North Indian Mint Raita: Refreshing Yogurt Dish Cools Spicy Aftertastes

Chauhan explains that raita essentially calls for a combination of good yogurt flavored with vegetables or fruit and dosed with minimal seasoning. He identifies chickpeas, cucumbers, mint and tomatoes as making the most often appearances in North Indian raitas. Sometimes potatoes may be added. Chauhan's wider search of North Indian raita variations yields bananas and pumpkins. He observes that, "with more imagination," he finds mangoes, pomegranates and spinach in North Indian raitas.  Chauhan concludes that the endless variety of North Indian raitas considers all edible fruits and vegetables. In creating unusual raitas, however, he draws "the line at meat," even though one of his cousins grew up with chicken raita.

The Nibble online specialty food magazine describes raita as a "family" of cold "yogurt-based 'salads'" that are distinguished as savory or sweet. Corn, cucumber, eggplant and onion typify savory raita recipes. The Nibble list coconut, grape, mango and pineapple as examples of sweet raita ingredients.

New Delhi-born cookbook author Suvir Saran (born Nov. 29, 1972) features a Grape Raita (page 185) in Indian Home Cooking, which he co-authored with New York Times regional food critic Stephanie Lyness in 2004. He had experienced a recent rediscovery of "this delightfully unusual raita" served at New Delhi's Bukhara Restaurant. (Bukhara appears as number 44 on the March 24, 2020, list of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants.) Saran favors Champagne grapes but allows for "any seedless variety" and notes his preference for peeling and halving the grapes for this raita.

Cookbook author and Indian As Apple Pie spice line founder Anupy Singla presents a Soy Yogurt Raita (page 124) in her Vegan Indian Cooking, published as her second cookbook in 2012. She notes that the basic recipe, which calls for cucumber, welcomes "anything and everything," including diced, cooked beets, and explains the addition of non-traditional lemon or lime juice as rounding, or balancing, the basic recipe's flavor.

In her travels across India, my sister enjoyed sampling the subcontinent's endlessly creative raitas. Her favorite raitas were cucumber raita (kheera raita) and mint raita (pudina raita).

Cucumbers pair well with mint leaves. Oftentimes my sister encountered mint raitas with cucumbers and cucumber raitas with mint leaves.

The mint (Mentha spp.) genus claims 24 species, according to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's website, Plants of the World Online. NDTV (New Delhi Television) Food writer Sushmita Sengupta explains that the Hindi word pudina refers generically to mint and also specifically to peppermint.

As a hybrid mint, peppermint (Mentha x piperita) is a cross between watermint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata). Peppermint has a "stronger and more pronounced flavor" than its parent, spearmint, according to Imperial Sugar's online blog, Sweetalk®. The blog post "What's the Difference between Mint and Peppermint?" identifies spearmint as "usually the mint of choice" for savory recipes. Contrastingly, peppermint's favorable pairing with chocolate and citrus flavors qualifies it as "the herb of choice" for sweetness.

Our family recipe for Mint Raita enhances the dish's texture with diced or grated cucumber. We favor spearmint but sometimes experiment with other mints.

Ingredients for 4 servings

Serves four to six, according to portion size.

1/2 to 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

   Or: 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, if toasting with cumin seeds

1 large cucumber, peeled and diced or grated

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

   Note: For sweet flavor, use peppermint; for savory taste, use spearmint.

   Or: Experiment with other types, such as apple mint, also known as pineapple mint.

   Note: If garnish is desired, allow for additional, whole leaves.

Dry toast (i.e., no oil) cumin seeds (and black peppercorns, if desired) in a small frying pan over medium heat. Stir until fragrant and slightly browned, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Transfer to spice grinder and grind to a powder. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk yogurt until smooth.

Stir in cucumber, mint leaves, ground cumin and black pepper. Mix well.

Chill well, for about one hour, to blend flavors, if desired.

At serving time, garnish with mint sprig, if desired.

My special thanks to talented photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the Internet.

pomegranate raita; Monday, February 23, 2015, 14:52: Raksanand, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pomegranate_raita.jpg

Homegrown peppermint decoratively thrives in outdoor pot.: Sunnysingh22, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mint_2014-06-01_00-53.jpg

cucumber raita; Monday, May 4, 2015, 20:37: Zeel Patel, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cucumber_Raita.JPG

raita with cucumber and mint: Elisabeth Nara at English-language Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raita_with_cucumber_and_mint.jpg

Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. "#44 Bukhara New Delhi, India." The World's 50 Best Restaurants > Asia's 50 Best Restaurants.

Available @ https://www.theworlds50best.com/asia/en/the-list/41-50/bukhara.html

The Ayurveda Experience. "Indian Raita Recipes (Easy Raita Recipes), Raita Pronunciation." The Ayurveda Experience > The Ayurveda Experience Blog. July 15, 2018.

Available @ https://theayurvedaexperience.com/blogs/tae/indian-raita-recipes-easy-raita-recipes-raita-pronunciation

Chauhan, Vasundhara. "Time for Raita." The Hindu > Opinion > Columns > Gourmet Files. March 21, 2015.

Available @ https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Vasundhara_Chauhan/time-for-raita/article7018586.ece

Kaul, Sereena, Alexa & Priya. The Three Sisters Indian Cookbook: Flavours and Spices of India. London UK: Simon & Schuster, 2010.

The Nibble. "Raita Recipe: Famous Yogurt Dishes Are Easy to Make." The Nibble > Product Reviews. March 2005. Last updated February 2012.

Available @ https://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/cheese/yogurt/dishes2.asp

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. "Mentha L." Plants of the World Online > Taxon > Family: Lamiaceae Martinov.

Available @ http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30016176-2

Saran, Suvir. "Cucumber Raita." eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters > eG Forums > India: Cooking & Baking. Feb. 20, 2003.

Available @ https://forums.egullet.org/topic/17184-cucumber-raita/

Saran, Suvir; and Stephanie Lyness. Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food, With More Than 150 Recipes. New York NY: Clarkson Potter publishers, 2004.

Sengupta, Sushmita. "What Is The Difference Between Mint And Peppermint?" NDTV (New Delhi Television) Food > Food & Drinks. April 19, 2018.

Available @ https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/what-is-the-difference-between-mint-and-peppermint-1839644

Singla, Anupy. Vegan Indian Cooking: 140 Simple and Healthy Vegan Recipes. Chicago IL: Surrey Books, 2012.

Sweetalk® Blog. "What's the Difference between Mint and Peppermint?" Imperial Sugar > Blog.

Available @ https://www.imperialsugar.com/blog/whats-the-difference-between-mint-and-peppermint