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Indian Food, Andhra cuisine, North and South Indian Recipes, Ayurveda, Traditional Cooking

Tomato Chutney

A chutney I often prepare is tomato chutney, a South Indian style chutney, I learnt from a Tamilian friend’s mother, Revati Aunty who usually prepares it with idlis, dosas and ven pongal (South Indian style lentil-rice preparation). Its easy to prepare with very less cooking time.

Tomato Pachadi - Southi Indian chutney tempered with spices and curry leaves

Today I prepared it as an accompaniment with dosas for breakfast and with pulagam (an andhra lentil rice preparation, similar to khichdi) for lunch. This healthy low calorie chutney has a sweet-tart flavor with a subtle spice taste and the key to this chutney is the use of fresh curry leaves. The tempering of the spices like cumin seeds and curry leaves blend with the tomato puree, grated ginger and jaggery, giving it an irresistible flavor.

Tomato Chutney Recipe

Recipe source: Revathi Aunty (friend’s amma)

Prep & Cooking: 20 mts

Serves 4-5 persons

Cuisine: South Indian

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Ingredients:

3 large ripe juicy tomatoes (blanch, de-skin and puree)

1 tsp grated ginger

2-3 green chillis (slit length wise)

pinch of turmeric

1 1/2 cups of water

1/2 tsp jaggery or sugar (optional)

red chilli pwd (according to your spice level) - optional

salt to taste

pinch of asafoetida (optional)

coriander leaves for garnish

For tempering/tadka/poppu:

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp split black gram (minappa pappu) - optional

10-12 fresh curry leaves

1 Pre-heat oil in a cooking vessel, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add the cumin seeds and black gram dal and let them brown. Don’t burn them. Add the curry leaves and fry for a few seconds.

2 Add the grated ginger, green chillis and turmeric pwd combine.Add the tomato puree and let it cook on medium heat for 3-4 mts. Check at regular intervals and stir.

3 Add water and let it come to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for another 4-5 mts.

4 Add the jaggery or sugar,salt and red chilli pwd (if you are using it) and combine. Lastly add a pinch of asafoetida and turn off heat. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

5 Serve with south Indian tiffins like dosa, idli, khichidi, ven pongal or phulagam. It can also be served as a dip.

South Indian style tomato chutney seasoned with spices and curry leaves

Note:

Its important that you blanch the tomatoes. Make a + slit with a knife at the base of each tomato and place in hot water for a few minutes and then de-skin and puree. If you dont have the black gram dal on hand, dont worry, its optional. If you dont have asafoetida on hand, you can replace it with 3-4 crushed garlic cloves which should be added at the time of tempering. You can use either green chillis or chilli pwd or both, according to your spice level. You can add more water if you want a more saucy consistency and have it as a soup.

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By sailu • Jun 15th, 2006 • Category: All Recipes, Ayurvedic cooking, Chutneys & Pachadis, South Indian Recipes, Vegan recipes, Vegetables, Vegetarian Recipes

23 Responses »

  1. Mythili on June 15th, 2006 at 11:58 am:

    This is such great coincidence. Tomato Chutney !! You will know why. Check out my blog.
    http://www.orugallu.net/vinDu/?p=47

    I have tagged you for a meme. ;)

    Coming over right away, Mythili…:)

  2. Mythili on June 15th, 2006 at 11:58 am:

    Btw, as usual great pictures and delicious post !

    Your very kind, Mythili..:)

  3. Ashwini on June 15th, 2006 at 1:41 pm:

    I love the tomato chutney that is served at the restaurants here with idlis etc. This goes on my must try list

    You will love the flavor for sure, Ashwini. Give it a try.

  4. shilpa on June 15th, 2006 at 1:53 pm:

    I love tomato chutney. Thanks for sharing the recipe.Pictures look so tempting..

    Its a regular at our home, Shilpa.

  5. sudha vinodh on June 15th, 2006 at 2:11 pm:

    Lovely picture of tomato chutney sailu, They go very well with dosa and idli isn’t it? Thanks for sharing..

    Yes, Sudha, goes very well with dosas and idlis.

  6. Nabeela on June 15th, 2006 at 2:14 pm:

    Hi Sailu….I tagged you for the ten dishes I miss most of my mom’s cooking meme…I hope you participate!

    Thanks, Nabeela..:)

  7. Priya on June 15th, 2006 at 2:28 pm:

    Hi Sailu,
    Tomato chutney is my favourite..and I always prepare it when I make Kichidi. And I see that u have changed the color scheme a bit..does not strike at the first instant but the green has given a refreshing look.

