Raita -- how do you serve it?

[Anonymous]

If you were serving dal and raita, or dal and another liquidy dish, how do you serve them? Over rice next to each other, the way you might serve two Chinese dishes? The raita goes into the dal, the way you might put sour cream onto chili? A bowl of dal, naan, and the raita on the side as if the naan was a dip?

I'd love to know both the answer from someone who has experience eating it in the authentic way, and the answer from someone who serves it with American dishes and silverware.

I will say in advance that I don't actually know how I got to adulthood without knowing this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were serving dal and raita, or dal and another liquidy dish, how do you serve them? Over rice next to each other, the way you might serve two Chinese dishes? The raita goes into the dal, the way you might put sour cream onto chili? A bowl of dal, naan, and the raita on the side as if the naan was a dip?

I'd love to know both the answer from someone who has experience eating it in the authentic way, and the answer from someone who serves it with American dishes and silverware.

I will say in advance that I don't actually know how I got to adulthood without knowing this.

I'm American. There's "table raita" which is a big dish with a serving spoon in it. I often encircle the dish with cucumber slices but maybe thats just presentation. The little kids get their own individual portions of raita in a tiny pitcher because they are sloppy

Sometimes the adults will ask for a tiny pitcher of raita and keep it on their plate for dipping or pour it on their food

[Anonymous]

Raita does not pair with daal.

Raita is best served with well-spiced foods. Biryani, kebobs, etc.

Also, daal can be made thick or running. If it's a think daal (like dal makhani), you would serve it on the side, on par with any other dish (like butter chicken, eggplant, paneer masala, etc). Then you can eat with rice or naan. If it's the soupy kind of daal, you would want to pour it directly over your rice. Soupy daal wouldn't pair well with naan.

[Anonymous]

runny not running

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Raita does not pair with daal.

Raita is best served with well-spiced foods. Biryani, kebobs, etc.

Also, daal can be made thick or running. If it's a think daal (like dal makhani), you would serve it on the side, on par with any other dish (like butter chicken, eggplant, paneer masala, etc). Then you can eat with rice or naan. If it's the soupy kind of daal, you would want to pour it directly over your rice. Soupy daal wouldn't pair well with naan.

Yes this. Also keep each dish separate on the table. The individual decides if they want to put Raita on top of the other food or on the side of the plate. Unless you are serving thali-style, I would not plate the individual dishes for your guests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were serving dal and raita, or dal and another liquidy dish, how do you serve them? Over rice next to each other, the way you might serve two Chinese dishes? The raita goes into the dal, the way you might put sour cream onto chili? A bowl of dal, naan, and the raita on the side as if the naan was a dip?

I'd love to know both the answer from someone who has experience eating it in the authentic way, and the answer from someone who serves it with American dishes and silverware.

I will say in advance that I don't actually know how I got to adulthood without knowing this.

I'm American. There's "table raita" which is a big dish with a serving spoon in it. I often encircle the dish with cucumber slices but maybe thats just presentation. The little kids get their own individual portions of raita in a tiny pitcher because they are sloppy

Sometimes the adults will ask for a tiny pitcher of raita and keep it on their plate for dipping or pour it on their food

I am not asking what you serve it in. I'm asking what you dip into it, or what you pour it on.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean "how do you eat it?"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean "how do you eat it?"?

Sure.

[Anonymous]

Ŵhat is Raita?

[Anonymous]

"You"? This is not an American dish.

[Anonymous]

On the side for anyone to use as they wish. Don’t pre plate for anyone. Just have separate serving dishes out.

Disagree that it can’t go with dal. Especially with mixed crowds where some people don’t eat food as spicy.

[Anonymous]

I'm Indian American and grew up eating rice or roti, daal, and raita together. For rice, usually all three ingredients mixed together. Roti is used as a sort of scoop for daal plus raita. FWIW, Indian people don't dip roti/naan, they use it as a scoop (and table manners dictate this is done one-handed including breaking the pieces off).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the side for anyone to use as they wish. Don’t pre plate for anyone. Just have separate serving dishes out.

Disagree that it can’t go with dal. Especially with mixed crowds where some people don’t eat food as spicy.

OP here, the “crowd” I am serving this to is me and a toddler, maybe some other kids. Toddler also doesn’t have experience, so he’s watching me and will probably mimic.

For context, I found recipes for palak dal and dal makhani. I served both with rice on separate occasions and toddler inhaled them, but I like more variety in a meal. So, I googled what to serve with dal and it said raita. I am just trying to figure out the logistics.

I like the roti suggestion. I would just make some roti, and serve each of us a plate or shallow bowl with both in it not stirred together and then little pieces of roti to scoop?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were serving dal and raita, or dal and another liquidy dish, how do you serve them? Over rice next to each other, the way you might serve two Chinese dishes? The raita goes into the dal, the way you might put sour cream onto chili? A bowl of dal, naan, and the raita on the side as if the naan was a dip?

I'd love to know both the answer from someone who has experience eating it in the authentic way, and the answer from someone who serves it with American dishes and silverware.

I will say in advance that I don't actually know how I got to adulthood without knowing this.

I'm American. There's "table raita" which is a big dish with a serving spoon in it. I often encircle the dish with cucumber slices but maybe thats just presentation. The little kids get their own individual portions of raita in a tiny pitcher because they are sloppy

Sometimes the adults will ask for a tiny pitcher of raita and keep it on their plate for dipping or pour it on their food

I am not asking what you serve it in. I'm asking what you dip into it, or what you pour it on.

You have an odd way of conversing.

Raita is a “dip”. It does not go with dal! It goes with naan or pita.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were serving dal and raita, or dal and another liquidy dish, how do you serve them? Over rice next to each other, the way you might serve two Chinese dishes? The raita goes into the dal, the way you might put sour cream onto chili? A bowl of dal, naan, and the raita on the side as if the naan was a dip?

I'd love to know both the answer from someone who has experience eating it in the authentic way, and the answer from someone who serves it with American dishes and silverware.

I will say in advance that I don't actually know how I got to adulthood without knowing this.

I'm American. There's "table raita" which is a big dish with a serving spoon in it. I often encircle the dish with cucumber slices but maybe thats just presentation. The little kids get their own individual portions of raita in a tiny pitcher because they are sloppy

Sometimes the adults will ask for a tiny pitcher of raita and keep it on their plate for dipping or pour it on their food

I am not asking what you serve it in. I'm asking what you dip into it, or what you pour it on.

You have an odd way of conversing.

Raita is a “dip”. It does not go with dal! It goes with naan or pita.

OP is looking for information and seems open to learning. I’m not OP and learned somethings reading this. What’s the big deal?