaten curds, mix well and refrigerate for  half an hour before serving.
• You can also garnish with chopped cilantro.
• You can replace boondi with sev. That tastes equally good.

Enjoy !!

Radish Raita

Radish Raita is a very popular dish in Maharashtrian cuisine. It is called  ' Mulyachi Koshimbir ' in Marathi. I learnt it from a Maharashtrian friend of mine back in India. So let me pass on her recipe to my readers :)

Ingredients :

• Red Radish - 10-12 small
• Yogurt - 1 1/2 cup
• Chopped Cilantro - 2-3 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Green Chillies - 2 or to taste

Directions :

• Wash and grate radish and let it stand for 5 minutes.
• Squeeze the water from the grated radish. Do not throw away the water you squeezed out. Save it. I use that water for making the chapati dough.
• Beat the curd till smooth. Add salt and chopped cilantro. Mix well.
• Add the grated radish to the curd and mix well.
• Heat oil in a small pan, splutter mustard seeds. Add chopped green chillies.
• Pour this over the curd and give it a slight mix.
• Serve this with any paratha or chapati.

Variation:   You can make it with white radish ( daikon ) instead of red ones.

Onion-Tomato Raita

Onion Tomato Raita is an excellent side dish for biryani or jeera rice or pulav. This is the most commonly made raita in my home.

Ingredients:

• Plain Yogurt ( curds ) - 2 cups
• Finely Chopped Onions - 1 medium
• Finely Chopped Tomato - 1 medium
• Finely Chopped Green Chillies - 1
• Finely Chopped Cilantro - 2 springs
• Salt - to taste
• Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp or to taste
• Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp ( to be roasted and ground )

Directions:

• Beat the yogurt till it reaches a smooth consistency.
• Add onions, tomatoes, green chillies, cilantro to the yogurt
• Add salt and chat masala and mix it well.
• In a small pan dry roast cumin seeds. Grind it when it cools.
• Sprinkle this powder on the raita. And give a very light mix.

Enjoy it with any rice dish.

Cabbage Raita

Cabbage Raita made of cabbage and yogurt is a very tasty form of raita.
I learnt this recipe from a Maharashtrian friend of mine.
Lemme share it with you all ...

Ingredients :

• Yogurt - 2 cups
• Grated Cabbage - 1 cup
• Minced Green Chillies - 1-2
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tbsp
• Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 tbsp
• Roasted Cumin Seeds Powder - 1/4 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
  
  Directions :
• Beat Yogurt to get a smooth consistency.
• Add salt, pepper powder and minced green chillies.
• Add grated or very finely chopped cabbage.
• In a small pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
• Add this to the raita.
• Sprinkle roasted cumin seeds powder .

Serve chilled with rotis or parathas.

Enjoy !! :)

Cucumber Raita / Zucchini Raita

Cucumber Raita , made of cucumber and yogurt goes well with rotis and parathas .
Zucchini Raita is made in a similar way, hence I am clubbing both in one recipe.

Just replace Cucumber with zucchini .

Here's the recipe for the same :

Ingredients :

• Yogurt - 2 cups
• Grated Cucumber or chopped zucchini- 1 cup
• Green Chillies - 1-2
• Roasted Cumin Seeds Powder - 1/4 tbsp
• Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 tbsp
• Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp ( optional )
• Finely Chopped Cilantro - 1 tbsp
• Salt - to taste

Directions:

• Beat yogurt to get a smooth consistency.
• Add salt, black pepper powder and mix well.
• Peel the cucumber or zucchini and grate it or finely chop it (as you prefer ). Add this to the yogurt and mix well.
• Add minced green chillies and sprinkle roasted cumin seeds powder over the raita.
• I like to add little bit of chat masala, however this is optional.
• Garnish with very finely chopped cilantro.

Enjoy !! :)

Boondi Raita

Boondi Raita goes extremely well with rotis, parathas or naans.
Boondi is easily available in Indian stores and hardly takes 2 minutes to make the raita.

Ingredients :

• Yogurt - 2 cups
• Boondi - 1/2 cup
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
• Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Black Pepper - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - to taste

Directions :

• Beat yogurt to get a smooth consistency.
• Add salt, black pepper powder and chilli powder and mix well.
• Add boondi to yogurt and mix well.
• Roast the cumin seeds and powder them.
• Sprinkle this powder of cumins seeds on the raita.

Tip : Add boondi to the yogurt just before eating so that they are crispy.

Enjoy !! :)