Onion Tomato Raita For Biryani, Pulao, Chapathi & Poori

Onion tomato raita recipe for biryani and pulao also makes a simple and easy to prepare yet creamy and delicious side dish with chapathi, poori or bhatura.

Onion tomato raita is Indian style yogurt based salad with fresh onions and tomatoes, garnished with fresh cilantro leaves, which is a very cooling and refreshing yogurt salad and it is often served as a dip, sauce or condiment along with Indian dishes.

When it comes to raita, cucumber raita using cucumbers and yogurt is one of the most popular raitas, as both cucumbers and yogurt are naturally very cooling.

However, onion tomato raita is the one I am more used to, as this was a regular raita I enjoyed while growing up.

It was often made in my home along with chapathi & other side dishes.

In fact, raitas are made with cucumbers, onions, tomatoes etc very popularly!

Onion tomato raita is populary served along Indian biryani, pulao, chapathi, poori or bhatura along with vegetarian curry recipes like chana masala or any curry of your choice.

If you are having chapati or poori, you can just enjoy this raita with poori or chapathi, as you won’t even need another curry or gravy for a side dish.

What is raita?

Raita is basically Indian style yogurt based salads made with vegetables and also sometimes using fruits and other ingredients.

Curd or dahi is more popular in India and so mostly curd is used to make raitas as well.

Curd is very similar to yogurt, but slighty different in texture.

However, it is also a matter of availability and personal preference and I actually prefer using yogurt to make raitas, as yogurt is most creamy in texture and best in flavor.

Raita is made using vegetables like onions, tomatoes, cucumbers etc and sometimes fruits like pineapples are used as well, to make sweet raitas.

Raitas like boondi raita is also very popular in India where boondis are fried snacks made using chickpea flour or gram flour.

There is no one perfect recipe for raita, and the preparation of raita varies from place to place and every family has their favorite kind of raita.

However, any raita is basically made of creamy yogurt or curd and vegetables/fruits etc.

These raitas play a very important role in Indian cuisine as they are mostly served along Indian dishes like chapathis, pooris, biryani, pulao etc.

Raitas are served cold as you can guess, and they are delicious and easy to make!

With biryani or pulao or any dish which is usually made with spices, raita which is mainly made using fresh yogurt or curd is very cooling and refreshing.

Onion tomato raita is one of the most popular raita varieties and you can easily and quickly prepare this raita in very few minutes.

Make sure to use fresh and clean vegetables as we are using raw veggies to make the raita.

As you can guess, fresh yogurt, onions and tomatoes are the main ingredients to make onion tomato raita at home.

I also add fresh chopped cilantro leaves (coriander leaves) and a pinch of dry roasted cumin seeds powder (make sure to dry roast the cumin seed powder prior to adding to the raita) to add more flavor to the onion tomato raita.

There is really not any cooking involved in making this onion tomato raita other than the roasting of cumin seeds powder, and so the five minutes of cooking time shown in the recipe is for roasting the cumin seeds powder.

The remaining 10 minutes of preparation includes whisking the yogurt, washing and chopping the veggies and mixing all ingredients until well blended and garnishing with cilantro leaves.

I always use a good amount of creamy yogurt to make the onion tomato raita which I highly recommend to make the best, cooling and refreshing raita.

Always use thick and creamy yogurt for the most delicious onion tomato raita!

So here is how you can make this simple and delicious onion tomato raita for biryani, pulao, chapathi, poori or bhatura following this easy onion tomato raita recipe.

How To Make Onion Tomato Raita For Biryani, Pulao & more?

We use the following ingredients to make easy, creamy and delicious onion tomato raita for biryani, pulao and more at home.

Ingredients to make onion tomato raita

Onion 1 medium sized

tomatoes 1 medium sized

thick yogurt 4 cups chilled (or curd known as dahi in India)

green chilies 1 optional

chopped cilantro leaves (coriander leaves) 1 tablespoon

roasted cumin seeds powder ½ teaspoon optional

Salt a little

Step by step instructions

Wash the onion, peel and slice thinly in small sized pieces (not very long).

Wash the slice the tomatoes in small sized pieces.

Gently rinse the sliced onions and tomatoes again in fresh water, drain the water and transfer chopped onions and tomatoes to a large bowl.

Slice the green chilies and add this to the pan, avoid using the green chilies if making for kids.

Add the salt and roasted cumin seeds powder, mix well.

In another small bowl, beat the yogurt very well without any lumps.

Add the beaten yogurt to the bowl containing chopped onions and tomatoes, mix everything very well.

Now the onion tomato raita is ready to serve, you can transfer this to a serving bowl.

Once the raita is transferred to the serving bowl, add the chopped cilantro leaves to the raita for garnishing or you can gently mix in the leaves if you wish.

Serve the refreshing and cooling onion tomato raita with biryani, pulao or any spicy rice variety or with chapathi or poori as you wish.

How to store raita?

Raita is made using chilled yogurt and vegetables and they can be served immediately after preparation.

If you are not serving it right away, you can also chill it in the refrigerator for few more hours until ready for serving.

It is important to serve the raita chilled for best results.

Raita will stay fresh in refrigerator for about a day or two, if stored properly.

I do not recommend storing raita more than a couple of days in refrigerator as well, since they may not stay fresh for so long.

Below you can get the recipe for simple, easy and delicious onion tomato raita for biryani in detail.

Hope you found this post on onion tomato raita recipe for biryani helpful in making easy, simple and delicious raita for biryani or pulao or chapati or poori as you wish.