Indian Cooking: Importance of a Side Dish

I have gone to many good Indian eateries and enjoyed the food. Usually when you are planning to go out, you are wondering as to what you would be having for your main course. But never do you think about the simple side dishes that you would be eating alongside. And if the truth be told, certain main dishes are not complete or do not give full satisfaction unless enjoyed with their counterparts, the side dishes like Raita or a gravy.

If you are a food lover like me, you have probably been out on the coldest London (United Kingdom) nights and have found a small Indian place where you like to warm your heart's delight with simple yet good Indian food. Once while we were on out third course, I met the restaurant owner who started speaking and advised us to try a raita that he had added to his menu recently. He also told us how, eating rice without any gravy or raita would not give us much satisfaction. And also the fact that at home we always eat rice with a curry meant we went along with his suggestion. Once we tasted the Raita we were won over by this little side dish even more than the main course we were having it with. So I came home and called one of my friends who gave me this recipe. So today I am going to share this one with you all.

So now for all the Indian food lovers out there, here is one simple and super quick recipe for corn raita which goes well with any biryani or pulav rice. In fact, my family loves having this raita as a side (almost like a salad) most of the days in our dinner. So note down the ingredients:

You would need 1 can of unsweetened corn
1/2 tsp of cumin powder
1/2 tsp of red chili powder
1 tsp of oil (optional)
1 bowl of cold beaten plain yogurt
salt to taste

Heat a flat pan with little or no oil and add the drained canned corn. Now fry till they are golden a bit. Add cumin powder, red chilli powder and salt. Fry for a minute till aromatic. Now add the corn to the yogurt bowl. Check the taste and add more salt if needed. I personally like to sprinkle a little bit of chat masala on top in a nice design and serve cold.

This dish goes with any kind of rice. Also you can have it as a side with your lunch or dinner. My little ones sometimes even eats it with chapaties so this is one of those healthy dishes which you can have without thinking about calories. If you are wondering about yogurt, by all means go ahead and choose a non-fat variety or a low fat variety of plain yogurt and the taste would still be very very good.

This will certainly change your way of looking at the side dishes the way it did for me. Now wherever we go, I make sure that we give equal importance to the main course and the side dishes that go with them. Kudos, to our friend (the restaurant owner) who opened our eyes to know the importance of a little side dish in Indian cooking.