Hello Friends!!
We all love a yoghurt accompaniment with our curries or rice dishes. A raita is one such side dish which everyone loves to pacify the heat from the chilies or to soften the strong aroma of the spices in the curry! I love raita with my curries or rice dishes for a balance of nutrition and taste as well.
This raita’s ingredients are quite uncommon like roasted red bell peppers and the Dhuni process (the process for imparting the smoky flavor in a dish, specifically in Himachal Pradesh). I had some leftover charred pepper strips and wanted to have smoked yoghurt so I combined these two and the flavor was better than the regular raita. If I say in the marketing jargon the “USP” of this dish is smoky flavor.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 Red bell peppers (medium size) ,washed
- Plain yogurt beaten ( 400 gms)
- Salt – to taste
- Paprika- 1/8th tsp
- ¼ tsp butter/ghee/oil
- 1 onion, halved and center hollowed (use the hollowed part either in the raita or use as per your need)
- Small piece of charcoal (1-2 inch)
Method
For roasted peppers
- Roasted the peppers either on a barbeque, grill pan or gas stove top till the skin is wrinkled and charred. Place them in a bowl and cover to cool. This will help in removing the peel easily. Take off the stem and give a vertical slit and lay the pepper open as it becomes one long strip. Clean the loose seeds inside with a paper towel. Strip off the charred skin.
- Finely chop the peppers. We do not want a paste a we want some thin bits in the raita.
- In a bowl, beaten yoghurt, finely chopped peppers and salt.
- Now comes the drama part of smoking the raita. Heat a charcoal till red.
- Place the onion in the center of the yoghurt bowl; make sure the onion is not completely submerged. With the help of tongs place the charcoal in the onion.
- Pour the ghee/butter or oil on the charcoal and it will start emitting a dense smoke and immediately cover the bowl with a plate or lid. I smoked the raita for 1-1.5 minute; you can do less or more.
- Garnish with paprika and serve with mains or with crackers as a dip.
Do leave your precious comments.
Happy Cooking
