Raita

[jamesrobartson]

Ingredients

* 100 g plain natural probiotic yoghurt
* 100-150 ml water
* 15-20 g cucumber
* 2-3 tsp spearmint leaves, finely chopped
* 3-4 sprigs cilantro (leaves and stalks)
* ½ tsp sea salt

Method

1. Chop the cucumber into small pieces.

2. Finely chop the cilantro.

3. Mix all the ingredients together and beat lightly.

4. Leave to stand to allow the flavours to infuse, refrigerate if necessary to keep it from going bad.

Tips

* Use less water for a thicker sauce.

This is one of the favorite recipe in Indian recipes. Mostly Indian people like to take it in dinner or lunch time.

http://assets.mydish.co.uk/interface/members/264191/2010108153153-335279-831445-283427.jpg

[PappaLazarou]

Is this your own recipe James ?

[Big Daddy's House]

Yeah, when posting recipes, it might be a good idea to let others know if the recipe is yours or not. By doing so, you might be eliminating the chances of being hit with any legal action from the origial owner of the recipe.

[jimbo]

http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/10781/raita

Glad to help you out

Actually, Sherm, the site is responsible for its content.

[Big Daddy's House]

It's mainly those measurements, to me, that are so blasted confusing. How is anyone supposed to know how much they really are? I've never followed a recipe with those kind of measurements.

I've always measured things by cup, teaspoon, tablespoon, small scale and a baker's scale in a bakery.

[jimbo]

Sherm, a lot of the world cooks by weight instead of measuring. This particular recipe is for an Indian dish and was pirated from a UK site. Weight is more accurate than measuring. Any good kitchen scale will weigh accurately in grams or ounces. Conversion tables are available on the internet.
My scale is a Sharper Image, I paid less than $25 for it. Weighs in 10ths of an ounce or gram.

Myself I think the issue is a recipe taken from a copyrighted site and posted as your own without citation. Aside from the legal ramifications, I can pull my own recipes from other sites.

Here is a down and dirty cup to gram table. Notice that a cup of various ingredients weighs from 85 to 340 grams. but a gram of sugar weighs the same as a gram of oats. Thus weighing is more accurate. The packing density of dry goods also makes a huge difference in the weight
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/cup-to-gram-conversions/detail.aspx

[Big Daddy's House]

Sherm, a lot of the world cooks by weight instead of measuring. This particular recipe is for an Indian dish and was pirated from a UK site. Weight is more accurate than measuring. Any good kitchen scale will weigh accurately in grams or ounces. Conversion tables are available on the internet.
My scale is a Sharper Image, I paid less than $25 for it. Weighs in 10ths of an ounce or gram.

Myself I think the issue is a recipe taken from a copyrighted site and posted as your own without citation. Aside from the legal ramifications, I can pull my own recipes from other sites.

Here is a down and dirty cup to gram table. Notice that a cup of various ingredients weighs from 85 to 340 grams. but a gram of sugar weighs the same as a gram of oats. Thus weighing is more accurate. The packing density of dry goods also makes a huge difference in the weight
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/cup-to-gram-conversions/detail.aspx




Ok, thanx. I think I got it now.

The regular measurements are still there. It is just converted over to a different way, perspective or format.

Call me old fashioned, or a relic of the Dinosaur Age, but I was never hip to this type or style of measuring things for cooking or baking.

I even took a course in culinary arts training, and was never taught to measure this way. Maybe I was, but I'm very familiar with the baking scale, using it to mearusure poundwise.

It would take some getting used to if I were to use this format.

And BTW, I saved that link in my Favorites folder so that I can go back to it for future references.

I might want to learn more on it. I DO have a small diet scale for weighing.

Thanx again. :)

[Guts]

Sherman I use weight versus cups, spoons and so on. I find it so much easier to use weight and dirty less utensils. For example making white Rice now. This differs depending on what your cooking it in. But if you're using the same method of cooking it. The rice will come out exactly the same every time. My ratio is 475 g water and 200 g of Rice for the pot. I'm cooking it in. It comes out perfect every time. And exactly the same. Each and every time it took me a little experimenting until I got the ratio the way I like it. But now that I have. I use it all the time. Nothing the dirty to set the pan on the scale and add the correct amount of weight. I know that weight is used a lot in baking and that's where I got started using weight instead of spoons and cups. For me it is easier than measuring individual things out.

