Cucumber Raita

This is my recipe, and I want to explain to the last poster why I use Greek style yogurt. The cucumbers will weep a tremendous amount of liquid, especially if you let this sit all day or overnight. If you do not use a firmer yogurt to start, you will end up with a watery Raita. Since you used regular yogurt and actually added water, perhaps you either used fewer cucumbers, did not let yours sit in the refrigerator to blend the flavors as long as I did, or perhaps you just like it watery. While I agree that Raita should be saucy, I do not think it should be watery, hence the Greek yogurt.

Quick tip to make everything easier and a nice presentation as well: if you have a good vegetable peeler, once you have the outer peeled off, use the peeler to make wide, thin strips of the cucumber - then you don't have to seed or chop anything, just keep making strips till you hit the seeds. Also, it was good, but I thought there was too much yogurt. But maybe my cucumbers were just small. Sounds like a personal problem. :-)

Great Raita. I prepared it with one small addition and that was adding one teaspoon of cumin. It provided it with an exceptional taste and authenticity.

I prepared this as more of a condiment than a salad, because that's what I was after for my purpose. It's also awesome as a salad! I used 1 regular, peeled cuke and shredded it with the corse side of a box grater. I put it in a fine sieve and sprinkled it with some kosher salt, stirred it well and sprinkled another pinch of salt on it. I let this drain @ 15-20 minutes while I assembled the other ingredients. This draws out much of the moisture and keeps the cuke from watering down the raita. Otherwise, I followed the recipie as printed, cutting all in half since I only used one cuke. This was a FANTASTIC topping for Yakuta's Indian Style Sheekh Kabab elsewhere on this site. In fact, the two go together so well, I'll not make the kababs without this raita!

After spending a lot of time in India you learn to loooove raita! But this is definitely not Indian raita. I should have known when I saw the mint, but I figured I'd try it anyway. The only change I made was to dice the cucumber. It didn't taste bad, it was just very minty and not what I was looking for. I'll continue to keep my eyes peeled for a good mixed raita recipe (cucumber, tomato, onion).

Excellent recipe! I have been searching for a cucumber raita recipes for a while and this one is the best I've found. Thank you.

This was terrific. I made the recipe exactly as written. The first night I served it with Tandoori Chicken. The second night we made pitas stuffed with cucumber raita, leftover tandoori chicken, and couscous. A light, refreshing summer dish!

I used regular yogurt instead and it worked well. It wasn't as firm as it would have been if I had used the Greek Yogurt (which I knew ahead of time). Goes VERY well with the Moroccan Couscous and Lamb Tagine recipes. I served it alongside the two recipes noted and it went perfectly. I will absolutely make this again.

I strained regular yogurt through a strainer over a bowl for about two hours before mixing. This makes the consistancy thicker like Greek yogurt, which we can't get in my small town. Still, I agree that it probably should have been thinner actually because restaurant raita is much more like a thin sauce. This raita was okay as a condiment for rice biryani and on top of naan, but it was missing something. We couldn't figure it out. Maybe some cumin would help the flavor. I will definetly keep searching for more raita recipes.

This was so yummy! I forgot the lemon and added some cilantro, but I know that would have made it even better. Also, I chopped up the cukes after I sliced them to make it easier for dipping. Definetely try to make it a little early. I didn't let mine sit too long, but when I went back to it later, I could detect more mint. It goes good with Indian aloo matar gobi and helps cool the spiciness. Also, I dipped chapati bread in it. Nice healthy dinner. Thanks.

I don't really understand why this recipe calls for Greek yogurt, as it is one of the thickest yogurt you can buy. Raita is supposed to be a saucy texture....seems like this would be a good tzatziki recipe instead. That said I used regular yogurt and watered it down a bit. Left out the lemon and sugar and added cilantro instead of mint. With these changes it was great.

Good but needs a little more soiling than recommended.

Followed the recipe exactly (first time with this cuisine), and the consistency and flavor was very good. As other reviewers have mentioned, it is a bit tart, but that was fine when eaten with the Lamb L'Arabique and Moroccan Couscous that I served it with. Next time, maybe a bit more sugar or honey (as another reviewer suggested).

I slice my cucumbers and put salt on them, and let them sit 20mi. it drowse out the water ,i discard the water then i make my dressing with sour cream lemon juice sugar salt to taste and dill try it it is very good

This was a nice cool counterpart to the Chicken Jalfrezi from this site. I used a peeler to remove the cucumber skin and cut thin slices down to the seeds as another poster suggested, then chopped the slices. It worked great! I had plain yogurt and drained it overnight to make it the thicker Greek style. I doubled the sugar to offset the tanginess of the yogurt and added a teaspoon of cumin (which I really like) to make the flavor more complex. I gave it half a day for the flavors to meld, then added the cucumbers, so it wouldn't be too watery. After eating, some was left over and the next day the cucumbers had released some liquid. This was easily fixed with a few stirs though. Overall, the flavor was good. I found it was best paired with the Chicken Jalfrezi. Would be great to cool some of the spicier Indian dishes. Thank you!

