Tomato Pickle

    Tomato pickle is handy when home made with fresh tomatoes from the market, saves sometime from making chutney or sambar every time for dosa, idlis. Anything that is homemade without using preservatives is a YES YES anytime like in the olden days. This is a spicy version, similar to Andhra cuisine. You can adjust your spice levels accordingly. 

I do this pickle at alternate weekends, it has a shelf life of about 10 days when you refrigerate and use  a spoon only when you serve. It is a saviour when i don't find time to make chutney, sambar or a subzi for my rotis. It takes about an hour to prepare this. 

Lets get to the recipe. 

Ingredients : 

Tomatoes - 1 kg 
Red Chillies - 14 nos (add more or lessen as per your taste) 
Garlic pods - 20 (chopped / paste) - optional 
Tamarind Paste - 2 tbsp 
Turmeric - 1 tsp 
Kashmiri chilli powder - 2 tbsp (optional) 
Oil - 6tbsp
Salt - to taste 
Methi powder - 1/4 tsp 
Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp 

Method : 

1. Blanch the tomatoes in hot water for 5 minutes, Remove from flame and peel off the skin
2. Allow it to cool completely
3. Meanwhile deseed the red chillies and cut into pieces 
4. Soak indian gooseberry sized tamarind in 2 tbsp water and extract the concentrate 
5. In a blender, add the tomatoes, chillies and tamarind. Grind it to a paste without adding any water The tomatoes will leave water and thats sufficient
6. In a deep bottomed pan, dry roast the methi seeds and grind it to a coarse powder 
7. To the pan, add oil, let it heat. Add the mustard seeds & splutter
8. Add the grounded paste and mix it well. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, garlic pcs
9. Stir it well and close it with a lid and let it cook well (closing the lid is to prevent the bubbles from falling on the gas, You can cook it in open pan too but this will consume double the time) 
10. Every 5 minutes open the lid and stir it & close the lid back 
11. At one point you will see that the oil starts to ooze out of the mixture. Now add salt, and keep stirring. If oil does not ooze add 2 more tbsp of oil and repeat the same
12. It will look like pickle now
13. Add the methi pdr, give it a quick stir and one boil. 
14. Remove from flame and transfer it to an air tight jar / container. 
15. LET it sit for 24 hours, after which it is ready to consume. 

HAPPY PICKLE MAKING :D :D 

DIVI !! 

If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you pin it or share it with your Facebook fans or Twitter followers or Google+ circles today. All it takes is a simple click on the “pin it” “like,” “share,” “tweet,” or Google+ buttons below the post. It will keep me motivated. Thank you!