Carrot~Cucumber~Tomato~Onion Raita / Salad.

“Carrot~Cucumber~Tomato~Onion Raita / Salad” … Raita is a must in my home with Biryani … So here is a simple~delicious~healthy raita / salad that can be made for lunch as an accompaniment with biryani, pulav, roti, paratha or just with any other dishes too … Simple to make … Yummy on Taste …... 

** Raitas are an excellent accompaniment to lunch / dinner with other spicy dishes specially with Biryani or pulavs. Whenever I prepare Biryani or spicy pulavs, Raita is necessary in my home. We love having spicy rice dishes with raita rather than curries, though sometimes I prepare both. My hubby loves raita with roti too. The curd based salad goes very well with many a dishes. Raita should always be served fresh. Once the beaten curd is added to the cut vegetables, it should be mixed, tempered (Optional) and served within an hour at maximum period. Once the veggies are added to the curds it tends to turn sour. Salt also should be added towards the end. All said and done Raita is a common dish in my home during summer time. 

** It had been a long time and I so do wanted to prepare Prawn Biryani, but somehow never got to do it. Today I got some fresh huge prawns so bought them to prepare Biryani and this raita was prepared to serve along with it. The spicy biryani always tastes yum when served with cold raita. Do try this simple raita, which I am sure all of you know about. I have kept it simple as the Biryani was loaded with calories and I did not want to add on more by tempering the Raita. However, you can temper it with mustard seeds and curry leaves if desired. Actually tempering is optional to salads and chutney. Over the years many of us (my friends and me) have stopped it for health benefit, as it is simply more oil which means addition of more calories. But yes, a dish does taste good when tempered, so I leave the choice to you, you may or may not. 

** Recipe for preparation of “Carrot~Cucumber~Tomato~Onion Raita / Salad”: 

** Just peel off the skin of one large sized or 2 medium sized onions and chop them into fine pieces. Put this in a wide bowl. 

** Peel of the skin of one medium sized carrot, wash it under running water and then grate it on a large sized grater and add it to the sliced onions. 

** Peel of the skin of one medium sized cucumber, and chop them also into fine pieces. Add this too to the ingredients in the bowl. 

** Finally, wash and wipe one large sized or two small sized tomatoes and chop them too into fine pieces and add into the bowl. 

** In a small bowl add 1 full cup of thick beaten curds with ½ cup of water, salt to taste and mix well. Add this to the ingredients in the bowl along with 5-6 finely chopped green chilies, little bit of finely grated garlic, finely chopped coriander leaves and pudina (mint) leaves. Combine all the ingredients well. 

** Note : If the raita is too thick you can add some boiled and cooled water and mix it well. However, do not make the raita too thin, as raitas should always be thick. Also the ingredients of salad too leave in some water, so check just before serving and add only if absolutely necessary. 

** “Carrot~Cucumber~Tomato~Onion Raita / Salad” is done and now ready to be served as an accompaniment along with any dish of your choice. Goes very well with spicy pulav, biryani or any other spicy dishes of rice or also as an accompaniment in thali. Enjoy this raita, you will love it. One of the best way to make children eat carrots is by adding them to raita, they prefer it to bhaji and will eat it without a murmur. 

** Note : If at all you have prepared this before hand, do put it in the fridge to avoid the dish going sour. You can prepare this a few hours before serving too and put it in fridge and serve later on. In which case just remove the raita about 20 minutes before serving time from the fridge and keep it aside to lose coolness a little bit. Also do not add salt prior to keeping in fridge, but add it on just before serving and mix well. An easy and quick recipe which will be loved by people who love a little bit of sourness in dishes.