    Yes, Priya, trying to get away from the monotony of the same color, just a small change..:)

  8. Sumitha Shibu on June 15th, 2006 at 3:27 pm:

    Love your pictures Sailu!

    Thank you, Sumitha..:)

  9. vineela on June 15th, 2006 at 4:48 pm:

    Hi Sailu,
    Nice chutney,.
    Vineela

    A regular at our home, Vineela. Simple and quick.

  10. Karthi Kannan on June 15th, 2006 at 8:50 pm:

    Sailu, a cool chutney and one of our best combination..mom makes it with idli’s/dosas and +/- small onion, only green chillies for spiceness, sometime she adds grated coconut during the last stage and sure it tastes yumm. Thanks for this recipe Sailu, i literally forgot this recipe and the last time i had was during my India trip!

    I do add onion too at times, Karthi. I havent tried garnishing with coconut though. Will give it a try the next time I make it.

  11. Archana on June 16th, 2006 at 12:16 am:

    I love tomato chutney, and make it quite often. Thank you for posting the recipe, this is almost similar to the one i make. Nice photos,very colorful !!

    Thank you, Archana.

  12. Pamela on June 16th, 2006 at 2:03 am:

    This sounds absolutely dreamy!!

    Pamela, its absolutely delicious!

  13. Kalyan on June 16th, 2006 at 5:22 am:

    hey, you are inspiring more people to blog on food !

    anyways, find my tomoto chutney here.Not so exotic.but does taste good.
    http://flickr.com/photos/kalyan10/129321310/

    :)
    Kalyan

    Those pics look delicious. So when do I get to see your food blog..:)

  14. Krithika on June 16th, 2006 at 8:25 am:

    Nice recipe. I always prefer tomato chutney for my idli and dosa.

    Thank you, Krithika.

  15. xtine on June 16th, 2006 at 1:42 pm:

    Sailu,

    Your foods looks great and your photos look better and better each day!

    I love it!

    Take Care,
    Tin

    Thank you, Tin..:):)

  16. Jeff on June 16th, 2006 at 4:13 pm:

    I love how there is a bit of a kick with the chilli peppers! Spicay!!

    Yes, Jeff, you said it!!

  17. Puspha on June 16th, 2006 at 6:25 pm:

    This is my fav!!!! Thanx for the visual treat.

    Your welcome, Pushpa.

  18. Pam on June 17th, 2006 at 3:21 pm:

    Hi Sailaja,
    Hope you don’t mind but I tagged you for this meme:

    http://www.posiesplace.net/2006/06/17/277/

  19. Tanuja on June 18th, 2006 at 9:53 am:

    Hi Sailu,

    Mee tomato chutney looks yummy, naaku channa istum with hot steaming rice and some home made fresh tomato chutney, yummy:)

    I had tagged u for the 10 things that we miss amma’s cooking,hope u would like to play.

  20. anusha on April 22nd, 2007 at 4:00 pm:

    hi sailu,
    im really happy to find ur site through indusladies.com..and the fact tht u too r frm vizag makes me feel very proud as i too live in the same city..when u spoke about raithu bazzar i felt really amazed tht ur frm vizag..im 19 yrs old and doing engineering in gayatri..my mom stays wid my dad in dubai..i live here wid granny and bro..after seeing ur amazing contribution i could’nt stop frm messaging u..u make andhraites proud by sharing our recipes to the world..keep up the good work..im trying all my fav dishes and also some new ones…il b really happy to hear frm u.. if u hav a personal mail id il b glad to know it too (wont trouble u for sure)…wishing u lots of happiness and luck!

  21. Sudha on October 7th, 2007 at 12:31 pm:

    hey,

    i tried making this chutney and it was yummm…
    i was craving tomato chutney and this was the simplest way to make a very tasty one…i’ve noted down the method and will follow that forever!!

  22. shruthi on February 3rd, 2008 at 2:54 pm:

    Sailu:
    Thanks dear! Can i substitute with canned tomato puree or canned crushed tomato (pureed manually), will it be too tangy?
    I thought to make it, and store, for this weekend’s party? Thanks a lot… during the planned get-togeather, there are a quite a number of your recipes, and your webpage is a great boon to people like me. Appreciate your great work and thanks for reply to my previous queries too. I highly appreciate that!
    -Shruthi

    Your most welcome. You can manually crush the tomatoes, Shruti.

  23. Sekhar on March 22nd, 2008 at 9:28 pm:

    Sailu..

    Thank you very much…With your tips, I tried for the 1st time and it was really very good.

    All the credit goes to you.

    -Sekhar

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