Kakadi Raita (Cucumber Raita)

I'm partial to a good raita. The ones that I usually see served in restaurants around here generally seem to be cucumber-based like this one. I figured this would be a slam-dunk. To my surprise, it's actually my least favourite raita in the book! That's not to say it's not good. It's fine. But it's not nearly as good as the other two raitas in the chapter. The keerai pachadi is a religious experience. And the mooli raita, which I didn't expect to like, is also delicious. Whereas this one is just... alright. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

Kakadi Raita

From 660 Curries

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and shredded
• 1/2 c. fresh mint leaves, minced
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, toasted and ground
• 1-3 fresh green Thai chilies, minced

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.
2. Serve as a condiment or accompaniment to your favourite chilies and pulaos.

Mooli Raita (Radish Raita)

I wanted a raita to go with the potato curry I made the other day. It was tempting to go with the familiar cucumber raita, but I decided to opt for something a little different and give a radish raita a try. Ideally this would be made with daikon radish, but other radishes if you don't happen to have any daikon to hand. I used small red radishes. They imparted a pretty pinkish hue to the yogurt.

Mooli Raita in small dish along side aloo masoor dal and vegetable-stuffed paratha.

Mooli Raita

Slighlty adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. grated radish, daikon or other radish of your choice
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 5 fresh curry leaves

Directions

1. Combine yogurt, salt, and radish and mix well.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
3. Add mustard seeds, cover, and cook until seeds stop popping (30-60 seconds).
4. Remove from heat and add cilantro and curry leaves.
5. Pour oil mixture into yogurt and mix well.

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.