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.
- 1 large English cucumber grated (no need to peel unless the skin is waxed, which it rarely is with English cucumbers)
- 1/2 red onion minced (nice, but optional)
- Juice of 1 lime (more 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 pepper like jalapeno or serrano. Remove the white seeds.
- 1/2 tsp ginger grated
- Salt to taste
- 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.
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I must be living in a bizarro world because as I type this, I heard on TV that Donald Trump just tweeted a Gandhi “quote” (that’s not even Gandhi’s). I can’t think of anyone Gandhi would disapprove of more than this buffoon.
Thank you for your pointed comment on the misappropriation of Gandhi! Can’t wait to try out this recipe!
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.
Thanks, Maggie, and I certainly agree on more love and kindness everywhere. 🙂
Yes. and thank you!
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!
Hi Anu, it surely would. Thanks for your kind words. 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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!!
Thanks for your kind words, Elsje! 🙂
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
Just made this-it’s amazing!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for sharing!!
Glad you liked it, Bhairavi! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