[Big Daddy's House]

For me, the rice & water ratio would be hard to measure that way, since it is very easy to mess up if things are right.

One thing that I hate is rice that is either too soft or is gummy! If the rice is a bit too hard or fry, you can always ADD a little bit more water to make it a bit softer.

The golden rule in cooking, is that you can always add, but you can't take it away. And with baking, it is a science that has to be exact and to the letter, or else something can go wrong there as well.

[Guts]

Sherman you may my point for me. When you get there ratio of water and rice the way you like it it comes out exactly the same every time, every time. As far as hard to measure. It is actually a lot easier to set the pan on the scale hit tare and add your ingredients hitting tare in between ingredients. It doesn't get much simpler than that. And you don't have to clean any other measuring devices but the pan your cooking in which you would have to clean anyway. My Rice comes out exactly like I like it every time using weights rather than cups or other measuring devices. I will confess that it took me about three tries making notes on how much I used each time but now I have it the way I like it. Not to soft not to firm just perfect for my palate. Other countries use weights and milliliters/liters the advantage of using the metric system is far superior to our US measurements in my opinion. I work as a carpenter and often use centimeters / millimeters for some of the work that I do is just so much more accurate and a lot easier to use. no disrespect here Sherman but if you haven't tried it. Don't knock it

[Big Daddy's House]

I'm not knocking it now.

All I'm trying to say, now, is that the rice & water ratio is usually always 1 part rice with 2 parts water.

[jimbo]

Sherm, look at it this way. While the water in your rice is a fairly stable cup to ounce ratio, dry good are not necessarily so, including rice, and therefore the ratio will vary.

Try this experiment. Measure out a cup of ordinary table salt and weigh it.

Then measure out a cup of sea or ice cream salt and weigh it. All are NACL, but there will be a huge difference in the weight due to the size of the crystals, and therefore the density of the measure. (the air space between the grains of salt). However, the amount of sodium chloride by weight will be same regardless of the size of the crystals.

American recipes attempt to limit this discrepancy by stating that the brown sugar be tightly packed, or the flour be sifted or not, but if you weigh, it makes no difference in the final product.

[Darkginger]

Thought I'd add my own (not nicked!) recipe for raita as an alternative. I make this most times I make a curry - the capsicain molecules (which is what gives a curry heat) form an emulsion with yoghurt (or milk, come to that) and act to cool the mouth - handy if you overdo it. Anyway - this is what I do:

1 small tub of plain natural full fat yoghurt
1 tsp Colman's Mint Sauce (or Colman's Garden Mint - but add a pinch of sugar or sweetener if using that)
2" cucumber, finely chopped
A pinch of salt
A pinch of garam masala (an aromatic spice mix)

Mix it all together and leave it in the fridge whilst you're cooking your curry, to allow the flavours to mingle.

Admittedly, it's a very similar recipe to the one originally posted, but it's my own attempt to reproduce the raita that comes from my local Indian restaurant :) You could also add a little finely chopped spring onion (scallion) if liked. Makes a great dip for naan bread, and is perfect with tandoori dishes.

[Charu Mehta]

I prepare raita very often since I cook South Asian food mostly. It is a great accompaniment to biryani, lentils or bean curries and rice and flat breads (rotis and stuffed parathas)

I have never measured the ingredients for raita since I vary the consistency depending on what I am serving it with. The base ingredient is yogurt but I prepare many variations of raita using tomatoes, boiled potatoes, grated boiled bottle gourd, grated carrots, onions, spinach and even sauteed eggplant. The seasoning also varies. Salt is to taste and other spices like pinch of red chilly powder/ chopped green chillies , garam masala (spice mix) or chat masala ( a tangy spice mix), roasted cumin powder are optional.

Chopped coriander leaves is always a good garnish for the raita....but again, is optional.