The Rage That Is Raita

 

(The stock images of raita above are lame. But they will have to do until I can replace them with one of my own.)

(Madani, used in India as a whisk to turn the yogurt into a homogenous state.)

(Homemade yogurt.)

(Boondi strainer.)

My Distaste for Milk

My obsession with raita might have its origins in the distaste I developed for milk after moving from Canada to India at the age of 3.

Canada generally uses cow milk and India uses mostly buffalo milk, since cows are considered scared in India. 

Furthermore, in Canada milk arrived in pasteurized form from the supermarket. Whereas in India the milk arrived at your doorstep in the form known as raw (or unpasteurized) in the West. 

So, my mom would boil it, which would result in the formation of malai (clotted cream) on top of the container of boiled milk once it was left to cool off. I never liked malai and was constantly struggling to remove it from my glass of milk.

Furthermore, to make my life even more miserable, we were blessed with half a bottle of milk during recess at Modern School in New Delhi, where I attended grades 1 to 12. 

The bottle of cold milk had a quarter inch layer of cream on top. That became my childhood nemesis. While most kids would fight for the top half of the bottle poured into a stainless steel glass along with the cream, I would happily trot off with the bottom half minus the cream.

Raita to the Rescue

But let's return to the topic at hand. The origin of the word raita is unclear to me, but parallels can be found in Middle Eastern cuisine in the form of tzatziki, which I also enjoy on top of my gyros (Greek wraps) and salads.

When given a choice between daal (lentils) and raita, I will generally choose raita, unless the main course is tandoori chicken or kababs or a similarly dry offering.

Preparation for Raita

The preparation process for raita starts with homogenizing the yogurt (dahi) with a madani (in India) or whisk (in the West). 

Homemade yogurt in India ends up with a separation between the curd and liquid components. The store-bought yogurt in the US doesn't seem to have that separation. But regardless I still execute the homogenizing step.

Next come the additives. Mind you, yogurt can be eaten and thoroughly enjoyed as is. In Punjab it would most often be eaten as is with a spicy alu (potato) parantha (leavened bread) or sarson da saag (mustard leaves) or similar.

When to eat plain yogurt versus raita is an art as well as a personal preference.

Types of Raita

As of 2025, you will find all sorts of fruit-based Greek yogurts in Western stores, but you won't find raita.

Raita doesn't exactly include fruits. Although tomatoes and other specimens on the veggie-fruit divide might be included, there's a heavy tilt towards veggies such as cucumbers, capsicum, and other varieties that can be eaten raw. 

Therefore, often you either chop up some veggies and throw them in for the regular version of raita or you go radical with boondi! 

What Is Boondi?

Boondi (droplet) is made by creating a somewhat steady mix of chick pea (kabuli chana) flour and water so that it isn't too runny. Pouring this mix through a strainer into boiling oil is what results in the manufacture of boondi. Boondi can be used as khara (savory) or meetha (sweet),

For our purpose, we will focus on the khara version of boondi that you can buy from an Indian or ethnic grocery store.

Preparation for Boondi Raita

If you're going for boondi raita, then you should place some boondi into a bowl and soak it in water. This helps to soften the boondi to make it more edible and releases the oils which you can discard later during the preparation.

After the boondi has been soaking for about an hour, you take handfuls and squeeze the water and oils out and place the boondi into the bowl of whisked yogurt we prepared earlier. 

Spice it up

You might want to use some caution here, but I like to spice it up with chili flakes and a special spice mix. 

My spice mix is made by dry roasting jeera seeds (cumin) and mustard seeds. The dry roast is done once you start to smell the fragrance and before you turn it to ashes. Grind the result into a powder using a machine not unlike what you might use for grinding coffee beans.

The final step is to sprinkle some of this special spice mix onto the bowl of homogenized yogurt which we previously topped with chili flakes and boondi.

Final step

I know you're dying to get a taste of this deliciousness, but I usually like to mix or homogenize one more time. This time with a regular serving spoon. Just so that the spices are evenly distributed through the raita and I don't have to deal with bland portions.

You're now ready to use that same serving spoon you did the final mixing with to serve the raita into small bowls. 

Raita, especially boondi raita, is a great accompaniment to any sort veggie preparation that is on the dry side, such as gobi (cauliflower) or methi (fenugreek) or sarson (mustard leaves) or baingan (eggplant) or anything you can think of.

Enjoy and remember that we're still a long way from being able to rely on AI for some of the most relished parts of our lives!