Keerai Pachadi (Sautéed Spinach Raita)

This raita uses sautéed spinach rather than the raw cucumber I'm more familiar with, and it's delicious! The blackened chiles add a bit of smokiness without much heat and the whole thing comes together very quickly. The most time-consuming part is chopping the spinach.

We adjusted all the ingredients up slightly in order to use up the spinach we had on hand; the recipe here uses the original proportions, and makes ~2.5C of raita.

Keerai Pachadi

660 Curries

Ingredients

• 360mL plain yogurt
• 2.5mL salt
• 30mL corn or canola oil
• 5mL black or yellow mustard seeds
• 4-6 dried red chiles, to taste, stems removed
• 225g fresh spinach, rinsed, dried, and finely chopped

Directions

1. Whisk together yogurt and salt in a large bowl.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat.
3. Add the mustard seeds and cover until they stop popping, ~30s.
4. Add the chiles and cook until they blacken, ~15-20s.
5. Add the spinach and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted; continue cooking until softened, 2-3 minutes for baby spinach, 6-8 for older greens.
6. Mix spinach mixture into the yogurt and serve.