Raita

Raita is an Indian yogurt-based condiment that is served especially with hot and spicy food. It accompanies piquant main courses — like curries and kebabs — perfectly and cools down the heat. In this 5-Ingredient Keto Raita, the flavors are maximized, and the carbs minimized. Preparing this simple yet succulent raita is a cinch, too: just mix all ingredients together, let the flavors mingle, and dig in!

How to prepare this 5-Ingredient Keto Raita

Ok, even this recipe calls for just mixing all ingredients together, you need to do some grating, too. There is a little bit of ginger to grate and a bit more cucumber to grate. There is a bit of fresh mint, to chop, too, but also that is done in a minute. Other than that, the rest of the ingredients you just need to grab from the jars, throw in, and that’s it.

So, let’s take a look at how to prepare this exceptionally tasty condiment:

Take 1 cup (240 ml) plain Greek or Turkish yogurt. Place it into a medium bowl. Set aside.

Take 7 oz (200 g) English cucumber.

Grate it.

Add the grated cucumber to the bowl with the yogurt.

Add 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped fresh mint leaves…

…1 teaspoon freshly-grated ginger…

…and 1 teaspoon ground cumin.

Mix with a spoon…

…until well combined.

Season with salt and pepper if wished.

Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate a few hours or overnight to let the flavors mingle.

Transfer into a serving bowl.

Serve with hot and spicy dishes.

Yum!

How I came up with this easy raita recipe

This week, I was about to post a recipe for keto plum chutney. I was talking about plum chutney in one of my posts, and one of my readers asked in the comments where she can find a recipe for that keto plum chutney. Well, I have developed a recipe for a keto plum chutney recipe but didn’t publish it anywhere yet. It’s actually going to be in my upcoming Finnish keto book.

Talking about the book, I just got the cover suggestion from the graphic designer. I think the cover looks really fresh:

But let’s get back into recipe development stuff and chit-chat more in the General Prattling section at the end of the post!

Last year, our little plum tree produced a hefty amount of plums. We were drowning at them, so I had to do my best to develop keto plum recipes. Developing keto plum recipes is not a breeze, as you know, plums are relatively high in carbs. But believe or not, they contain less carbs than blueberries that are considered keto. According to our Finnish nutrition database, plums contain precisely the same amount of carbs as strawberries!

And it’s naturally also about the amount you use. Last year, I developed this Keto Plum Curd recipe that is high in fat and low in carbs. Plums are so flavorful that you don’t need that much of them to provide outstanding flavor.

Moreover, our little plum three is again producing a huuuge amount of plums this year. They are now ripe and should be picked asap. However, several things prevented me from picking the plums and developing a recipe for plum chutney. Again, I had a busy week with all kinds of errands and tasks. Moreover, it was raining the whole week, so I couldn’t pick the plums.

So, because of not having time to develop a plum chutney recipe but first of all not being able to pick the plums because of constant rain, I had to think of something much more uncomplicated to post here on my blog.

You might remember that last week, I was in Greece to finalize my next book (yes, the one whose cover you just saw). Well, I finalized the text part, but there are still a couple of recipes missing. My original idea was to make tzatziki from coconut yogurt, but suddenly I remembered my favorite recipe for raita that I tend to make quite often. The recipe originates from an Asian cookbook, and I’ve tweaked it over the years. That would be just perfect for my keto-vegan book! (As a side note, “raita” is also a Finnish word and means “stripe.”)

Actually, I modified the existing raita recipe a bit. Usually, I use yogurt, grated cucumber, ginger, cumin, and mustard seeds to my go-to raita. I roast the cumin and mustard seeds in a skillet to amp up the flavors.

However, instead of mustard seeds, I used coriander seeds for the recipe in my book. And because the coconut yogurt was so runny compared to genuine Greek or Turkish yogurt, I squeezed well the excess fluid out of the grated cucumber. The result was pretty delicious! I took the photo for the book with the same props than the photo to this blog post:

So, I thought I can utilize the raita recipe here on my blog — except instead of coconut yogurt, I will use Greek yogurt. I was also intrigued by how well fresh mint would season the raita. I do have lots of fresh mint growing in my herb garden (that looks pretty wild…):

I grabbed some mint and started experimenting.

For my first experiment, I used basically the same recipe than for my upcoming book with coconut yogurt but swapped the coriander to 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped fresh mint leaves. I wanted to keep the cumin and the ginger in the recipe because they are so flavorful. Somehow cumin is one of my favorite spices, and I tend to use it everywhere, especially with lamb meat. I just cannot eat lamb meat without a substantial amount of cumin! Anyway, I was a bit hesitating how well mint would fit the strong flavor of ginger, though. Well, that was to be seen.