I've made this twice as a condiment with all shredded cucumber as another poster said, and it is excellent! Aside from the suggested addition of cumin, I also doubled the sugar, since I find Greek yogurt too bitter (a personal issue, as I don't eat it much and am not yet used to the strong flavor). I've saved this one because it has a good, refreshing flavor and is very well balanced. Great job!

I mixed everything but the cucumber together and refrigerated for most of the day and added the cucumber just as I was about to serve it. The flavors were nicely blended, but the cucumber wasn't soggy, which was great. Though some have suggested using it as a sauce in wraps the next day, we really didn't like it after it had sat in the fridge overnight.

I followed the recipe exactly, but was extremely disappointed. I love Indian food, love cucumbers and salads but I couldn't even eat this! It was so tart from the massive amount of yogurt and you expected it to be a little sweet but it wasn't at all and the texture was gritty. I used a good quality Greek Yogurt (plain) and large cucumbers. I Can't figure out what went wrong.

Loved it! I like my raita thick (I've had it both thick and thin in restaurants) and the Greek yogurt does the trick. Now I never have to go out for Indian food!

Good base, but I used only 1 seedless cucumber, rough chopped; cilantro instead of mint; and added 1 tsp cumin. Pretty much exactly what I wanted. Thanks for posting!

I used 2 seedless cucumbers that don't need to be peeled, a little more than 1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 green onions finely chopped (just the white and beginning of the green), 1 t of garlic finely minced, 1 t sugar, 1/2 t salt, pepper, drizzle of olive oil, and dill. I have eaten raita with dill before and didn't have mint on hand. I let stand overnight in fridge before serving; it was not runny, and the flavors married perfectly. We served with chicken cabobs.

This raita went really well with our Indian dinner last night. Because I was making other dishes that called for plain yogurt, though, I bypassed Greek yogurt and used regular -- the results were just fine. I also halved the amount of cucumber that I used, as I wanted this to be an accompaniment to my tikka masala, not it's own dish, and I opted for dried mint since I already had it on hand. Perfectly satisfactory!

The subtle flavours in this raita give a nice cooling balance to spicy meals. Served it with veggie samosas, Spicy Tomato Chutney (from this site) Chicken Jalfrezi (from this site) and naan bread. Everyone enjoyed it. It would also make a nice salad dressing or veggie dip.

Tasty!

very delicious and authentic tasting recipe. I suggest using greek yogurt instead of trying to substitute it with regular plain yogurt to get a creamier and less watery texture. i grated 1 cucumber and strained it very well through a paper towel. i just put the it in the paper towel and squeezed all the liquid out and dumped the shredded cucumber with the sauce and it came out GREAT. i liked having the subtle taste of cucumber instead of chunks of it. =) very delicious!

Regarding "Greek style" yogurt, if you cannot find it and you don't want watery Raita, then you can add a Tbls or so of thick sour cream. This will help bind it. Also, you can chop the cukes in advance, sprinkle with the salt and let sit for an hour. Then drain off the liquid before adding the rest of the ingredients. Lastly, I completely omit the lemon juice and just serve lemon wedges on the side.

We love this with Naan! I didn't have frsh mint and really didn't want to buy it just for 2 TBSP so I used 2 tsp. dried mint and my husband and I both thought it was fine. We will definitely have this again!

turned out wonderful for me. Just a quick tip, I used Cabot (like the cheese) brand greek yogurt because it's ridiculously thick (thickest I've seen so far). Turned out awesome, although the cucumber does water it down a bit. Mix in some spices of your liking a little bit at a time ( you can always add more). I did dill and cumin. Gets more flavorful with a few hours/day of sitting. I paired it with a red lentil curry from allrecipes and it was just heavenly.

very good! I like the flavour, it could be thicker even though I used greek yogurt - maybe ill strain it next time :)

Great. We actually made it with regular yogurt (low fat), used the vegetable peeler for the cucumber, used dried mint (1/3 the amount), and did not let it sit (just ate it right away). It was close enough to Indian restaurant raita to satisfy us. Thanks!

We used Greek yogurt for this recipe and it thinned out well after sitting in the fridge overnight after combining it with everything else. Very light and fresh-tasting. We used one reviewer's suggestion to peel the cucumber to the seeds then dice the inner peels for the raita. The texture of doing it that way worked well for us.

wow this was good: really, really good! i have been craving Indian food since we moved from England to the US, and this was reminiscent of the raita we used to get at our local Indian take-out restaurant in England! i used fatfree yogurt and added some fat free sour cream for body, and used Splenda instead of sugar: this will become a staple "must have in the fridge" at our house! thank you!!!!

