Onion Relish and a Simple Raita
Onion Relish and Simple Raita
These are very lightly adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery my go to cookbook for Indian cooking. I was with my parents and they had a packet of popadoms and also a tub of yoghurt that needed using up within a day or two, so made these.
Onion Relish
A (red) onion
Quite a bit of salt
A lemon, or a lemon’s worth of juice
¼ teaspoon of paprika, or a little more if you like it or are heavy handed
⅛ teaspoon of cayenne pepper or use chilli powder because there’s no cayenne and you’re already running out of time
Peel the onion, cut in half and then slice as thinly as possible. Put them into a bowl, add the other ingredients and stir. Madhur Jaffrey suggests leaving for half an hour, but I stirred it every five minutes for twenty minutes and it was fine, though despite this there were patches that were saltier than others.
Yoghurt with Cucumber and Mint
What looks like half a tub of plain yoghurt but turns out to be more
The end of a cucumber. Don’t skimp though, if in doubt use more.
1 tablespoon of fresh mint, or maybe a bit more
1 teaspoon of crushed, roasted cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or again use chilli powder. Also don’t lick the spoon.
1 teaspoon of salt
Heat up a heavy pan until hot, then toast fresh cumin seeds. They should just change colour and smell a lot of cumin. Pour them into a pestle and mortar and crush them – toasted they break up very easily. Pour the yogurt into a bowl and whisk it up. Peel the cucumber, and also take the watery centre out as otherwise it’s a bit loose and tends to run off the popadom, ask me how I know this. Grate it into the yoghurt. Chop the mint finely, add this, the cumin, the cayenne/chilli and salt into the yoghurt. Whisk this up for a while, take a taste. If it’s good then stop, otherwise season as seems appropriate; this stage works better if you haven’t absentmindedly licked the chilli spoon.
Onion Relish
A (red) onion
Quite a bit of salt
A lemon, or a lemon’s worth of juice
¼ teaspoon of paprika, or a little more if you like it or are heavy handed
⅛ teaspoon of cayenne pepper or use chilli powder because there’s no cayenne and you’re already running out of time
Peel the onion, cut in half and then slice as thinly as possible. Put them into a bowl, add the other ingredients and stir. Madhur Jaffrey suggests leaving for half an hour, but I stirred it every five minutes for twenty minutes and it was fine, though despite this there were patches that were saltier than others.
Yoghurt with Cucumber and Mint
What looks like half a tub of plain yoghurt but turns out to be more
The end of a cucumber. Don’t skimp though, if in doubt use more.
1 tablespoon of fresh mint, or maybe a bit more
1 teaspoon of crushed, roasted cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or again use chilli powder. Also don’t lick the spoon.
1 teaspoon of salt
Heat up a heavy pan until hot, then toast fresh cumin seeds. They should just change colour and smell a lot of cumin. Pour them into a pestle and mortar and crush them – toasted they break up very easily. Pour the yogurt into a bowl and whisk it up. Peel the cucumber, and also take the watery centre out as otherwise it’s a bit loose and tends to run off the popadom, ask me how I know this. Grate it into the yoghurt. Chop the mint finely, add this, the cumin, the cayenne/chilli and salt into the yoghurt. Whisk this up for a while, take a taste. If it’s good then stop, otherwise season as seems appropriate; this stage works better if you haven’t absentmindedly licked the chilli spoon.
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