Spinach Raita

Raita is a yoghurt based condiment and usually contains vegetables. It is my belief that the intent of having raita is to help cope with the heat and spices in the main meal. There are some vegetables like onion and cucumber that are commonly used for raita. I wanted to do something different but did not have lot of vegetables left in my fridge. I had however left a tiny portion of spinach which I couldn’t have used for anything else. Spinach, as everyone knows is one of five a day vegetable. The green leaves are rich in iron,folates and calcium as well. This raita may make it easier to enable children to have spinach as it is otherwise not quite popular among kids. Here is the key to this simple raita...
1 cup spinach washed
3-4 cloves garlic
1-2 green chillies chopped
Yoghurt
Salt if required
Less than a teaspoon cooking oil
In a saucepan, add oil and garlic and chillies. Fry for a couple of minutes and add spinach. Once the spinach wilts, take off the stove and allow to cool. Grind to make a paste and add desired amount of yoghurt. Season with salt if desired. I try to reduce salt intake as much as possible and prefer to bank on the flavour from yoghurt.
You could serve this raita with a main dish that may not have green vegetables just so that the meal is balanced. If you do not like garlic, you may want to use ginger instead.