Add some Spice to Life with Tomatoes - Tomato Pickle a.k.a Tomato Thokku

First of all thank you all for the shares, comments and likes for my first recipe.

Thank you for the encouragement shown to proceed with the second recipe.

After the sweet why not something spicy?

Let’s try Tomato Pickle.

Dear Czech friends-

Don’t get perplexed when I say spicy. You can adjust the spice level by reducing the quantity of chili powder.

All the recipes I am posting are tasted by my Czech friends and the recipe is drafted based on their feedback :-)

So please try it as the tomatoes are available in plenty now and many might have picked lot of tomatoes from your kitchen garden and must be thinking as to what to do with it.

Here you go.

Tomatoes                                 1kg

Red Chilli powder *                        2 tbsps

Salt                                       As required

Sugar                                     1 tbsps

Asafoetida (hing powder)                   ½ tsp (optional).

Fenugreek powder                         ½ tsp (pískavice řecké seno semena)

Curry leaves                               a string

Tamarind **                               a small ball rolled between your fingers

Turmeric powder                           ½ tsp

Mustard seeds                             1 tsp full (semena hořčice).

Oil                                        6 tbsps full

As a usual practice we should prepare ourselves before cooking the dish.

 Half an hour before the actual preparation put a big bowl of water to boil and when it reaches the boiling point reduce the flame and add the washed tomatoes into it. After two minutes switch off the gas and cover the vessel with a lid. See to it that all the tomatoes are immersed in the water. Don’t mind if the water is more. Better safe than sorry.

After 15 minutes you can see the skin of tomatoes peeling out .Drain the water and remove the skin of the tomatoes and keep it ready.

   If you don’t have the fenugreek powder in stock-Dry roast 1 tbsp of the same and powder it and keep it ready. You can even dry roast a handful of the same and store in an air tight container for future use.

**Juice of tamarind to be used when the tomatoes are not tangy. Here in Ostrava it’s very tangy so no need to add the juice of tamarind. I did not add any when I prepared the dish for my friends.

*For the friends in Ostrava –please use sladký paprika powder and the red chilli powder equally.

*For other friends –if you have sambar masala powder add ½ measure of sambar powder and half measure of red chili powder. Of course the choice is yours:-)

Now we start with the real cooking.

Use a high neck vessel with thick bottom and add oil in it. Always start with the low flame as you will have control on temperature.

Use of pan to be avoided as the juice of tomatoes will splatter all around. So, please, use a high neck vessel or pressure cooker.

When the oil is warm add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds starts to crackle add the hing powder.

Now add the peeled tomatoes with salt,turmeric powder and chili powder.

Stir it well.

Now let the mixture cook in a medium high flame. When the tomatoes starts to cook and leaves lot of juices,reduce the flame to medium and stir it well. Allow it cook till the water evaporates and the mixture gets mushy like a paste.

Now add the thick extract of tamarind juice and stir it occasionally so that the mixture does not burn.

At this stage check the salt and the chili level .If you want your dish to be spicier add chili powder to your requirement.

Cook the pickle till the oil oozes out from the sides and there is absolutely no juice in it.

Now add the sugar and the fenugreek powder.

Please be careful while adding the fenugreek powder. Don’t add more as it will give a bitter taste to pickle.

Usually it takes 30 minutes to cook. It depends on the juice content in the tomatoes. So go with the consistency rather than time.

Switch off the gas and stir the mixture well.

Allow it to cool and store it in a bottle or any air tight container. It can be refrigerated for longer shelf life.

You can use as a spread for the bread, chapatti, or with rice and dal or simply add it with steamed rice.

Yummy tomato pickle is ready.

Enjoy!!!