🥔 SIDE
Kheere ka Raita (Cucumber Raita)
Cool whisked yogurt with chopped cucumber, fresh coriander and mint, seasoned with salt and a dusting of roasted cumin, served alongside biryani, pulao and spiced curries.
North Indian · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 2 min
~66 cal · 3g protein · 7g carbs · 3g fat · 0g fiber · 5g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Raita is the yogurt side dish of the Indian table, and kheere ka raita, cucumber raita, is the one found almost everywhere. It is not a sauce to cook with but a cool bowl set beside the meal: spooned next to biryani and pulao, eaten with dal, rotis and parathas, and reached for whenever a curry is hot.
It takes minutes. Chilled yogurt is whisked smooth, cucumber is chopped or grated into it, and it is seasoned with salt and chopped coriander, often with mint and a little green chilli. The finishing touch is roasted cumin: cumin seeds toasted in a dry pan until fragrant and crushed to a powder, sprinkled over the top with a pinch of chilli or black pepper and sometimes chaat masala.
Every household makes it to its own taste, thicker or thinner, grated or diced, but the point is always the same: a cool, mild, slightly tangy contrast to the spice on the rest of the plate.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 1 1/2 cups (about 375 g) thick plain yogurt (dahi), chilled
- 1 medium (about 1 cup) cucumber, peeled and finely chopped or grated
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
- 4 to 5 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
- 1 green chilli, seeded and finely chopped, optional
- 1/4 tsp red chilli powder or ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp chaat masala, optional
Instructions
- 1Toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until they darken a shade and smell fragrant. Let them cool, then crush them to a powder.
- 2Whisk the chilled yogurt in a bowl until smooth. If it is very thick, loosen it with a spoonful or two of cold water.
- 3If you grated the cucumber, squeeze out a little of its water. Stir the cucumber, coriander, mint, green chilli and salt into the yogurt and taste.✎ Chef’s noteSalt the raita just before serving: salt draws water out of cucumber and a salted raita turns thin as it stands.
- 4Spoon into a serving bowl, sprinkle with the roasted cumin, chilli powder and chaat masala, and serve cold alongside biryani, pulao, curry or parathas.
North Indian home tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Punjab. Winter is the season the cooking is built for. Mustard greens are slow-cooked for hours into sarson ka saag, finished with butter and eaten with makki di roti, unleavened maize bread patted out by hand because it has no gluten to hold it. Dairy does the rest: ghee, paneer, and lassi churned and served in a tall steel tumbler.
🗺️
India. India is less a single cuisine than a subcontinent of them, where every state cooks differently, coconut-rich curries in the south, tandoor breads and rich gravies in the north, vegetarian thalis in the west. A vast spice vocabulary and deep vegetarian traditions make it one of the world's most varied tables.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from India
Punjabi Chole (Chickpea Masala)Chickpeas simmered dark and tangy with tea-infused water, ginger, and a toasted spice blend.
Kerala Ishtu (Coconut Vegetable Stew)A gentle, fragrant stew of potatoes and vegetables in coconut milk with ginger, green chili, and curry leaves.
Pav BhajiMumbai’s beach-stall classic: a buttery mashed vegetable curry with toasted buns, lime, and raw onion.
Browse all India recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it an India meal
Mango LassiDrink
Besan LadooDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Burghul bi Banadoura (Syrian Tomato Bulgur Pilaf)Syria
Şehriyeli Pilav (Turkish Rice Pilaf with Orzo)Turkey
Kelupis (Bruneian Glutinous Rice Rolls in Leaves)Brunei
Arroz con Coco Titoté (Colombian Caramelized Coconut Rice)Colombia
Pourgouri Pilafi (Cypriot Bulgur and Vermicelli Pilaf)Cyprus
Diri Djon Djon (Haitian Black Mushroom Rice)Haiti
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Kheere ka Raita (Cucumber Raita)?
Cool whisked yogurt with chopped cucumber, fresh coriander and mint, seasoned with salt and a dusting of roasted cumin, served alongside biryani, pulao and spiced curries.
Where does Kheere ka Raita (Cucumber Raita) come from?
Kheere ka Raita (Cucumber Raita) is a North Indian dish from Punjab, India.
Can Kheere ka Raita (Cucumber Raita) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kheere ka Raita (Cucumber Raita) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kheere ka Raita (Cucumber Raita) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kheere ka Raita (Cucumber Raita) take to make?
About 12 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 2 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.