(A healthy Indian side dish made using cooked spinach and curd/yogurt).

This is such a simple recipe and a quick accompaniment to both Indian flatbreads and rice. ‘Raita’, in general, can be thought of as a yogurt/curd-based Indian seasoned dip. This mild raita is made by combining cooked spinach and curd/yogurt.

This recipe is a great way to get kids to eat spinach! Make this lovely dish and relish it with your entire family!

Ingredients

• 15-20 spinach leaves

• 2 cups thick, full-fat curd/yogurt (dahi)

• 1 tbsp oil

• 1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing)

• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi powder)

• 1/2 tsp red chili powder (lal tikha powder)

• 1/2 tbsp sugar

• salt as per taste

Method

• Wash the spinach leaves thoroughly and chop them finely.

• Heat oil in a small pan/kadhai. When the oil gets hot, lower the flame. Add asafoetida, haldi, and red chili powder. Immediately add the chopped spinach leaves and mix well.

• Add little salt and sugar to it. Sauté the mixture on medium flame.

• The spinach leaves will start releasing water and shrink. Cook till all this water evaporates and spinach is completely wilted. At this point, the oil starts separating from the spinach. Fry for another 3-4 minutes, and then turn off the heat. Keep aside and let this mixture cool completely.

• In the meantime, take thick curd/yogurt in a bowl and whisk properly. The curd/yogurt should have a smooth texture.

• Add the spinach mixture to the curd/yogurt, and mix well.

• Add some salt if required and keep in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

SPINACH/PALAK RAITA IS READY TO SERVE!!

SERVE COLD.

Notes -

• We need thick curd for this raita. You can use a muslin cloth and hang the curd for 30-40 minutes to remove excess water. You can use store-bought yogurt/Greek yogurt too.

• Let the cooked spinach mixture cool down altogether before you add it to the curd.

• We add sugar in the tempering as the sugar caramelizes and gives a distinct taste to this raita.

• You can make a smooth paste of the cooked spinach mixture, using a blender to make this kids-friendly.

DID YOU KNOW?

We use the terms yogurt and curd interchangeably! However, they are not the same! Yogurt is store brought and cannot be prepared at home. It is made in industries by adding specific acidic agents/ bacterial strains.

Curd means ‘dahi’ , which we make at home by adding curd/buttermilk to boiled milk. This curd/buttermilk has the bacterial culture (Lactobacillus bacteria) in it, which multiply at proper temperature to convert the milk to curd.