Raita - to purchase or to cook is the question...

I'm going to Devon this weekend and was wondering where to go for it: Yelp.com hasn't been helpful, so...

It's a little ambitious to refer to it as "cooking."

Oh, dude, don't buy raita - it's super easy to make.

All raita starts with plain yogurt, so get a tub of that. After that, there are a few variations, and room for experimentation:

For the most basic North Indian-style chunky raita, dice (or grate) some cucumber, mix it into yogurt, add salt & pepper to taste. If you want it to be more aromatic and you've got some cumin, toast it in a pan, grind it up, and mix it in. If you want it to have a bit more kick, mix in a bit of red chile powder. You can also chop up some tomato and mix that in, if that's your thing.

For the most basic Pakistani-style raita (the awesome green stuff that is often served with kebabs), this can be made in 30 seconds by mixing yogurt with green chutney. To make a quick green chutney (which takes 5 minutes), throw a bunch of cilantro, a wad of mint leaves, some chopped green chile, salt, pepper, some lemon juice, and a bit of cumin into a blender and run it until it's a mostly-smooth paste (amounts all vary according to taste).

Another option is dahi boondi (which translates to "yogurt boondi"), which is essentially a chunky raita made with little fried bits of batter instead of veggies. You can buy bags of boondi at any Indian grocery store. Once you get them, either stir them right into slightly-watered-down yogurt with salt, pepper, ground cumin, and red chile powder, and you'll get a cool, slightly-soggy, slightly-crunchy raita (this is the way I like dahi boondi). Optionally, you can get all North Indian-style authentic on it by soaking the boondi in cold water until they soften up, then straining them out, squeezing out the excess water, then stirring them in. Or you can soften them up South Indian-style by replacing the soaking water with very diluted yogurt or buttermilk (my Tamil wife swears by this, and scoffs at the water-soaking method).

Whatever kind of raita you decide to make, there's absolutely no cooking required.

I'm going to Devon this weekend and was wondering where to go for it

The only place you can buy raita is at the restaurants on Devon. Its easily made & perishable, so its usually made fresh just before a meal. As stated just pick up plain yoghurt (no need to go to Devon for that unless you are there anyway) & go from there.

Google is your friend for recipes, but one important ingredient is ground roasted cumin, which is pretty much essential for North Indian style raitas (red chili powder is frequently included but not necessary), so if you don't have cumin seeds do pick these up. Don't limit yourself to just the standard cucumber/onion/mint raitas either, other vegetables are often used such as potato, okra, ghiya (aka lauki, bottle gourd?), carrot, spinach etc.

Here are some options to try, with the spice proportions specified.
http://fastindianrecipes.com/category/r ... d-pickles/

The only thing I would add to the information provided, is the need to use a good Indian-style yogurt which now seem available in many grocery stores. American-style plain yogurts are, in my opinion, too acidic.

Jyoti

Thanks a bunch, everyone - I got my work cut out for me now!

jygach wrote:The only thing I would add to the information provided, is the need to use a good Indian-style yogurt which now seem available in many grocery stores. American-style plain yogurts are, in my opinion, too acidic.

Jyoti

Unless you enjoy that acidity, like I (much to the shame & embarrassment of my daily-yogurt-making mom and mother-in-law) do. In my opinion, there's nothing better than cool, tangy Dannon plain yogurt

My easy as sin version takes close to a full minute to prepare
1/2 cup of whatever plain, full fat yogurt is on sale - Dannon, or whatever
A few tbs of sour cream (I don't care if your gramma doesn't make it this way, so save it.)
A good handful of cilantro
A heaping spoonful of Deshi Chutney (the bright green stuff in the slender jar at any Indo-pak grocer
A good spoonful of Garam Masala
Squeeze of lime
Salt
A chile if yer feelin it that day.
Blender.
Done.
Water if it needs thinning out.
The sour cream adds body and richness, and I will swear by this stuff vs anybody's any day of the week.
Up the amt of s cream, and definitely add chile for the best sour cream based chip dip I have ever had.