Cucumber Raita the South Indian Way

                                                                   Cucumber raita called  Vellarikkai Thayir Pachidi in Tamil is nothing but chopped cucumber in yogurt with green chillies and salt. It is made in different ways in north and southern India.The North Indian version  is an accompaniment to Oulaos and Biryanis,but in the south it is an accompaniment for the south Indian gravies and it is part of most of the festival and wedding menus.

                                  You can either shred the cucumber or chop them into small pieces,remove the excess water and mix it with the yogurt and chillies. The traditional way of making is make a paste of scraped coconut and green chillies and mix it with yogurt and add the chopped cucumber and Temper with mustard seeds and garnish with coriander leaves.That is how i made it!!
When you make a spicy gravy this is a perfect accompaniment!!!Today being Thiruvadhirai I made the ezhukari Kozhambu which is really heavy so just made a raita to go with it!

You will Need

• Two medium sized Cucumbers
• Two Green chillies
• Two tbs of Scraped Coconut
• One cup Curd
• Half a tsp Oil
• Half a tsp Mustard seeds
• A pinch of Asafoetida
• Salt to taste
• One tsp Chopped Coriander leaves

How to

• Chop the cucumber in to small dices or you can shred them.

• Grind together scraped coconut,green chillies and a little curd in to a fine paste. 

•  Add it to the chopped cucumber.add the curd,salt  and asafoetida mix well

• Heat oil in a pan and crackle mustard seeds. Pour it over the Raita and add chopped coriander leaves and mix well.

Enjoy it as an accompaniment!

If you are preparing it earlier, you can refrigerate till the meal time.