More things to do with phallic vegetables

The other day I found myself in possession of a huge (32 OZ) carton of truly excellent plain yogurt (Stonybrook Farms Organic) and no interest in using it for breakfast. What to do with it?

Then I remembered that I was planning to make something hot and spicy for dinner and what could be better than a traditional cool and soothing Indian cucumber raita to go along as a side dish!

Serve this with your next Chicken tandoori. I used Patak's Original Spicy Ginger & Garlic Marinade and Grill Sauce which is fairly widely available in supermarkets to make the chicken, and the recipe on the side of the jar happily enough uses more yogurt for the marinade. I added some extra fresh garlic, ginger and onion to the marinade and let it sit about 2 hours.

Cucumber Raita

about 5- 6" of English, seedless cucumber - that's the long, ribbed one usually sold plastic wrapped
1 1/2 - 2 cups plain yogurt-preferably Stonybrook lowfat. Dannon's plain fat free is sold everywhere but is pretty thin and unsatisfying.
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin seed
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper - or more to taste

Peel and grate the cucumber with the large holes on the grater. Don't drain any liquid that accumulates.Mix everything together with the cucumber quite well. Add more yogurt if you prefer it more traditional and soupy - I like it thicker. If I had had a tablespoon or two of fresh mint that would have been lovely to add too, but alas I didn't.

-MHF, Guest Blogger