I'm leaving for Mumbai tomorrow, for over a week. While emptying my fridge, staring at me was a bag full of beautiful organic tomatoes that my aunt had carried all the way from Madanpalli. Certainly didn't want them to rot away and they were too precious to be given away.
My options: puree the tomatoes and freeze or make some kind of a preserve that can be refrigerated. The second option definitely seemed so much more appealing. Here's what I did:
Cut up all the tomatoes into quarters and pureed them. Didn't bother to sieve as I prefer a chunky thokku to a pasty one. Then in my chopper, whizzed a couple of large pods of garlic, some birds eye chillies and a piece of ginger. set this aside. About 5 tbsp of this ginger - garlic - green chilli mixture. You can use as much as you wish to, depending on how hot you want the thokku to be.
Other ingredients used:
- 2 tbsp rasam powder - i used this because it is much more flavourful compared to plain red chilli powder.
- 4 tbsp rock salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp amchoor / dry mango powder
- 1 tbsp fenugreek / methi seeds
1 cup oil
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp jeera
1/4 tsp hing
a few sprigs of curry leaves.
you can also add 2 tbsp of 'menthyada hittu'if you have it handy. It lends some flavour, some paste like body, bringing the thokku together. Totally optional, though.
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First heated the oil and allowed the mustard to splutter. Added jeera, hing, curry leaves and the Ginger-garlic-chilli mixture and allowed it to become slightly cooked.
Then, the puree, and all the powder masalas, salt and sugar. Mix well and allow it to simmer away (without lid) for at least 45 minutes.
The thokku will turn a reddish brown and will separate itself from the oil. At this stage, take it off the flame, and allow it to cool completely before transferring to a glass, air-tight jar.
When refrigerated, this should stay for a few months, if it's not polished off by then, that is!
Once I tasted it, I realised that that it is such a versatile thokku -
> can be used as an instant mix for tomato rice / bhath /
> as a base for tomato rasam - just add dal and water and boil /
> can be added to subzis for a kick of flavour
> can be added to poha, with onions to make tomato-kanda poha
> can be added along with other veggies while making upma / khara bhath
I love it with plain, hot, steamed rice. Yummm.
Do try it out
My options: puree the tomatoes and freeze or make some kind of a preserve that can be refrigerated. The second option definitely seemed so much more appealing. Here's what I did:
Cut up all the tomatoes into quarters and pureed them. Didn't bother to sieve as I prefer a chunky thokku to a pasty one. Then in my chopper, whizzed a couple of large pods of garlic, some birds eye chillies and a piece of ginger. set this aside. About 5 tbsp of this ginger - garlic - green chilli mixture. You can use as much as you wish to, depending on how hot you want the thokku to be.
Other ingredients used:
- 2 tbsp rasam powder - i used this because it is much more flavourful compared to plain red chilli powder.
- 4 tbsp rock salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp amchoor / dry mango powder
- 1 tbsp fenugreek / methi seeds
1 cup oil
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp jeera
1/4 tsp hing
a few sprigs of curry leaves.
you can also add 2 tbsp of 'menthyada hittu'if you have it handy. It lends some flavour, some paste like body, bringing the thokku together. Totally optional, though.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First heated the oil and allowed the mustard to splutter. Added jeera, hing, curry leaves and the Ginger-garlic-chilli mixture and allowed it to become slightly cooked.
Then, the puree, and all the powder masalas, salt and sugar. Mix well and allow it to simmer away (without lid) for at least 45 minutes.
The thokku will turn a reddish brown and will separate itself from the oil. At this stage, take it off the flame, and allow it to cool completely before transferring to a glass, air-tight jar.
When refrigerated, this should stay for a few months, if it's not polished off by then, that is!
Once I tasted it, I realised that that it is such a versatile thokku -
> can be used as an instant mix for tomato rice / bhath /
> as a base for tomato rasam - just add dal and water and boil /
> can be added to subzis for a kick of flavour
> can be added to poha, with onions to make tomato-kanda poha
> can be added along with other veggies while making upma / khara bhath
I love it with plain, hot, steamed rice. Yummm.
Do try it out
