Boondi raita recipe with step by step photos. Boondi raita is a North Indian raita variety made with spiced yogurt and boondi (crisp fried gram flour balls).
Cucumber raita, Onion raita and spiced boondi raita are three of the most sought after raitas in Indian cuisine. Its strange but true, that I don’t have much Raita recipes on the blog.
I make raitas almost every day in summers and somehow I am not able to take pics and update on the blog.
Boondi are tiny fried gram flour balls. They are very easy to make at home or otherwise they are available in most grocery or sweets shops. They are salted and crisp.
Boondi are often served with chaat recipes like dahi bhalla or dahi vada or added in jaljeera or mixed in the pani (spiced water) of the pani puri.
The unsalted boondi goes in the making of boondi ladoo or motichoor ladoo recipe. They are also used in making fried snacks like kara boondi and mixture recipe.
These crisp tiny balls (boondi) are first soaked in warm water. As a result, they swell a little in size and become so soft. Their entire crispiness is lost. They are squeezed off the excess water and then added to the spiced yogurt. So you have a spiced yogurt with the soft boondi melting in your mouth.
Boondi raita is very easy to make. You can serve it with any North Indian dish. But mostly this raita goes very well with rice dishes like biryani or pulao and they actually pep them more.
I served this spiced boondi raita with biryani rice along with an aubergine/brinjal curry. I have used cashew yogurt to make it but you can use normal curd also. When hard pressed for time, you can just have the raita with some steamed basmati rice along with a side veg salad.
How to make boondi raita
1. First warm water in a pan on stovetop or in the microwave. Take the warm water in a bowl.
2. add the boondi in the warm water.
3. Allow them to get soaked for 9 to 12 minutes. Cover the bowl with a lid.
4. Meanwhile, whisk the curd/yogurt in a bowl till smooth.
5. Drain the water from the soaked boondis.
Making spiced boondi raita
6. Lightly press the boondi in your palms, to squeeze the excess water from them. don’t mash them up. Add the boondi to the whisked curd and mix.
7. add all the dry spice powders and salt.
8. stir the raita well.
9. Lastly mix chopped coriander leaves or mint leaves.
10. The boondi raita can be served cold or at room temperature. You can also garnish the raita with sprigs of mint or coriander leaves. It also goes well with biryani or pulao or any rich based dishes like jeera rice.
Boondi Raita
Ingredients
- ½ cup plain salted boondi
- 1 cup curd (yogurt) - vegan or dairy
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon chaat masala
- ½ teaspoon saunf powder (fennel powder) - optional
- ½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder
- 2 to 3 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro leaves) or mint leaves
- a few coriander leaves or mint leaves for garnish
- black salt or rock salt as required
Instructions
preparation
- First warm water in a pan on stove top or in the microwave.
- Add the boondi in the warm water and let them get soaked for 9 to 12 minutes.
- Drain this water and lightly press the boondi in your palms, to squeeze the water from them. Don't mash them up.
making boondi raita
- Whisk the curd in a bowl.
- Add the boondi and mix.
- Add all the dry spice powders, chopped mint leaves/coriander leaves, including salt. Stir the raita well.
- Garnish the raita with mint leaves or coriander leaves.
- The boondi raita can be served cold or at room temperature. They go well with biryani or pulao or any rich based dishes like jeera rice.
Notes
- If the yogurt is thick, then whisk with some water to make a slightly thin consistency.
- The spice powders can be adjusted as per your taste.
Hi Ma’am,
Thanks for so wonderful recipes… I have been trying most of the recipes. I would like your help for how may I be able to keep the raita fresh if it is long made… And also need to travel. Like I will be making the raita at home and take it to friends house after 2-3 hours.
Please help.
Your honest recipe follower
Dipti
thanks a lot dipti. boondi raita will stay well for a couple of hours without fridge, especially in a cold season you can keep raita for a few hours at room temperature. however onion raita or onion-tomato raita or cucumber raita are best refrigerated.
Hi dassanaa
Hope u doing well.
