Tomato Thokku - Tomato Pickle

 The 1980s - and in my dorm in University. We all look forward to the girls coming back after holidays, because each of them would be carrying jars and packets of goodies from their homes to last for a couple of months in the dreary hostel. The food in the hostel was bland and tasteless and it was these packages that helped us ford meal times.  One such item brought from Andhra Pradesh was my friend Shobha's tomato pickle or tomato thokku. Nothing would even warrant a second look until the whole jar was devoured by us for breakfast lunch and dinner. This pickle can be had with rice, dosa, idli or even roti - that is how versatile it was. Sweet, salty, tangy, spicy, hot and with an underlying umami, this pickle really had it all. May be it was the Andhra organic tomatoes or may be it was the Andhra spicy chillies - but visions of this jar still makes my mouth water.  I have long since lost touch with my room mate Shobha, but in my heart I still think of her and her loving mother who made this for our enjoyment - bless them!

Pictured: A jar of cherry tomato thokku near my almost dead tomato plant - getting ready to say goodbye for winter!

Ingredients:

1 kilo ripe cherry tomatoes ( I used home grown ones and they were vine ripened and sweet)

1/2 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon  mustard seeds

1/2 tablespoon 

1 teaspoon split urid dal 

1 tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder (not hot, but lends a fiery red colour)

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

5-6 cloves of garlic (optional)

1 lime sized ball of tamarind, soked in hot water and juice extracted

1 stalk of curry leaves

1 teaspoon asofoetida

2 or 3 small dried red chillies

1 inch piece of jaggery

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 a cup of Indian sesame seed oil

Method:

Wash and dry tomatoes. Slice them into halves/quarters, depending on how big they are. If you are using large tomatoes, you should chop them to 1 inch pieces. In a heavy bottomed pan, add oil - about 2/3 of the oil you have in the cup. Add the tomatoes to it and saute. Next add the tamarind juice and cook for about 6 to 7 minutes. Add chilli and turmeric powder and salt. Mix well.

Cook until the tomatoes go mushy and shrivel up. Turn off the flame and let it cool. Once it cools down, blitz it in your blender for a few seconds. You want a rough texture - not smooth.

 While the tomatoes are cooling, dry roast 1/2 tablespoon mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds in low flame.  When the fenugreek seeds start to get fragrant and slightly brown, get it off the flame. Cool and powder. Set aside.

In the heavy bottomed pan, add all of the remaining oil, heat and add 1 teaspoon mustard, urid dal, and when the mustard crackles and dal goes reddish, add the curry leaves, dry red chillies, the garlic, asafoetida,  and the mashed up tomatoes.  Mix well. Reduce the heat.

Cook till the tomato chutney coagulates to one blob and starts to ooze oil. It should be shiny and wet looking. Now add the mustard / fenugreek powder and the jaggery. Mix well. 

Cool the chutney and bottle it.  Serve with rice, chappaties, dosa, etc