I added cilantro and dill to taste, and it was delicious! For 2 cups of yogurt I only used one hothouse cucumber.

I can't believe how good this raita is! I tried a similar recipe some years ago and that one turned out yuck. This one, though, my goodness... I could eat tubs of this. In case it helps to know: I tossed de-seeded slices of an English cucumber in my food processor, I added a dash of cumin, and I used two small cups of low-fat Fage yogurt.

Great basic Raita recipe! Tastes great with Jeera (cumin) chicken. Make sure you taste, add mint/cucumbers as needed. If letting refrigerate overnight, you need less cucumber and mint of course! Can adapt with grapes, onions, tomatoes, etc to make it suit your dish. It's nice to add just a dash of a little chili (cayenne) powder and ground cumin. (The review that said mint didn't make it authentic to Indian food doesn't make much sense. They use a ton of mint over there. There are many types of raita.)

We had this with the Lamb Tagine (well, we made beef Tagine) and this was our favorite part. I will probably make this again to go with other recipies. Had to cut the recipe in half though because it makes a bit too much to be used as a condiment for just three people.

Very good and easy to make. I took the advice of one reviewer and sprinkled salt on the sliced cucumber, let it bleed some liquid out, before squeezing it adding it to the yogurt mixture. Perfect finished texture.

Nice and easy, but too minty. It also lacks something that the raita I've loved at Indian restaurants had.

Quite a different way to make cucumber salad ... with the mint, but I liked it!

I really liked the mint and cucumber flavour combination. It was very refreshing. I have made this a few times now and am sure to make it again

Good, accompaniment with lamb/chicken tagine recipe. A solid yogurt salad recipe.

This was very good. I served it along with the Moroccan Couscous, and the Cold Roasted Moroccan Spiced Salmon. I had to omit the mint, and added some garlic powder. Very cool and refreshing.

Very refreshing - we use this as a dressing in our turkey wraps and for dipping veggies too! I make it and add cucumbers right before I am going to servce it so they are still crisp.

Ideal basic raita recipe! I've made others, and using Greek yogurt really is key. This is surprisingly delicious, the fresh mint really goes a long way.

Not to self, next time use a large cheese grater. Taste was great but soupy due to using a food processor. Served with pita bread, Lamb Tagine, and Moroccan Couscous.

This was easy and perfect. Made it exactly.

Excellent!

2 cups of Greek yogurt was way too much for my taste...I will use 1 cup in the future, but overall the taste was great! A wonderful summer dish that I served with my own North African Paella.

It was really good. I didn't have mint at the time so I left that out and I added a dash of turmeric and sprinkled a bit of channa chaat masala on top for a more desi taste. It went great with tandoori chicken and also with biryani. :)

An excellent way to cut the spice of the tagine! I love it and will make it again.

Excellent Raita recipe. To be able to eat it right away, I substituted sour cream for greek yoghurt, squeezed the cucumber after I shredded it, and added a bit of extra lemon and salt to compensate for the 'lightly sweeter' flavor of the sour cream. It might be lousy for the 'less fat' option, but worked great for the 'serving immediately'. Excellent taste!

Good and easy to make.

This raita is especially cooling-- with lemon and mint.

Great Recipe-here is a Tip on the cucumbers: prepare and then place in a bowl, sprinkle with salt, and let sit for a couple hours,drain. The salt extracts some of the water from the cucumbers so the salad will not be watery.

I would definitely make it again. After reading others advice, I too added about 2 teaspoons of cumin and dill. Very good:)

This was pretty good even though we had to substitute mint with cilantro. Made just half the mixture but was enough as a dip for curry puffs.

Really good, but just a tad too much lemon for my tastes. It paired great with the Moroccan Couscous, as mentioned.

Great!

it was amazing my dad and i made it for fathers day

This dish is sooo nice with lamb chops it really dresses

I love this recipe. It is simple to make yet elegant with flavor. And with a little added feta....mmmmwha!

Zero for Jan

I didn't peel the cucumbers because I like the raita to have a bit more texture. Other than that, I made it as specified and it was very good as a condiment for our Indian dinner.

Turns out I'm not a fan.

easy and delicious!

Halved it, and used goat's milk yogurt because of allergy. Absolutely delicious!

Served this with brown basmati rice , saag paneer, nan and some other things the other day. It isn't necessary to use only greek yogurt. Just let drain some regular non fat yogurt through a fine seive/coffee filter. I used fresh yogurt I made the day before. This recipe can be used in so many ways. I even use it for salad dressing! Delicious; so refreshing!

