Spinach Raita | Palak Raita | Keerai Thayir Pachadi

Simple spinach raita recipe! Spinach-yogurt relish that you can enjoy as a dip or spread. You can also serve it along with rice and flatbreads! Learn how to make this spinach or palak raita with detailed step-wise pictures.

Are you looking for some delicious, easy-to-make, and interesting spinach recipes? Then I have just the right recipe for you – spinach raita. Make some way for this easy-peasy spinach raita or keerai thayir pachadi, as we say in Tamil.  

Guess what? The spinach puree can be the base for any other spinach curries too. Read further to learn more about it. 

Jump to:

• Multipurpose & freezer friendly spinach puree
• Ingredients required
• Key things to remember when making palak raita
• Dietary specifications and serving suggestions
• Spinach raita recipe with step-by-step pictures
• Recipe notes
• Explore other raita recipes from my blog archives
• 📖 Recipe

Keerai kootu (Tamil Nadu style spinach and lentils gravy with coconut), keerai kadaiyal (spinach mash), and palak paneer are my go-to spinach recipes. Now and then, I do make a salad or pulao with spinach.

I learned this recipe from my mom, who made it one day when she did not have sufficient spinach for making kootu. When she told me about this raita, I made it right away and, in due course, experimented more and added curry leaves and cilantro to make it more delicious. 

There is a similar recipe in Karnataka cuisine called spinach tambli or tambuli. But that recipe calls for coconut and additional spices, and the preparation is also slightly different. This palak raita is a simplified version of the same. As you all know, we are Kannadigas but born and brought up in Tamil Nadu and our ancestors moved several generations back. Our cuisine is a mix of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu food, and I use more Tamil names as I grew up listening to the same. 

The recipe is very straightforward, and it involves three main steps.

1) Blanch the spinach along with green chili, cilantro, and curry leaves.

2) Puree the spinach

3) Add yogurt, salt and add the tempering. 

As you can see, except for the tempering, there isn’t much cooking involved. 

Multipurpose & freezer friendly spinach puree

The spinach puree that you prepare here is very flavorful and very handy too. You can make it in bulk and freeze it. You can use the spinach puree to make this raita and use it for other curries and soups. Some other recipes that you can make with this spinach puree,

• Convert it into soup: Add some coconut milk, heavy cream, or almond milk and make delicious spinach soup. Even without it, this raita is more like a soup on its own. 
• Convert it into a curry: Add some corn or boiled potatoes, roasted paneer, or tofu to make a simple spinach curry. 
• Flavored flatbreads: Add this puree while making roti or puree to make spinach roti or spinach poori. 
• Use it as a pasta sauce. 
• Add more buttermilk and make spinach chaas/ spinach-flavored buttermilk drink.

The list goes on. Unleash your creativity and come up with new recipes. That’s the exciting part about cooking or any art per se. Do let me know what you would be making with this spinach puree in the comments. I would love to hear that. 

Now let’s get back to the recipe. 

Ingredients required

Spinach: Use tender and fresh baby spinach. I haven’t tested this recipe with frozen spinach. And for this recipe, I used an entire 6oz spinach pack.

Cilantro and curry leaves: While curry leaves and cilantro enhance the flavor, these are optional ingredients. If you can’t source curry leaves or if you don’t have cilantro, skip them. At the same time, do not add a lot of cilantro and curry leaves. We want the spinach to shine here. 

Green chilies: Green chilies add that required heat and kick to this raita. Depending upon the variety and your spice preference, adjust the amount. 

Yogurt: I used store-bought yogurt for this recipe. Homemade or store-bought yogurt both works fine but make sure your yogurt is not too sour. Use plant-based yogurt for the vegan option. 

To Temper: As you all know, I am partial to coconut oil. I went with coconut oil for the tempering. Use your oil of choice, but I highly recommend coconut oil. And I kept the tempering ingredients minimal. I added mustard seeds, split urad dal, and asafoetida. You can also try mustard seeds and cumin seeds combination or only with cumin seeds.

Apart from these ingredients, we need salt and sufficient water for blanching and pureeing the spinach. 

PS – The dried red chilies and chana dal in the pictures are just for color pop. 

Key things to remember when making palak raita

The recipe is very simple, but keep these points in mind, and you will get perfect, vibrant, and delicious palak raita every time.

1) Blanch properly – We are not cooking the spinach separately. So make sure to blanch the spinach in hot water, and also right after draining the water, rinse the spinach with ice-cold water to stop the cooking and retain the vibrant green color. 

2) Let the blanched spinach and puree cool down – Do not blend the spinach right after blanching. After rinsing it with cold water, let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes before pureeing. And after pureeing, let it sit for 5 minutes, and then add the yogurt. This step is to prevent any remote chance of yogurt curdling. 

3) Blend the yogurt properly with the pureed spinach – You can either whisk the yogurt before adding to the puree or, if you are like me, add the thick yogurt to the spinach puree and, using a hand whisk, mix it thoroughly without any lumps. 

Dietary specifications and serving suggestions

This palak raita is a nut-free vegetarian dish. Use plant-based yogurt for vegan raita and also skip or use gluten-free asafoetida for a gluten-free version. 

I have stored the raita for 36 hours but not more than that. You can let the spinach puree cool and freeze, but I won’t recommend freezing the raita.

I served this keerai thayir pachadi as a part of my South Indian thali, but this pairs well with roti or other flatbreads. You can also pair it with falafels, use it as a spread for your pita bread, or add it to your salads too. 

Spinach raita recipe with step-by-step pictures

• In a wide bowl, add spinach, curry leaves, cilantro, and green chili.

• Add approx 1 liter of hot water, cover the bowl with a lid, and let the spinach mix sit for 4-5 minutes. 

• Drain the water after 5 minutes and run it through cold water to retain the color of the spinach. Let this blanched mix sit for 10 minutes.

• Add this spinach mix to the mixer jar and add salt too.

• Puree it—no need to add any water. You can use a hand blender to puree it as well. 

• Transfer it into a serving bowl and add the yogurt. 

• Using a hand whisk, mix the yogurt and spinach puree thoroughly without any lumps.

• In a separate tempering pan, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, urad dal, and asafoetida. When the mustard seeds splutter, add them to the raita, and that’s it. The spinach raita is ready. 

Recipe notes

• Adjust the salt and green chilies to taste.
• You can try making similar raita with amaranth greens. I have tried with both red and green amaranth but not with other varieties.
• Refer to the post for the tips for making the perfect spinach raita and how to use the puree in different ways.

Explore other raita recipes from my blog archives

A festival thali is incomplete in our household without raita or kosambari, and I have quite a few raita recipes on my blog. Some of the reader’s favorite ones are here. Check them out. 

Loved this recipe?

If you try this palak raita, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it ASAP. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest or Instagram or join my Facebook Group for recipe updates and simple Indian meal ideas.

📖 Recipe