Happy Independence Day!!

Radish pachadi(Recipe courtesy: Salt&Pepper)

I don’t claim that raita or pachadi is a dish of my region, Kerala. Raita is all over India in different forms. According to Wiki, raita is a South Asian condiment based on yogurt. Vegetables cooked or uncooked and other seasonings are added to the yogurt to make delicious raitas. Tomatoes, onions, cilantro, green chillies, and cucumber are the common vegetables used in raita. I assume pachadi and raita are the same. In Kerala, we sometimes add ground coconut too. Pineapple pachadi and Mango pachadi are my all time favorites. Back home, a must have accompaniment for biriyani is a raita made of tomatoes, red onion, and green chillies. We call it kachumber. So easy to whip up and it is really lip smacking. Raita is usually served cold. I think the purpose of raita served with many Indian dishes, especially rice dishes, is to cool off the spiciness of our food.

Here is a wonderful array of raita recipes posted by fellow food bloggers:
Indosungod's Zucchini Pachadi
Annita's Green Banana Pachadi
Inji's Cucumber Pachadi(We can call it kichadi too??)
Vindu's Beerakaya Pottu Pachadi(No yogurt in this? How come? I thought all pachadis are yogurt based)
Sarah's Pineapple Pachadi
Vkn's Mango Pachadi
Paati's Carrot Pachadi
.......and there are many, many more!

I am all confused now....pachadi, kichadi, raita, chutney are all same? Is raita a hindi word? How about pachadi and kichadi? I wish I had enough time to do a detailed research on this. It's close to midnight, and I only have less than an hour to take this to Indira's Independence Day Food Parade. Happy Independence Day everybody!! I am off to bed with this pachadi kichadi confusion.... See you all tomorrow at the parade.