Because my Greek yogurt was so thick, I thought I don’t squeeze out the fluid from the grated cucumber or drain it — like that, the consistency will be more sauce-like, and what would be the best, the carb count stays lower than with drained cucumber.

To my pleasant surprise, the result was unbelievably tasty, and all the flavors were supporting each other. The mint was just a perfect match with ginger and cumin! Moreover, the consistency was excellent: not too runny but perfectly sauce-like. Just what I had wanted!

This recipe was a tad easier as well: unlike in the previous versions, I didn’t need to roast the spices or squeeze out the fluid from the cucumber. For this recipe, I just grated the cucumber and the ginger (and chopped the mint), combined all ingredients and mixed. That’s it! Just a perfect recipe during a super-busy week. And now you can benefit from it as well and whip up a batch of this quick raita whenever you are after some fascinating flavor combos and simply an irresistibly delicious condiment to accompany any keto main dish.

Even you usually serve raita with spicy dishes, the main dish doesn’t have to be hot and spicy; I ate the leftovers with cold-smoked salmon, and the raita was a perfect condiment with that!

Here’s the recipe for you to enjoy:

Continue to Content

5-Ingredient Keto Raita

Yield: 8

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes

Raita is an Indian yogurt-based condiment that is served especially with hot and spicy food. It accompanies piquant main courses — like curries and kebabs — perfectly and cools down the heat. In this 5-Ingredient Keto Raita, the flavors are maximized, and the carbs minimized. Preparing this simple yet succulent raita is a cinch, too: just mix all ingredients together, let the flavors mingle, and dig in!

Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup = 240 ml thick full-fat plain Greek or Turkish yogurt
• 7 oz = 200 g English cucumber
• 1/4 cup = 60 ml finely chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• (salt and pepper to taste)

Instructions

1. Place the yogurt in a medium bowl.
2. Grate the cucumber and add to the bowl.
3. Add the mint, ginger, and cumin. Season with salt and pepper if wanted. Mix until well combined.
4. Cover, and refrigerate a few hours or overnight to let the flavors mingle.
5. Serve as dip or sauce, especially with hot and piquant foods.
   

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How to vary the recipe

For a dairy-free version, use coconut yogurt instead of dairy-based yogurt. On my keto-vegan blog, you’ll find my go-to recipe for coconut yogurt (that you also find on my first part of the Finnish keto-vegan book that I was talking about in the previous chapter.)

To give even more flavor to the sauce, you can roast the cumin in a hot skillet. Don’t let burn! You can also add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds or crushed coriander seeds to the skillet and roast them as well together with the cumin and add to the raita with the rest of the ingredients.

If you don’t like mint, simply omit it or replace with a milder herb, like parsley. You can also use fresh cilantro if you stand the taste (I never use cilantro because it tastes like soap to me…)

General Prattling

So, I’m back from Greece, in a coldish and rainy Finland. To be honest, I would have expected to feel cold to the point of freezing after returning because of the considerable difference in temperature, but somehow I find the cool weather really refreshing. It can be because I’m physically really active nowadays, doing pilates two times per day, so I stand coldness better and even like to take cold showers – something I really used to hate!

Oh yes, my neck was really stiff and sore earlier in the week. Luckily, I had booked an appointment with one of the best physiotherapists in Finland, Risto Santala here in Tampere. I had the appointment on Tuesday and got electroacupuncture for the first time in my life. The feeling was interesting, to say the least — and my neck is so much better now. So, it really worked!

You might remember that I’ve written some magazine articles lately. One of the articles was published last week. In the article, I give advice on how to start a keto diet effortlessly. I found the magazine from our nearest store:

Naturally, in addition to a lengthy text, I have some recipes there as well:

We do have our Ketokamu ad in the magazine, too:

In the weekend, we were planning our Ketokamu launch party that will happen at the beginning of October, if there are no further restrictions for gatherings at that point, that is. I’m going to be responsible for the food and offerings. I totally love to prepare food for parties and gatherings, so I bet it will be huge fun!

Last and least, my Greek friend got me interested in a game called peg solitaire. I tried to find one here from Finland but didn’t find, so I 3D-printed myself one using our brand new 3D printer.

It took me two days to find the solution to the game — but at least I found it. Yay!

Related posts:

Best-o Keto Pesto + Pesto Deviled Eggs Rhubarb Chutney (Vegan) Fiery Jalapeño Jelly Sweet Keto Dill Mustard Sauce