By Ganga Patel
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5764451
Raita is an Indian condiment made from yogurt, spices, and a range of vegetables. It's used to complement and traditionally provide a cooling accompaniment to Indian curries, a spicy biryani, and an array of other dishes.
One of the most popular kinds of raita is onion-based raita and for me it is the ideal complement to mutton, lamb, or chicken biryani. Onion raita recipes are fairly simple, and the raita can easily be made in 10 minutes or less. The short version of an onion raita recipe is as follows:
1) thinly slice one and a quarter onions (the thinner the better... the sliced onions should be translucent and appear as though they've almost been shaved right off the onion),
2) slice a serrano chili in half length-wise,
3) combine the sliced onions and green chili with a pint sized container of your favorite yogurt (I like to use an organic Greek yogurt, but almost any tasty plain yogurt will do the trick; non-fat yogurt is also fine), and
4) add salt as needed.
So why is onion raita such a terrific complement to biryani?
Well, the thinly sliced onions provide a slight bite (both in heat and texture) which compliments the heat from a biryani, while still enabling the yogurt to cool the mouth and calm any excessive spiciness from the biryani. Raita that centers around cucumber provides a nice bite when it comes to texture, but it misses the bit of heat given off by the thinly sliced raw onion; further, cucumbers are just far too mild to stand next to the spiciness from a biryani. The same can also be said of a raita that puts a strong focus on tomato, save that tomatoes are also soft and thus they don't provide the contrast in texture that either onion or cucumber supplies.
Mutton biryani in particular has a richness and level of spice that requires a more robust less delicate raita, and this is precisely why onion raita excels.
So that's my take on onion raita and raita more broadly as an accompaniment to biryani. As a last note, I would just like to remind you that if you are going to follow an onion raita recipe please be sure to get your raw onion slices as thin as possible. Thinly sliced onions are really the crux of the raita and if the slices are too thick the rawness of the white onion can be somewhat overpowering.
And so with all that tasty talk of onion raita and biryani, I think it's now time for me to sign off and get some food! Good luck with your raita recipe!
Get more Indian cooking tips, an in-depth onion raita recipe, and recipes for chicken biryani.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5764451
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