We think no Indian dish is complete without a lovely, creamy, cooling raita. At its simplest, it’s just cubes of cucumber in yoghurt – and that works fine as a foil to a hot curry. But this raita takes only a little more effort, but is infinitely superior – creamy, salty, subtly spiced and very refreshing. It’s a great partner for all kinds of Indian dishes, or just serve with some crisp poppadoms. Yum!
There’s something about the pairing of yoghurt with cucumber that makes it so popular all over the world – Greek tzatziki; Turkish cacik; Bulgarian tarator; Iranian mast-o-khiar; Lebanese khyar bi laban; Polish mizeria, to name a few. And of course, Indian raita.
This is our best recipe for it, and well with the extra effort – your palate will thank you for it, especially with a spicy Indian dish! Cucumber, tomatoes, yoghurt, mint, lemon and a few spices of your choice – we like cumin and coriander. And, most importantly we think, a heavy pinch of salt. We are not big salt fans – we rarely add more than a small pinch, a personal preference as well as a health consideration. But in this dish you do want to taste a little salt – think almost like an Indian salted lassi.
The tomatoes are optional, but we think just one or two add a bit more depth, plus look pretty on the plate. You could grate the cucumber, which might be more traditional for raita, but we prefer it finely chopped – it has more texture and is less prone to make the raita wet. We used mint today, but you could alternatively use fresh coriander.
You don’t need to peel the cucumber, but we think it is nicest semi-peeled – you lose some of the bitterness of the skin, but you still get some bite and colour in the dish. Top and tail the cucumber, then use a potato peeler to peel stripes into the skin, as below. Cut the cucumber in half, lengthways.
Remove some of the seeds. This is easiest with a teaspoon – run it down the length of the cucumber and discard the seeds. It doesn’t need to be completely clean, but removing some of the seeds makes the raita less prone to wetness or bitterness.
Slice the cucumber into narrow batons, then chop it finely. Run your knife over the chopped cucumber a few times to make the pieces even finer, using the ‘rocking knife’ technique we use to chop garlic. Don’t worry if the pieces are not uniform – a bit of textural variety is good. Dry the cucumber slightly with some kitchen paper.
We add one or two tomatoes per cucumber in our raita. We like the extra tang and colour this brings, but we find firm, slightly under-ripe tomatoes work best. Very ripe tomatoes tend to ‘bleed’ into the yoghurt. Halve the tomatoes, and remove the stem bed. Remove the seeds – this is easiest using a teaspoon. Dry the tomatoes slighlty with some kitchen paper.
Slice the tomatoes medium-fine, then cut the pieces slightly smaller. Add to a serving bowl with the cucumber.
Remove the woody stems from the mint, and reserve the leaves. Chop the mint (or coriander) fairly finely – find out to do this easily in our herb Tip.
Add the mint to the bowl, then add some spices. We use one generous teaspoon of ground coriander and one scant one of ground cumin. We find the raita is nicest very lightly spiced – you want it to complement and temper your main dish, not fight with it. For the same reason, we also don’t add chilli, which some raitas include. Stir well, and season with a little black pepper.
Squeeze a lemon, see our Tip. You won’t need much juice, as the yoghurt will already have some acidity, but a little lemon adds some brightness. Add about half the juice to the salad vegetables, and stir well. You can taste later when the yoghurt is in and add more if needed.
Now add the yoghurt. We use a good quality Greek yoghurt, and this is one occasion where we don’t use our favourite 0% fat type – we use 5% here instead. Partly, it is slightly creamier which is nice in a raita (some recipes also add sour cream, but we think this makes it too rich). But partly we use 0% everywhere in cold settings but not in hot, as we find it can run or split. Clearly this raita is cold, and if serving just with cold cuts or poppadoms, 0% will work just fine if you prefer. But as a side dish, raita is designed come into contact with hot food, and we find the slightly higher fat content makes it stand up better, and less prone to go thin.
How much you add depends on personal taste – today we used most of a 450g tub. Some raitas are mostly yoghurt, which is fine if you prefer, but we like more of a salad consistency, and a higher vegetable-to-yoghurt ratio, therefore. Stir well to combine.
Now add the salt. We like our raita quite salty – it enhances the creaminess of the yoghurt and brings out the flavour of the vegetables, plus makes it a punchier condiment. We add two to three good pinches of sea salt. Stir well. Taste and adjust any seasoning – today we added a bit more lemon.
Chill in the fridge, removing about 20 minutes before needed so it is chilled and refreshing, but not fridge-cold.
Enjoy as a side dish or dip!
