Cooling the Heat - Some Raita Recipe Variations

As I’ve said before, when you’re eating hot and food and your tongue is burning, the worst thing you could do is drink a glass of water. Water opens up your tastebuds and they end up feeling the worse for it. Ginger ale does the same thing, but the fizz is surprisingly soothing.

The better solution is either any white flour-based bread, such as flatbreads - tortilla, paratha, naan - or dairy in the form of yogurt, buttermilk or sour cream. Don’t use plain milk, as that’ll make your tongue glooey. Previously, I provided a recipe for a dairy-based sauce called raita, which is perfect for cooling the heat.

The word raita is probably only used in India, Pakistan and surrounding countries, but a similar sauce is no doubt used in other countries. For example, Many countries add a dollop of sour cream on top of hot dishes (e.g., Mexico).

After a chat with my mother recently, I came to the realization that there are actually quite a few ways to make raita. Here are a few variations on my original recipe. Just substitute the original cucumber with any of the following:

1. Finely diced onion and tomatoes.
2. Bits of grilled or baked eggplant.
3. Boondi. Boondi is basically little tiny spheres of fried batter. If you’re making battered anything and you have a bit of batter left over, with the oil still hot, drizzle little bits of batter into the oil. These bits fry up fairly quickly. Remove them with a slotted spoon/ strainer and let cool on paper towel/ kitchen paper. Sprinkle on top of plain raita when serving.
4. Carrots, grated finely. Just sprinkle on top of plain raita, or mix.
5. Red radish, grated finely.
6. Spinach finely chopped but not pureed.
7. Pureed spinach. Blanch a slotted ladle full of fresh, clean spinach leaves in boiling water for 10-12 seconds. Let cool. In a blender or food processor, add the plain raita ingredients and the spinach. Puree. This becomes more of a dip, but still works as a cooling agent against hot foods.
8. Coconut, grated finely. If you’re using this, you may also want to add ground cinnamon and/or cloves.
9. Plain raita, dusted with a bit of paprika, black pepper, ground cumin, garam masala, or mild curry powder.
10. Plain raita, with a sprinkle of fresh parsley or mint leaves, roughly chopped. Cilantro or even Asian-style basil, which tends to be a bit more minty, will probably also work.

In fact, dairy is the perfect canvas for experimenting with different flavours. Pretty much anything you come up with will still do its job: cool your palate after eating some spicy food.

(c) Copyright: 2006-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://www.curryelvis.com/

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