Dhungar Ka Raita (Smoked Raita)

Dear readers, if you have a relaxed leisurely look through the ‘accompaniments’ section on this channel, you may find several exciting and different recipes that may stimulate your taste buds with chutneys and raitas.

Raita is an essential accompaniment that gets served with Biryanis and Pulao. It’s a unique dish in terms of the fact that nobody cares to talk at lengths about the raita served in their lovely spread of food they had that afternoon but is sorely missed if the biryani gets served without raita.

So while we are at lookout for raitas to accompany our biryanis, this recipe that is part of Pratibha Karan’s ‘Biryani’ indeed caught our fascination. What is different about this recipe, you may ask. Dhungar or smoking technique, is how the marketing field experts may say, is the ‘USP’ of this dish. Minus Dhungar this raita acts as an onion-tomato raita that combines veggies, and some Indian spices with curd and then you would have a simple coolant ready to accompany your spicy biryani. However, the magic unravels itself when the raita is infused with the smoke, that then takes this simple raita beyond normal and you are forced to sit and take notice.

I must however sound a word of caution as the smokey flavor is not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s a derived taste that can shock taste buds of the first timers but those who have been initiated to this flavor may relish and savor this raita a lot. You could start with infusing smokey flavor for 30 seconds and then start to increase it further until 2-3 mins or even 5 mins.

So if you have decided to pamper your taste buds with spicy and flavorful Biryanis, Dhungar ka raita can make your Biryani experience a lot more delicious and memorable.

Let’s go through the recipe.

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Dhungar Ka Raita (Smoked Raita)

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  5 mins

Total time:  10 mins

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 300 grams curd
• 1 large sized Onion- finely chopped
• 1 large sized Tomato-finely chopped
• 4-5 cloves (crushed)
• 1 tsp peppercorns (crushed)
• Salt to taste
• For Dhungar: 1 small bowl, 2 pieces of Charcoal, 1 tsp Clarified butter

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, put curd and whisk.
2. Add salt, chopped Onions and Tomatoes, crushed cloves and peppercorns and Let's prepare for Dhungar (Smoke technique)
3. Burn charcoal pieces until it becomes red. Take it off the flame and keep it in a bowl. Place the bowl on raita and add some clarified butter on top. Keep the bowl covered for 5 mins
4. Dhungar Raita is ready to be served. This Raita can be served with Biryani or Pulao

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