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We are in the midst of packing up our apartment ahead of a long-awaited major renovation. Our building and location is wonderful, but we became acutely aware during the pandemic that our place could be more useful for the way we live now. More homebodies who arm-chair travel these days, we spend a lot of time in our kitchen cooking up meals for ourselves and friends and family when we are lucky enough to have them visit.
Packing is tedious and tiring, but I have also discovered some treasures that I had completely forgotten I had. With a 39-year marriage, you tend to collect a LOT of stuff. Many things we bought ourselves, but then there are the things inherited. Some have actual dollar value, but their value to me is in the memories they evoke. Memories of my childhood or people who are now gone from this earth. I am definitely not ready to Marie Kondo-ize them (although I have heard that now that she has children, she doesn’t do it either!)
All of this is a prelude to saying that I am looking for healthy, relatively easy dinners that nourish my body and soul. Thankfully, my husband is sharing in making the dinners these days. After a day of packing, I am looking forward to making my khichari. I have store-bought naan and my cranberry chutney. I’ll simply roast up some sweet potato and cauliflower, but I also wanted a raita tonight. I know, you are probably saying to yourself that this doesn’t sound simple or easy. However, it really only requires some chopping and mixing things together with the right ingredients, which I almost always have on hand.
Do I absolutely need raita? No, but I do love left-overs for lunch. This Zucchini Raita is from Madhur Jaffrey. She claims it is one of her favorites and I completely understand why. It is cooling and mellow with just the right amount of bite. Unfortunately, my cookbook was already packed up. But thankfully I was able to find it online. It’s good enough that it is worth repeating here. Raitas are wonderful with just about any South Asian dish – meat -based or vegetarian.
As always, I make a few tweaks of my own to the recipe either in content or in the directions. One change I make to the original recipe is that I use dried curry leaves. Fresh ones are not readily available here and I prefer the dried to frozen ones, which I have also used.
For two other examples of raita, try:
Ground Lamb with Potatoes and Yogurt Relish
Eggplant Raita Middle Eastern Style
Recipe
Yield: About 3 cups
Ingredients
2 medium size zucchinis (courgettes) or 1 large one (about 10 oz.)
1/2 teaspoon salt + more, if necessary, to taste
1 medium onion
3 tablespoons of light olive oil or avocado oil
1 1/2 cups (350 mls) plain natural whole-milk yogurt (Not Greek yogurt)
1 teaspoon black or brown mustard seeds
A generous pinch of sugar
6 to 8 fresh, frozen OR dried curry leaves
2 Serrano chilis, thinly sliced (seeded if you wish to cut down on the heat)
freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
A few fresh cilantro leaves for garnish and I like to sprinkle on a bit of Rajasthan Chili powder
Directions
Coarsely grate zucchini, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and allow to drain in a colander for half an hour.
Stir the yogurt with a fork or spatula in a bowl until creamy and smooth.
Finely slice onion into half-moons.
Heat oil in smallish frying pan. Throw in the curry leaves and mustard seeds.
When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the onion and Serrano chilis. Sauté the onion and chilis until translucent and tender.
While the onion and chilis are frying, squeeze as much liquid as possible out of the zucchini. The zucchini will clump up a bit.
Gently separate out the clumps before adding it to the onion and sauté the onion and zucchini for about three minutes. Add a generous pinch of sugar to the mixture and stir through. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool before stirring through the yogurt.
Taste and add extra salt, sugar, and black pepper according to taste.