Here’s a delicious accompaniment for that Vegetable Biryani I served you up last week: a fresh, green, and traditional vegan Cucumber Raita that will blow your mind.
I have posted many vegan Raita recipes here on the blog over the years, but when I am looking for a vegan yogurt substitute, I have tended to go with tofu, or store-bought vegan yogurt. And those are delicious enough, but this time I decided to try out a version made entirely with a quick and easy vegan cashew “yogurt.” I put that in quotes because the yogurt is not actually a cultured version: it is just made to taste like one with the lip-puckering tang of lime and a few other ingredients.
The role of raita on an Indian food plate is a bit of an oxymoron: on the one hand its mild, creamy, clean flavor brings out and highlights the spicy notes of foods like biryanis, parathas and curries. On the other hand, its gentle flavors provide a great counterpoint to all that spiciness.
But your raita recipe need not be saved for those times you cook Indian food. It can be a great dip for spicy chips, or a wonderful drizzle for those sweet potato skins. The yogurt base can be a great salad dressing: in fact, it rather is one, because a raita is just a very overdressed salad.
The raita you are most likely to encounter on Indian restaurant menus is a cucumber raita, although in my childhood home, the one my parents most often made was a version with finely chopped tomatoes and raw onions. I sometimes throw zucchini into my vegan raita, or grated green peppers, and I have a version with strawberries and boondi, savory golden beads of chickpea flour, in the archives that someone with a slightly sweet tooth would dig.
Vegan Cucumber Raita, Soy-Free
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber (grated. Use an English cucumber preferably)
- 1/2 red onion (minced, optional)
- Juice of 1 lime if you like your raita very tangy)
- 1/2 cup raw cashews (soaked with 3/4th cup of water for at least 30 minutes)
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 green chili pepper (like jalapeno or serrano. Remove the seeds for less heat).
- 1/2 tsp ginger grated
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Blend the cashews with the soaking water, cumin, green chili pepper, ginger, salt, and lime juice until you have a very smooth paste. This by itself makes a great dressing for any salad.
- Remove the cashew paste to a bowl and mix with the grated cucumber and onion, if using. Sprinkle on some cayenne, if you wish.
- Serve on the side with any spicy Indian dish like a biryani or a curry or a paratha.
Notes
Nutrition
susan says
February 29, 2016 atThank you for your pointed comment on the misappropriation of Gandhi! Can’t wait to try out this recipe!
michelle LaFayette says
October 1, 2018 atditto
Maggie says
February 29, 2016 atThe recipe sounds wonderful, and I will try it along with the biryani. AND I couldn’t agree more with your Trump comment. Hillary’s speech after SC primary was right on the mark as she quoted some of the “love” chapter in Corinthians, stating what we need is more love and kindness, everywhere. Don’t have to be Christian to love that sentiment.
Vaishali says
March 1, 2016 atThanks, Maggie, and I certainly agree on more love and kindness everywhere. 🙂
Margo Sluman says
February 29, 2016 atYes. and thank you!
Anu says
February 29, 2016 atThis raita is just too perfect to go with any one pot rice meal not just Biriyani.With summer setting in early this year,looking forward to making many of those rice dishes and raitas to go with it.Umm the possibilities are endless! Thank you for not only this recipe but also your blog as a whole!
Vaishali says
March 1, 2016 atHi Anu, it surely would. Thanks for your kind words. 🙂
Ruth Eisenbud says
March 1, 2016 atMaggie, We have separation of church and state in the USA… I don’t think it is appropriate for Hilary to quote the Christian bible.
candace lawrence says
October 13, 2016 atI agree. Why do people always have to drag religion into it? There’s plenty of love among us Jewish atheists, I assure you. I think it’s because she’s pandering to the SC audience.
Ruth Eisenbud says
October 13, 2016 atCandace, when I speak of ahimsa, I am not speaking of ‘love’. Love is a relative term, which ranges from ‘I love chocolate, to I love porn, to I love my family.” Ahimsa has a very specific meaning:
“Ahimsa is derived from the Sanskrit verb root hims, which means “desirous to kill,” and the prefix a- is negation. So a-himsa means literally “lacking any desire to kill,”
Unfortunately Ahimsa is not part of the religions that preach dominion. Dominion insists on human supremacy and control of animals and nature…. with the inevitable violence that follows from the tolerated slaughter of animals.
Ahimsa is the most important value of the Jain religion, which prohibits slaughter and violence to all living beings…. man and animal alike.
Elsje Parsons Massyn says
March 1, 2016 atHello Vaishali, ha ha I loved your comments about Donald Trump. I am a South African (and we watch the news with big eyes on the USA and especially with one eye and both ears on what the clown Donald Trump will say or do next. I am not a Hindu but are a great admirer of Ghandi (reason of course because he was a vegetarian and for his fearless stance against cruelty to animals)
Vaishali – I love ALL your recipes and thanks for your latest one – cant wait to try it out!!
Vaishali says
March 1, 2016 atThanks for your kind words, Elsje! 🙂
Maggie says
March 1, 2016 atRuth,
I am a strong proponent of separation of church and state. One can quote from a book, religious or otherwise, to make a point. And I like her point about needing more love and kindness everywhere. I especially like the contrast with that sentiment and what I am hearing from republican candidates about each other. I’m not a Christian, and was not feeling Hillary was making it a state religion by quoting from it.
Ruth Eisenbud says
March 2, 2016 atDear Elsje,
I agree with you completely…. I too am a great admirer of Gandhi. His love of his fellow man and animals is by Indian philosophy, specifically, the ideal of ahimsa… which means no-harm and can be understood as reverence for life…for all – animals and man.
Ahimsa can be expressed as follows:
“All things breathing, all things existing, all living beings whatever, would not be slain or treated with violence, or insulted, or tortured or driven away. This is the pure unchanging eternal law, which the wise ones who know the world have proclaimed…” Jain Acharanga Sutra.
It would be a much kinder world if we all lived by ahimsa.
Gurukaram says
March 7, 2016 atThis sounds and looks yummy – can’t wait to try it. I make cashew “cheese” often. I soak a cup of cashews for a minimum of 30 min. then blend with the juice of a lemon, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, and about a tablespoon of white miso to get the friendly bacteria going, adding enough water to blend to the consistency that I want. Yum!
Singh says
March 19, 2016 atHi Vaishali,
Raita recipe is good but If you use almonds milk instead of cashews milk that would be great, let me explain why, Cashews are acidic and Almonds are alkaline, healthy living is important.
Thanks for sharing
ramananth says
December 3, 2016 atHi, how come your raita is so white, because don’t cashews give a slightly cream color which is not exactly white?
Didn’t you have to some make it into a sour yogurt?
Is it just a Cashew paste?
Beautiful pictures. Loved it.
Bhairavi says
March 11, 2017 atJust made this-it’s amazing!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for sharing!!
Vaishali says
March 13, 2017 atGlad you liked it, Bhairavi! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