This cool tasty Cucumber, Tomato, and Boondi Raita is delicious with curries or grilled meats. The boondi (gram flour puffs) provide a nice crunch.
Recently I found another interesting ethnic grocery store not too far from where I live. This Indian grocery store is pretty well stocked. There’s even a restaurant adjacent to it which I should try one of these days. Judging from the crowd in there, it must be pretty good.
This store carries all kinds of basmati rice, flours, spices, and even fresh vegetables. They have all kinds of rotis (flat breads) in their frozen section as well. I especially like their snack aisle as they have a wide selection of snack mixes, boondi, maruku, fried and roasted chickpeas. I have taken a liking to the Kerala and Madras mixes. These are spicy snacks of peanuts, dhal, and boondi (fried gram flour puffs).
One day while I was checking out with two packs of the snack mixes in my basket, the lady at the store suggested that I might like to try mixing it with yogurt as a condiment to go with curries. That really piqued my interest as I have always like raita, a vegetable salad dressed in yogurt but have never tasted it with snack mixes. I was eager to give it a try.
When I got home I mixed two spoonfuls of the boondi with vanilla yogurt because that was the only kind I had in the refrigerator. It was a pretty good snack but not suitable as a condiment for a meal. The yogurt was sweet and the boondi was a little too spicy for me. Not satisfied, I went back to the store and bought plain boondi this time. She suggested that I mix in a little chopped mint leaves. Great idea!
My next stop was the health food store for a container of thick, rich, creamy Greek yogurt, a cucumber, and some cherry tomatoes. I was not disappointed this time. The raita was cool, minty, thick, creamy and refreshing with a nice crunch from the boondi. The addition of cumin and mustard seeds releases a nice fragrance and sweetness to the salad.
This cool tasty Cucumber, Tomato, and Boondi Raita is delicious with curries or grilled meats. The boondi (gram flour puffs) provide a nice crunch.
- 1 large cucumber
- 6 cherry or grape tomatoes
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp mustard seeds
- ½ cup boondi / gram flour puffs (20g)
- ½ cup plain yoghurt (113g)
- 1 tbsp mint leaves (thinly sliced)
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Peel cucumber with vegetable peeler leaving strips of the skin unpeeled. Slice cucumber into quarters lengthwise. Slice off seeds. Halve each strip of cucumber again lengthwise and then cut crosswise into cubes.
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Salt cucumber with ½ tsp salt and set aside for 30 minutes. Drain.
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Slice baby boy tomatoes into quarters by cutting lengthwise and then crosswise. Set aside.
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Toast cumin and mustard seeds in a pan for about 2 minutes. Remove and allow it to cool.
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In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix well.
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Serve immediately.
This cool tasty Cucumber, Tomato, and Boondi Raita is delicious with curries or grilled meats. The boondi (gram flour puffs) provide a nice crunch.
NOTE: This post was updated on May 16th, 2014 with new pictures. No changes were made to the recipe.
Enjoy…..and have a wonderful day! 😎
Awesome salad…looks so yummy..nice click too
How nice to have these type of mkts close. I don't know of any types of specialty mkts or even farmers mkts closeby. 🙁 You've mentioned some new types of food I've not heard of…I need to get out more! =) I'm so on a salad binge right now and this looks inviting…perfect!
Thanks Sarah! The salad was cool and refreshing!
It is really fun to visit all these ethnic markets and to discover new things 🙂 With the weather warming up, it is really nice to have salads. As soon as I finished the photography, I had half the salad. It was really cool and refreshing.
I love browsing at markets too! It's so funny, I don't go window shopping at the mall anymore, I go to different grocery stores.
A very yummy satisfying salad! Must look for some boondi to try!
Sounds wonderful! I've never tried Boondi, will check it out!
Looks yummy raita. Perfect presentation and love it.
Delicous salad! Loved the bowl too.nice click!
Great summer dish, cool & refreshing.
Cheers!
This salad looks so delicious and refreshing!
Great salad, looks so good!
Ethnic markets are great and this dish looks delicious and great for this time of year. Thanks!
I would love it, but I would not be allowed to make this. LOL.
My husband stays clear from all white and creamy: Mayo, Sour Cream. Cream Cheese…He is odd. 🙂 Oh well…..More for me. 😛
ove boondi raita and adding veggies to that is a great idea. love your cabbage platters.
Hi, this salad looks refreshing, great for summer time. I would love to try this. There's an Indian grocery not too far from where we live, I will buy some boondi, my husband loves trying new recipes. Thank you for sharing.
You should open an online store full of unique grocery products. Maybe called "Biren's Buys". It would be a hit.
I have not tried, actually haven't seen, boondi. Got to try to find it. Your salad looks delicious.
That is a gorgeous presentation Biren. When I first saw the picture I was intrigued to find out what was in this beautiful dish. What a magnificent combo of ingredients. Both minty, and refreshing at the same time. I have never had boondi before. Thank you for opening my eyes to them. Have a great weekend Biren.
What a lovely salad for warm weather. It really sounds delicious. Tibet is one of the countries. You still have 2 more to identify :-). I hope you are having a great day. Blessings…Mary
I have everything listed in the ingredients except the boondi. The unfortunate thing for me not being able to find a single Indian store in my city. I was able to find most of the spices at my local health food store. This salad looks so healthy and yummy!
Biren, I like the flavors here and raita is such a versatile "dressing"
The market sounds wonderful! And so does this raita! I never had boondi before – nor heard of them. I am always learning of new foods from you. I would love to try this.
Wonderful salad…it's been a while since I had boondi in raita..
I love my local indian grocery store. This looks delicious!
Markets are fun places to browse. Whenever I visit a place, I make it a point to go to their local market 🙂
Great idea Rick! I'll count on you to be my first customer.
You can make the salad without the boondi. It will still taste good, just without the crunch.
These discoveries are really fun Reeni. I am learning new things each time I visit 🙂
Great salad – a nice take on traditional raita! I've never tried boondi before. It always struck me as very greasy looking because of the greasy smear on the inside of the packaging! Maybe I need to find the right manufacturer? I'll look out for a better one and give this a try next time I make a yogurt salad. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
Wow a healthy salad and good presentation!
Great salad and healthy one too 🙂 thanks for sharing this 🙂
Another lovely idea Biren. The mint and boondi in yogurt must taste delicious.
This is a great summer dish. I can picture it when you described the texture, Biren. I like the crunchy texture! It's fun to have ethic stores closeby.
great summer dish….
Hmmm… must check out my local Indian grocer for boondi.
The raita usually tones down the heat of other spicy Indian dishes. You have a creative take on this one. You must be happily exploring the Indian grocery store ;p
Hello- So happy I found your blog- Your foods look so great and I look forward to trying some of the dishes you made.
Nice to meet you.
Raita is our fav salad! A must have for my hubby! Urs with boondi looks good! 😉
beautiful salad, I have not found any new markets here…maybe I should drive araoud more often…i have never tried boondi before..great recipe
sweetlife
This looks like a great salad. If I can find the boondi, I would love to add this to my memorial day menu. Thanks for sharing Biren!
yummm, can't wait to try it 🙂