Rinse and finely chop the capsicum. Also peel, rinse and finely chop the onion. Chop the curry leaves. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, take the fresh curd (yogurt).
Whisk curd till smooth. Set aside.
Sautéing capsicum
Heat the oil in a small pan.
Add mustard seeds and let them crackle.
When the mustard seeds start crackling, add chopped onion and curry leaves. You can even add 1 green chili or 1 dry red chili while sautéing.
On a low to medium heat, stir and sauté onions for 1 to 2 minutes.
Then add chopped capsicum. Mix capsicum very well with the onions.
Saute till the capsicum are half done with some crunch in them. This takes about 6 to 7 minutes on a low flame.
Then, switch off the flame and add red chili powder, cumin powder and salt as per taste. Mix well.
Making capsicum raita
Remove the pan from the stove top and pour the capsicum mixture in the whisked yogurt.
Add the chopped coriander leaves.
Mix everything very well.
Serve capsicum raita with any of your favorite Indian meal.
Store any leftovers in a covered container for 1 day in the fridge.
Notes
Curd: When you make any raita, use fresh curd or yogurt. The curd should not be sour. You can make this raita with whole milk curd, low fat curd and toned milk curd. For best results, I suggest to use Homemade Curd. Greek yogurt also works wonderfully.
Capsicum (Bell Pepper): Any variety of bell pepper, be it green, red or yellow works well in this recipe. So feel free to use any kind of bell pepper that you have.
Spices: For a spicy raita, add green chilies and increase the amount of red chilli powder. Crushed black pepper can be subbed for red chilli powder.
Herbs: If you do not have cilantro, then use mint. If you do not have either, then skip them totally. Curry leaves lend so much flavor to this raita. They can be omitted but the flavors will change.
Scaling: Make a large batch of this raita by doubling the recipe easily. Store the leftover for a day in the fridge. Do not store for more than 1 or 2 days.