Here's a delicious accompaniment for the Vegetable Biryani so many of you love and that's on our menu almost every 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 vegan 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 sometimes I add boondi, savory golden beads of chickpea flour.
Related recipes
Vegan Cucumber Raita
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber (grated. Use an English cucumber preferably)
- ½ red onion (minced, optional)
- Juice of 1 lime if you like your raita very tangy)
- ½ cup raw cashews (soaked with ¾th cup of water for at least 30 minutes)
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 green chili pepper (like jalapeno or serrano. Remove the seeds for less heat).
- ½ teaspoon 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.
Nela
I made this just now and it's so delicious. I will say, the blend after step 1 was so good that after I made the raita, I made another batch of just Step 1. It's a tangy cumin sauce and I can't get enough of it. I'll note that I used jalapeño for my pepper (with seeds) and a whole lime for each batch. I didn't have any red onion so I simply left it out. It would probably add a nice depth of flavor but the sauce is really good without it! I agree that it's optional.
We
For the yoghurt Riata, do we replace the cashews and water with the yoghurt then? Can you please explain.
gaea
Hi - peace to all ! 🙂
I make similar raita recipe tho i believe the ingredient cilantro is necessary to make it complete.. is so delish.
I use yogurt (Forager tho working on one from your recipe) lemon juice- garlic - a little olive oil and a good
bunch of cilantro. and cucumber as needed to amount of yogurt used and sea salt for seasoning. I throw it all together into a mini veg chopper and voila - easy !! and Deliciouso on it's own with crispy garlic and herb naan 🙂 xoxo
Bhairavi
Just made this-it's amazing!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for sharing!!
Vaishali
Glad you liked it, Bhairavi! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
ramananth
Hi, 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.
Singh
Hi 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
Gurukaram
This 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!
Ruth Eisenbud
Dear 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.
Maggie
Ruth,
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.
Elsje Parsons Massyn
Hello 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
Thanks for your kind words, Elsje! 🙂
Ruth Eisenbud
Maggie, 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
I 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
Candace, 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.
Anu
This 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
Hi Anu, it surely would. Thanks for your kind words. 🙂
Margo Sluman
Yes. and thank you!
Maggie
The 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
Thanks, Maggie, and I certainly agree on more love and kindness everywhere. 🙂
susan
Thank you for your pointed comment on the misappropriation of Gandhi! Can't wait to try out this recipe!
michelle LaFayette
ditto