Pretty Basic Raita With Tomatoes and Cucumbers

By Shalini • April 23, 2012 • 0 Comments

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Pretty Basic Raita With Tomatoes and Cucumbers — 1 of 4 Photo by Shalini

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Author Notes: Raita was one of the first things I made when I moved out of the house. 15 years ago I ate it with "Butter Tofu", a riff on butter chicken. Now I make it whenever we have Indian food and need a little salad. It seems to help my son appreciate the Indian flavours. The Chaat Masala is a spice mixture available at Indian grocery stores. It goes really well with fruits and salad, adding a nuanced, spicy sour note. - Shalini

Makes about 2 cups of raita

2 small cucumbers, Kirby or mini English ones
A half teaspoons of Maldon sea salt
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup whole milk Balkan-style yogurt (you want the yogurt firm but not liquid-free)
2 or 3 small tomatoes (bigger than cherry but smaller than Roma)
1/2-1 teaspoon Chaat Masala spice mixture(see photograph)
1 drizzle of runny honey

Cut off the tips of the cucumbers, and grate them, unpeeled, on the side of a box grater.
Put the cucumber in a strainer over the sink and sprinkle the Maldon salt overtop. Leave this for half an hour.
Finely chop the green onions and put them in a medium-sized bowl.
Put your half a cup of yogurt in the bowl too, stir this up.
Take your small tomatoes and cut them up finely, no need to get rid of seeds and juice. Put them in the bowl.
Press the water as much as you can out of the cucumbers and add them to the yogurt mixture. Stir it up gently.
Sprinkle in your Chaat Masala spice mix.
Drizzle the honey over top and stir. Bring to the table.