Just made this exactly as stated and it's delicious.

its good

Maybe leave out the sugar next time.

Delicious! I served this as part of an Indian-themed meal and it was perfect. I almost didn't seed the cucumbers and I might try that next time as I like raita a little more "soupy", as another reviewer mentioned. I think the cucumbers would have released a bit more liquid if I hadn't seeded them. But that's just a matter of preference - otherwise, this was perfect. A little cilantro would have been nice, too!

Very good. Served with indian style sheekh kabab and naan.

YUM!

Added onion

Yum ! good thing this is low in calories because I can't stop eating it. I did add chopped chives and dried dill.

Done for a midle east dinner. Everyone loved with kibeh, tabulle, hummus and pita bread.

Used one big cucumber, seeded but not peeled. Came out very nice, but I ended up adding a fair bit more mint than the recipe suggested. Very nice flavour, went great with the lamb tagine!

Made exactly per the recipe; it was delicious. Will definitely make this again. Would be perfect complement to a dish with lots of heat.

I loved the way it tasted before I added the sugar. I would make it again but I’ll leave the sugar out.

This is just what I was looking for. I added one small clove of garlic and it was perfect for what I remember from the Middle East. I used regular yogurt, which I strained, and I did salt the cucumbers and let them drain also. It was not too watery, just right. Thanks for this recipe!

Delicious - so simple to make! I cut the recipe in half, as two cups of yogurt makes quite a lot. It fed a dinner meal of 6 (served with kebab and naan), and I still had some left over. Yum!

It was refreshing, but I used very few spices compared to a restaurant version. The yogurt was made by daughtherinlaw was rich and creamy. good

I left out the sugar....and added some cumin. Proportions for cucumber and yogurt are good.

I made it today to go with lamb tagine. The raita came out delicious, so cooling and refreshing. I used a bit more fresh mint than the recipe called for, because I like mint a lot.

I made this exactly as specified in the recipe and served it with the Lamb Tangine and Moroccan Couscous as recommended. This dish is a very nice accompaniment to the lamb. This is the first time I've had raita so I have nothing to compare it to. I will be doubling, maybe even tripling the mint in this recipe in the future. As it is written, I have the urge to add dill, but I think a stronger mint flavor sans dill may be even better. The cool cucumber, mint, yogurt, and lemon are just such a great combination! I think dill might weigh it down and make it more like sour cream.

Great base. Didnt use mint, used fresh cilantro and chopped green onion. Diced the cucumber. Delicious!

I made this as a side dish for the suggested Lamb Tagine (a 5-star dish) to go along with the Moroccan Couscous (also 5 stars). I don't care for plain yogurt, Greek or otherwise, and thought perhaps this recipe would add enough other flavors to make it tasty. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I found that adding a significant, unmeasured amount of honey to the dish when it is served makes it much more palatable (i.e. helps mask the yogurt flavor), but I still won't make it again.

Very good. I like to have raita whenever I make a curry. I added very finely chopped red bell pepper, and I've never added sugar before, but it makes a nice difference. I used "skyr" yogurt which is REALLY thick, so there was no need to strain the cucumber.

I was very disappointed with this recipe. I love raita but this was missing a lot of flavor and was the wrong consistency in my opinion. The raita I've had is very soupy and this isn't that way at all, it was too thick. I think 2 cucumbers was way too many, 1 would have been much better but that still doesn't fix the spice and consistency issue. It wasn't terrible but if you enjoy a nice Indian raita then keep looking.

Fabulous. Could even add more mint.

Delightful. It is a gift along with some lamb kabobs that I am also giving them. thank you for sharing.

Perfect for spicy Indian food! Very refreshing.

This was a fabulous recipe! It was even better than my favorite Indian restaurant. The mint was a lovely addition. I served it with Slow Cooker Butter Chicken, warm Naan, and Rice Pudding for dessert.

Fabulous! Thick and creamy, slightly tangy sauce that's delightful on fresh salads, or filling a gyro/pita bread. I use much more mint and omit the sugar.

I didn't have greek yoghurt so used creme fraiche and added lemon peel. Delicious with chicken satay and fried bhajis

This was really good. Exactly the sauce I was looking for. Thanks very much.

This was delicious! Changes I made: - used strained nonfat plain yogurt (don't have Greek yogurt available) - omitted mint - added garlic powder - added cumin - grated the cucumbers and pressed them between two paper towels to strain them - and I ate it right away because I didn't want to wait. YUM!

perfect!!!

This is my favorite way to eat cucumbers. At our house, we prefer to use about 1/3 fat free sour cream instead of all yogurt. It makes it a little creamier and a little less of a sharp yogurt taste. Raita is great with spicy foods, but is also a cool and refreshing side to go with grilled meats in the summer.