I m just a big fan of u…and any new recipe I think of making ….if the recipe I get is the one from vegrecipesofindia then I m damn sure if will be a sure shot success.
Thanks a ton..as you have given us immense confidence to try out new things and bring a smile on sooo many faces…God bless you and keep doing the good work ☺
Just wanted to ask you whether we can add pineapple or apple…just a variety
thanks a lot vidhi for this encouraging comment. felt nice reading your comment. of course you can add pineapple or apple. you can even adding veggies in the raita.
Instead of red chili powder, can we add degi mirch in boondi raita? What is degi mirch powder meant for in recipes? How is paprika different from other chili powders? Thanks a ton for sharing your wisdom! I have got more confident since I have started to follow your recipes. Thanks for all that you do for women like me who are married to a foodie ?
you can add deghi mirch powder. deghi mirch is made from red peppers and kashmiri red chilies. hence the color is bright red color. deghi mirch as well as kashmiri red chili powder is is added mostly in north indian gravies and other recipes where you want to give a nice red or bright orange color in the dish, without making it too spicy or hot. paprika is made from pepper varieties that belong to the capsicum family. and thanks a lot krishna 🙂
Very easy recipie. Your blog always comes in handy whenever I want to make something interesting. Thanks a lot.. I would like to give you credit for making me want to try and learn new things… I have started to love cooking. Thank you once again.
pleased to know smruti you started to love cooking 🙂 thankyou for your kind words and you are welcome.
Really appreciable your Raita Recipe.
Thanks a lot.
welcome yash
Thanks for sharing recepie boondi Raita very testyyy..once again thenks
welcome karina
Hi Dassana ,
I have prepared many dishes from your blog and i simply loved all of them.. Today I wil try tye boondi raita.You r simply amazing and your recipes are easy to understand and follow as well.. thanks a lot…
welcome garima. glad to know this. thanks for sharing positive feedback on recipes.
Hey Dassana,
I have made this pulao today … followed step by step and surely it is a treat. .. Also prepared bhoondi ka raita with it now waiting for my husband to taste it …. He is a pure meat eater and I just hope he approves it.. thank you once again for sharing
xoxo
thanks aimen for the feedback. hope your hubby likes the recipes you have prepared.
It’s really yemmmmy …dies
Hey looks yummy 🙂 thanks for sharing recipe.
Thanks Dassana for such a quick reply.
Today i prepared boondis at home, because i could not find where i live.they ve turned out quite good. i wanted to store some to be used later. should i refrigrate them.
hi bushra. no need to refrigerate them. just store them in an air-tight box or jar. they will stay crisp.
with the burning sun and scorching heat, this looks soothing to even look at. my all time fav! yumm
Namaskara Dasanna,this is raju from Dubai,received ur recipes,please send me more of veg.dishes because we r PURE vegetarians.we r settled in margao goa,i belive u r also in goa,please send mewhere exactly u r,so that we will make sure to visit ur restaurant to taste ur specialities,thanks Dasanna once again,waiting for ur new recipes,namaskar.
namaskar raju ji. thanks. we don’t have any restaurant in goa. you can browse the indian vegetarian recipes on the blog in your free time. there are many of them. if looking for a particular recipe than search with the word like ‘dal’ ‘paneer” etc on google search bar on the top left corner. or look for categories in the side bar.
hey dassana..how r u..the raita looks so good..what rice is served in the pic..is it yakhni pulav..looks delicious..
how are you suhani. the rice served in the pic is biryani rice. it is spiced rice that goes very well with any north indian or mughlai curries, hyderabadi curries and even dal tadka. its often called as biryani rice or biryani chawal. in the south its called as khuska/kuska rice which means “khusk” translating to dry in english. there are many variations. this recipe is made with whole garam masala and shahjeera along with mint. its different in taste than jeera rice or yakhni pilaf.
Boondi raita is my daughter’s favourite. If there is a vegetable that she is refusing to eat, I just have to offer her raita and she polishes off the meal.
Love the clicks and your presentation 🙂
Good one..