Sandeep's Best Onion Raita

This is a recipe from an old housemate of mine who was working in England for a year.  He is from Bangalore and took me road tripping around South India last Easter.  Raita is served as a fire extinguisher to accompany a good spicy curry.  This raita is good enough to eat as it is with a bit of rice and is perfect with a biryani.  I have learnt from experience to make double the amount that should be ample.  What ever is left makes quite a healthy snack!

Ingredients:
500g of Natural Yogurt
Half a Red Onion
2 Tomatoes
A handful of diced Cucumber
About a table spoon of chopped fresh Mint
2 tea spoons of mustard seeds
2 tea spoons of whole cumin seeds
1 Finger Chilly (green)
Salt and Pepper

Method:

Yes chilly sounds strange but it gives it an amazing flavour and any heat is instantly put out.  Chop the onion and mint into thin slices and dice the cucumber and tomatoes.  Fill your serving bowl with yogurt and throw in the chopped ingredients.  At the moment we have got the standard Raita.  The rest is what makes it amazing. 

Fry the mustard and cumin seeds in some oil until they are brown and the mustard seeds have almost stopped popping.  Wait until this has cooled down before adding to the yogurt.  Salt and pepper is important to take away some sweetness and give it more of a savory taste so be generous.  Thinly slice the green chilly (I like to put two) and give it all a good mix.  Relatively simple and you will be surprised by how good it tastes.