A raita is a traditional Indian yogurt based dish ever present on the dining table. It is most often used to cool the spices in biryanis or other dishes. The varieties of raita are enormous, and vary across regions and to what is being served for the meal. They can be fruit based like this mango raita, or pineapple raita, or vegetable based using any variety of vegetables either raw or cooked.
In general, a raita has a yogurt based sauce and topped with a tempered component (called tadka, read more here on this technique) that could include any whole or ground spices, or garlic, onions or other herb.
This raita stands out as it is slightly sweet from the mangoes, tart from the yogurt and mangoes and totally delicious due to the caramelized shallots. I always want more.
I pair this raita with the Goat biryani or any biryani or pulav.
For more recipes from this cookbook click here.
Ingredients:
Raita:
1-2 very green mangoes, peeled and grated to give about 1 cup of flesh
2 cups plain yogurt, whole fat preferred, whisked till smooth
Salt to taste
1/2-1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste
3 tablespoons grated fresh coconut, frozen ok
1 Thai chili, or to taste
Tadka:
3 tablespoons ghee, or olive oil, or a mix
1/2 teaspoon whole black mustard seeds
1 small shallot, finely diced
Add the grated coconut and Thai chili to a small blender with 1/4 cup water and blend till smooth. Add it to the yogurt and mix in all the ingredients except those for the tadka.
In a very small pot, or tadka vessel, add the ghee and heat on a medium flame. Add the mustard seeds. They will splutter in about 20 seconds, carefully stir in the shallots and cook till the shallots are lightly browned and caramelized, about 1 minute. Add it to the yogurt and mix in. Taste for salt, sweet and spice and adjust as desired.
Keep chilled till ready to serve.