Yogurt based simple Indian recipe flavoured with cumin is Jeera Raita. Well whisked yogurt is combined with roasted and partially crushed cumin to make easy peasy raita. Jeera is very important in Indian cuisine. It is used not only in gravies, side dishes and dals; roasted jeera is used in most of the raita recipes and chaat recipes. This is because there are plenty of jeera benefits and therefore it is incorporated in the diet in one way or the other. Jeera raita can be served with any gravy or paratha or pulao and biryani.
Having said that, here are a few of the many jeera benefits (source here):
Having said that too, I would also like to bring to your notice the jeera water benefits or the cumin water benefits because this is another simple way of adding cumin to your daily diet (source here):
Cumin/Jeera: Jeera is dry roasted on low flame till aromatic and thereafter used for this recipe. It is important to dry roast cumin on low flame and till dark brown.
Red chili powder: I personally don’t like and add red chili in my raita recipes. You can zing up the jeera raita with a pinch of red chili powder.
Salt: I do not use the regular salt or the table salt for my raita recipes. I use black salt. I believe that the table salt should not be consumed without cooking and therefore for my raita and salad recipes I prefer black salt.
Yogurt/dahi: For any raita recipe it is important to whisk the curd very well. The smooth sea might not make good sailors but smooth yogurt makes good raita.
Flavors: We are using the most common raita flavoring ingredient as the main ingredient, therefore, I did not add anything to flavor the jeera raita. You can add chopped coriander leaves.
Raita recipes are so versatile. Raitas can pep up any simple or boring lunch menu or dinner idea. In fact, at times when you may be too full to have a complete meal, a bowl of wholesome raita is all you need. And therefore, we have a collection of raita recipes.
Jeera raita can be served with vegetable pulao for a weekday lunch.
1.This recipe makes 1 cup jeera raita which serves 2-3 persons.
2.In a pan dry roast 1 tsp of cumin seeds on a low flame till aromatic.
3.Let it cool down and then crush it in a mortal pestle or just spread on the rolling board (chakla) and use a rolling pin (belan) to crush it coarsely (this is how my mom does it).
4.In a mixing bowl take 1 cup well-whisked and chilled yogurt (dahi), roasted and crushed cumin seeds and black salt (kala namak) to taste. Mix everything.
5.Serve it chilled or at room temperature. Bon appetit!
PREP TIME 3 minutes
COOK TIME 2 minutes
TOTAL TIME 5 minutes
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