Winter Specials: Amla Raita (Gooseberry in yogurt)

I'm working on a post on top 5 restaurants for home-delivery in Whitefield, Bangalore. It is something we have struggled with for quite some time, to figure out where to order food from and not be stunned by the level of spice or nearly die of hunger from the waiting period involved. Sometimes when I have been too bored or tired to cook (yes, it happens to me too:P ) due to lack of any decent delivery options, I have pushed myself to make a simple dal-rice meal. So yes, it is important to have a few go-to home delivery options around! If you have a fail-proof recco, do leave a comment below :) 
If you are looking at ordering food during the holidays, do check out the Food Panda website or you can even download the app (for Android), and search by location. You can pay for the food online and it will even tell you what the average waiting period is. 

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At home, during the amla season, they are usually bought in bulk and steeped in brine, for use throughout the year. Also, keeping them in brine, mellows their sourness, and makes them available throughout the year. These are also made into delicious pickles, which as a kid, we would eat a piece and then drink water, and then thrilled that the water tasted sweet when it was drunk after eating amla pickle.

The raita is made in Tambrahm homes, called Nellikai Thayir Pachidi, is a variant of Maanga Thayir Pachidi, where tender raw mangoes soaking in chilli-brine (called vadu maanga) are drained out, and a few of them ground in the mixer along with some fresh coconut and added to yogurt. Some dishes like these speak so much of 'home' because you will never find it in a restaurant.

 In this pachidi or raita, I have not used coconut, but you can grind the deseeded cooked or brine soaked amla with some coconut and use in the recipe.

100 gram of Indian gooseberry provides 4.3 gram of dietary fiber and nearly half the daily requirement of vitamin C. How apt that it makes its appearance in December in India, when people are susceptible to sniffles and flu during season change. Buy these natural immunity boosters when in season and use them in your daily diet.

Recipe for Amla Raita / Gooseberry in yogurt / Nellikkai Thayir Pachidi
Serves 4

Ingredients
8-12 gooseberries (amla / nellikai)
pinch of turmeric powder
salt
400 ml yogurt
2 tsp cooking oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 green chili
1 tsp sugar

Directions
In a small pressure cooker, place 1/2 cup water with pinch of turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Add the whole gooseberries (amla) to this. Pressure cook for two whistles, switch off flame and allow to cool. If you don't have pressure cooker, you can boil this until cooked, will take around 10 minutes+

Once the cooker is cool enough to handle, drain out gooseberries. Using a grater (coarse one is better), grate the cooked gooseberries, discarding the seed and pith in the center.

In a bowl, whisk the yogurt with 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar.

In a tadka ladle or a small pan, heat 2 tsp oil. Splutter the cumin seeds, add the asafoetida, green chilli and the red chili powder. Turn off heat immediately so red chilly powder does not burn.
Transfer it to the yogurt and whisk until combined.
Garnish with coriander or green chillies (optional)

Serve with pulao or with roti and subzi.

My menu was alu-gobhi-mutter, grated carrot salad, amla raita and phulkas :)