Fuji Apple Salad or Raita

A recipe for green apple raita on the Internet caught my attention because all of the ingredients are always available in our home. Flavorful Fuji apples, I decided, would work really well here and that turned out to be true. We try to avoid sugar in our household, so that was replaced with agave nectar. The garnish was another of my adaptations to the original recipe.

Raita is a common part of an Indian meal and is identifiable by its white yogurt dressing. This salad is usually made with cooked vegetables (e.g. boiled potatoes & fried okra) and uncooked vegetables (e.g. diced cucumber & grated carrots). Raita is served chilled and cools the palate during a spicy meal. Rather than serving it as a first course, it is eaten in between and after more spicy items and helps digest the meal.

I’ve used Greek yogurt which is much higher in protein than regular yogurt and is what I had in the fridge. Vanilla flavored yogurt (Danon Lite & Fit) also makes a good dressing for raita, in which case the sweetener should be omitted.

Ingredients:

1 Fuji apple, diced
2 cups Greek yogurt/hung curd
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1 tsp. sweetener such as sugar, maple syrup or agave nectar
¼ tsp. salt or to taste

For tempering:
1 tsp. oil
½ tsp. mustard seeds
1 sprig of curry leaves
a generous pinch of hing/asafetida
1 Tbsp. raisins

Garnish:

Roasted panch phoron (Bengali 5 spice powder)

Directions:

1.   Whisk yogurt, salt & sweetener until smooth.

2.   Add apples and hot peppers and stir well with yogurt.

3.   Heat oil over medium-high heat.

4.   Add hing, mustard seeds and curry leaves.

5.   When seeds begin to snap, crack and pop, add raisins.

6.   Stir-fry raisins until they swell up and turn plump.

7.   Garnish with roasted 5 spice and pour tempering over salad.

Serve chilled as a salad with pilaf, steamed Basmati rice or Indian bread.

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