Cucumber thayir pachadi or vellarikka pachadi made with simple south Indian flavors, by sauteing cucumber so that it doesn’t leaves out water later. Perfect for lunch boxes and good alternative for onion raita.
Be it as accompaniment for a south Indian lunch menu or for Briyani & pulaos, this is a perfect match for both.
Goes well with my sambar sadam recipe and my Pattani sadam recipe in this website.
I never pack raw onion raita for lunch box. I prefer mixed vegetable raita or simply cucumber raita as Vj wont like the smell of raw onion for office.
So I wanted to try this one when my friend Sangeeta told that her SIL makes this.
I made this cucumber thayir pachadi with small potato biryani and enjoyed this.
Cucumber pachadi Variations
No onion version - You can skip onion and add asafoetida while tempering mustard.
With coconut - Grind ¼ cup coconut, ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds and green chilli and mix with curd.
Easy version - No need to saute, just peel off the skin of cucumber and remove the core (seeds). Then finely chop and mix with curd.
Top tip
- I like to use fresh curd (homemade yogurt) that is not sour for my raita.
- Using milk or a dash of cream gives a rich taste.
Step by step photos
- Wash and chop cucumber finely into cubes. I removed the centre seeds part (and ate😋) but its optional. In a kadai, heat oil, splutter mustard, urad dal and add finely chopped onion. Fry until transparent.
2. Add chopped cucumber, add salt and fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add coriander leaves and curry leaves and give it a fry.
4. Transfer to the serving bowl and cool down completely. Beat ½ cup curd, add to the cucumber and mix. Check for salt and adjust.
Frying the cucumber gives a different flavour and taste, perfect for lunch box too!
Recipe card
Cucumber Thayir Pachadi Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cucumber Vellarikka
- 1 Onion See notes for options
- ½ cup Curd
- 1 tablespoon Coriander leaves chopped
- 4 Curry leaves
- Salt
To Temper
- 1 teaspoon Oil
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard
- ½ teaspoon Urad dal
Instructions
- Wash and chop cucumber finely into cubes. I removed the center seeds part but its optional.
- In a kadai, heat oil, splutter mustard, urad dal and add finely chopped onion. Fry until transparent.
- Add chopped cucumber, add salt and fry for 2 minutes.
- Put coriander leaves, curry leaves inside and give it a fry.
- Transfer to the serving bowl and cool down completely.
- Beat ½ cup curd, add to the cucumber and mix. Check for salt and adjust.
Notes
- If you would like to skip onion, you can, just add a generous pinch of asafoetida while tempering.
- You can add little milk or water to adjust the consistency as per your preference.
Veena Theagarajan says
comforting recipe.. yum! this can be good snack recipe too
Traditionally Modern Food says
Never sautéd cucumber for raita this looks flavorful and perfect t with any variety rice..
sankar saranya says
Its really different,
Niloufer Riyaz says
a very different raita ...Cool
vino says
tried and turned out great
Malar says
Glad that I had tried it. No regrets. It was very yummy. I had done it with 2 cucumbers. Everyone in my family loved it. We finished it during our lunch. Have been asked to prepare for dinner.
Thanks for the recipe.
Raks Anand says
Thank you for your feedback 🙂