I made alu parathas for lunch today and obviously had to make a bowl of raita to go with it. Raita is not a recipe but a canvas. You take yogurt and beat it, add whatever you want to flavour it, mix it all in and you’re done. You can make salty raitas, sweet raitas, salty-sweet raitas. You can make raitas that incorporate cooked ingredients and you can make raitas that are entirely raw. The only thing I haven’t come across is non-veg raitas but I would not be at all surprised to discover they exist. As always, my knowledge of Indian food extends to only a small sliver of it. Anyway, as variegated as raitas can be, my own preference—usually—is for simple raitas with a few chopped veg (I’ve previously posted my recipe for raita made with grated watermelon radish). I like my raita to emphasize the yogurt and not be crunchy with too much veg and toppings. In fact, I sometimes think that in the era of Instagram a lot of people overload their raitas because otherwise it doesn’t make for a very interesting photograph. It’s a simple dish; in my opinion, best when simply made and is a perfect summer side to all kinds of dishes.

Here’s a rough recipe for the one I threw together today in just a few minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup full-fat yogurt
• Enough milk to thin it out enough to be just pourable
• 2 tblspns minced red onion
• 2 tblspns grated radish
• 2 tblspns grated cucumber
• 1 minced Thai chilli
• 1 big pinch chaat masala
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Beat the yogurt in a bowl first by itself and then with the milk.
2. Add all the other ingredients and stir.
3. Set aside for at least 30 minutes for the flavours to infuse the yogurt.