Raita

The name is black mustard, and the mustard is fried before it meets the yoghurt.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (yoghurt).

Ingredients

• 600 g plain yoghurt
• 1 cucumber, coarsely grated
• 1 onion, chopped very fine
• 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 20 curry leaves
• 2 green chillies, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground roasted cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• a handful of mint leaves, chopped
• a handful of coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1. THE NAME IS BLACK MUSTARD, AND THE MUSTARD IS FRIED BEFORE IT MEETS THE YOGHURT. Its etymology is the recipe: the article takes raita from the Sanskrit RAJIKA, or the Hindi RAI, MEANING BLACK MUSTARD SEED, and TIKTAKA, MEANING SHARP OR PUNGENT. And its method opens with the frying: SPICES SUCH AS CUMIN AND BLACK MUSTARD ARE FRIED. THIS TEMPERING IS MIXED WITH MINCED, RAW VEGETABLES OR FRUITS AND YOGURT. A bowl of yoghurt with raw spices stirred in is not a raita; the hot oil is the dish.
2. SO MAKE THE TEMPERING FIRST AND LET IT COOL A LITTLE. Mustard seeds in the oil until they stop popping, then cumin for ten seconds, then curry leaves and chilli. Poured in boiling it will split the yoghurt; poured in warm it does not.
3. THE VEGETABLE IS MINCED OR GRATED, WHICH THE ARTICLE SPECIFIES. MINCED, RAW VEGETABLES OR FRUITS -- not chunks. The list it gives is CUCUMBER, ONION, CARROT, BEETROOT, TOMATO, PINEAPPLE, OR POMEGRANATE, and the cucumber and onion below are the two that need no thought.
4. SALT THE GRATED CUCUMBER AND SQUEEZE IT. Ten minutes in a sieve, then wrung out in your hands. Unsqueezed, it waters the whole bowl down within half an hour.
5. BEAT THE YOGHURT SMOOTH BEFORE ANYTHING GOES IN. Thirty seconds with a whisk. Lumpy yoghurt cannot be rescued once the vegetables are in it.
6. FOLD IN THE VEGETABLES, THEN THE TEMPERING, THEN THE HERBS. The article's seasoning list is CORIANDER, ROASTED CUMIN SEEDS, MINT, AND CAYENNE PEPPER, and all four are below. Roasted cumin ground separately is worth the trouble -- it is the smell of the dish.
7. TASTE IT COLD, AND SALT IT AGAIN THEN. Cold dulls salt and yoghurt dulls it further. It should taste slightly over-seasoned on its own to work beside a curry.
8. AN HOUR IN THE FRIDGE, AND NO LONGER THAN A DAY. Its article's job for it is as A MILD COOLING ACCOMPANIMENT TO SPICY CURRIES, served alongside dishes such as pulao rice. By the second day the cucumber has given up and it is a drink.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes