This roast beetroot yogurt raita perfectly balances out the spices of an Indian food feast. Great as side dish, mid-day snack and even as a dip!
Considering the variety of spices used in Indian cooking, a yogurt-based raita/dip is always present to provide cooling relief. Cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions are the usual suspects but I love this roast beetroot version. With just a few pantry staples, you can add this to your meal. Traditionally we wouldn’t roast the beetroots, but I find the roasting really concentrates their sweetness and makes this raita even more delicious! Also, I find roasting the beets whole makes sure they don’t dry out and stay nice and succulent.
This roast beetroot raita has the most gorgeous bright stained neon pink colour so it is a wonderful dish to make when having hosting dinner parties. The beetroots can be roasted/boiled up to a day in advance so all you need to do it assemble and temper the spices. In terms of yogurt, I prefer to use a thick/creamy greek yogurt. This is not the dish for low-fat varieties. The longer the raita sits, the beetroot juices thin out the yogurt making it a tad runnier. You want the yogurt to simply cling on to the beets instead of being a loose sauce-situation.
Remember that beetroots stain EVERYTHING so don’t make the mistake of chopping your beets on a wooden chopping board. Gloves are your best friend! This roast beetroot yogurt raita makes a great side with rice/dal meal or even as a dip with some flatbreads and kebabs/grilled meats on the side. You can easily make this dish vegan by subbing with a coconut yogurt and use a coconut/neutral oil for tempering.
Roast Beetroot Yogurt Raita
Ingredients
- 1-2 Beetroot (roughly 350-400gms, skin on)
- 1 Green Chilli (slit into two)
- 1 tsp Ghee
- 5-7 Curry leaves
- 1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 pinch Asafoetida/Heeng
- 3/4 cup Yogurt (greek)
- 1 tsp Sugar (adjust as necessary)
- Oil (if required)
- Salt (to taste)
Instructions
- TO ROAST – Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Wash/scrub off any dirt from the beetroot. Apply a thin film of neutral oil evenly all over. Wrap tightly in foil into a ball. Roast on a baking tray for 45-60 minutes until a skewer easily pierces the flesh with no resistance. Peel roasted beetroot while still warm so the skin comes off easily. Chop into bite sized pieces.
- TO BOIL – Peel and chop the beetroot into bite sized pieces. Transfer to a pot, add enough water and some salt to cover the beets. Cook until fork tender.
- Once cooled, add salt, sugar, slit green chilli, mix through nicely and let them rest. Roasting or boiling your beetroots can be done ahead of time ( until this step).
- When ready to serve, add the yogurt (I prefer thick creamy greek yogurt) and mix nicely. Taste for seasoning at this stage and adjust the salt/sugar as necessary. Particularly if roasting, you might not need or use very little sugar just to balance out the flavours.
- For tempering, heat the ghee. Add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add the heeng (asafoetida and curry leaf) and quickly turn off the flame. Add to the beet-yogurt mixture and its ready to serve. Best eaten cool.
For other delicious recipes from the blog, click here. If you make this recipe and love it, let me know in the comments below. When sharing on Instagram, tag me @rupalbhatikar.
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