Carrot Raita

Carrot raita is a healthy side dish made with grated carrots and flavored with delectable seasonings. This is an easy-to-make condiment for everyday meals.

Raita is a condiment from the Indian subcontinent made by mixing hung curd or beaten curd with raw salad vegetables. Vegetables used in raita include cucumber, tomato, carrots, red onion, green chilies, and fruits. Raita is a ubiquitous side dish in Indian cuisine.

I try to make a variety of raitas. I even like coriander oats raita. If you feel too lazy to make anything, add salt and dry roasted cumin seeds to curd or buttermilk. This plain raita is also perfect and delicious. I love to add hing to my raita for that extra something that enhances its flavor without any vegetables or fruits.

Types of Raita - Variations

The primary vegetable raita has cucumber, onion, and tomatoes. But you can make raita with other vegetables like potatoes, eggplants, bottle gourd (lauki), onions, etc. To make carrot raita, add grated carrots. Add grated and boiled bottle gourd to make lauki raita. Add fruits to make sweet fruit raita. If you don’t want any vegetables, add boondi to make boondi raita.

This versatile side dish is one of the best that always completes our menu. You can add curd to fried brinjals or fried okra and make dahi baingan or dahi bhindi. These are not precisely raita but similar curd-based side dishes or condiments.

How to make carrot raita?

Ingredients -

Carrots, Cilantro leaves, Green chili (optional), Onions (optional)

Seasonings - roasted cumin powder, a pinch of paprika or chili powder or cayenne pepper, and salt

Instructions -

• Wash and peel the skin. Trim both ends. Grate the carrot using a fine pore grater.
• Beat the yogurt to smooth. Add ¼ cup water to it if it's too thick.
• Add a handful of delicate cilantro leaves, followed by grated carrots. Grate the carrots using the finest perforations of the grater.
• Add ground cumin, a pinch of paprika, salt, and chat masala to season the carrot raita.
• Stir and mix everything. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Raita vs Tzatziki

In a way, raita is similar to Tzatziki of the Mediterranean and Middle East, but again, there is a little difference in their origin and ingredients. Cucumber is the hero ingredient in Tzatziki, along with curd, while in Raita, a variety of vegetables and fruits is used. In Tzatziki, dill leaves or Mint leaves are used in herbs, but raita contains cilantro/ coriander in herbs.

This variation is an easy recipe with only four ingredients. I used grated carrots and cilantro leaves in this raita. To make it spicy, I added a pinch of chili powder. You can also replace the chili powder with green chilies.

Carrot Raita Recipe

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