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I will be serving this tomato chutney often now that I have rediscovered it. Lost in the back archives of my brain, I recalled it while typing the recipes for my two previous blog entries on chutneys/dips, Coconut Chutney and Mint Chutney.
I could eat not just spoonfuls but bowlfuls of this. I don't need anything with it, just give me a spoon and let me slurp away.
If you have been following my blog, you would know that this recipe for Tomato Chutney is the last in my series for chutneys/dips to go with my interpretation of the gluten-free, savoury Indian snack, Vadai. I have an unconventional approach to making them. I make the batter with a shrimp base stock instead of the convetional water base. Vadais are soft on the inside with a slight crispy crunch on the outside.
Curious? Click on this link, Vadai, Gluten Free Savoury Snack to read more on it.
Here are all three dips, Mint Chutney, Tomato Chutney and Coconut Chutney with Vadais and tortilla chips. I serve the Vadais not so much as snacks as it is often done in Indian homes but as pre-dinner party nibbles. It is always popular with my guests.
TOMATO CHUTNEY, TOMATO DIP
Prep: | 15 minutes |
Cook:
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30 minutes
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Inactive:
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-
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Level:
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Intermediate
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Serves:
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6 as a dip
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Oven Temperature:
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-
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Can recipe be doubled?
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Yes
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Make ahead?
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Yes, up to 2 days.
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Ingredients
For grinding
4 large tomatoes diced (4 cups)
1 and 1/3 cup diced purple onions
Use purple onions and not yellow as purple onions are more often than not the onion of choice to be used in Indian cooking.
1 teaspoons diced ginger
2 red chilli, seeds removed roughy diced
For frying
4 Tablespoon oil
1 teaspoons urud dal, also known as black gram/lentils and sometimes labelled as white gram/lentils
These can be purchased from Indian grocers. The lentils you want to buy are actually off white in colour. The black husks have been removed revealing the inner off white colour of the lentils. You will also find on the grocer's shelves, black gram lentils with husks still attached so they are black in colour. Remember to buy the off whites ones.
Asafoetida is the resin derived from the herbaceous ferula family. You can buy this greyish brownish coloured powdered spice at your Indian grocer. I use this for its anti-flatulence properties. It is an ingredient used as far as I am aware, primarily in Indian cooking. Its use has not transcended borders as much as other spices associated with Indian cooking. Perhaps because it smells dangerously sulphuric. The smell might just shock you enough to send you reeling back a few steps. I keep the plastic container where it comes stored in when I buy it, in a plastic bag and then in a glass jar. That is how pungent it smells.
Add too much of it in your food and it overwhelms the dish. I am very conservative with the amount I add. I cannot accurately tell you the flavour it imparts as it is a totally different spice. All I know is if I add it to my lentil/bean dishes, my tummy feels a whole lot better. If I really have to describe the taste it imparts, I would say it is a mix of onion, fennel and garlic.
Omit if you cannot bring yourself to buy or use it.
I do use it in my recipes for Vadai, Gluten Free Savoury Snack and Coconut Chutney, Coconut Dip.
The ground up ingredients as listed above (tomatoes, onions, ginger, chillies)
1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
Depending on the tomatoes you use, you might have to use +/- 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar. Adjust to suit your taste.
For tempering
To put it simply, in Indian cooking 'tempering' refers to heating up of spices in hot oil to draw out its flavours. That means tempering can be done in the initial stages of cooking a dish, after which other ingredients, for instance, onions and vegetables are added and cooking continues.
Tempering is also done to finish off an otherwise cooked dish. Oil is heated, spices are thrown in often in separate succession, to maximise its potency. The flavoured oil and spices are strewn over the dish which can be a chutney as in my Coconut Chutney and this Tomato Chutney recipe or in other dishes such as in lentils or beans meals.
Tempering to complete a dish adds a lot more flavour to what could be a mediocre dish. Taste the Tomato Chutney before and after you add the tempered ingredients and you will understand what I mean.
2 Tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
These can be purchased from Indian grocery stores.
16 curry leaves
Directions
In a blender, grind up the tomatoes, onions, ginger and chillies. Grinding it up helps you to cook down the vegetables faster. Set aside.
Heat up 4 Tablespoons of oil in a pot. When oil is hot, add urud dal and shake the pan around until the urud dal turns a light golden colour. This takes a few seconds. Add the asafoetida, let it sizzle 5 seconds, add the ground up vegetables, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium and boil it down for 30 minutes or until it thickens and is no longer runny.
There will be a lot of bubbling, spluttering and splattering. The chutney does make a bit of a mess to the area surrounding the pot. When I see little funnels on the chutney, like those in the photograph below, I turn off the burner. Leave it on the burner.
Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a small pot. I use my 4" pot as the deep sides and narrow diameter will protect me from the spitting oil. You be careful. When the oil is hot, add the black mustard seeds and curry leaves and shake the pot to move things around for 5 seconds. Not more. Mustard seeds burn super easily. It should smell heady. Pour this directly into the Tomato Chutney and stir to incorporate. Reheat the tomato chutney, let it simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, adjust seasoning for sugar and salt.
Remove from burner, cool and serve.
Tips
How else can you serve Tomato Chutney?
- Over a simple Mozzarella Salad. How simple?
- Mozzarella ball, preferably buffalo as it is the creamiest and the softest.
- Tomato Chutney.
- Basil leaves, shredded. If you do not have it, leave it out.
- Extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Slice the mozzarella ball or tear it up into smaller pieces and arrange on a serving plate. Dollop the Tomato Chutney over it. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil, pepper and salt to taste. Strewn basil over.
I like this for dinner with country bread. So simple and satisfying.
Serve Tomato Chutney over fried egg and bread. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil. Pepper and salt to taste. This is even better with a side of sliced avocados! Another easy and delicious light meal.
I am sure that with time, I will be able to come up with more ways to serve my Tomato Chutney. It is so versatile and I so like it! That was my dinner. Yum yum yum.
I grilled a fillet of white fish, Barramundi (sea bass) with sea salt and topped it with Tomato Chutney. The green vegetable I served it with was inspired by a gracious Sri Lankan lady who lived across me some time back. She used to share some of her dinner with me and they were always delicious.
The vegetable is chinese broccoli (kai lan). I diced up the stems, shredded the leaves and diced up some onions. In hot oil, I crackled mustard seeds, sauteed onions, added dried Maldive fish flakes, diced green chillies and the chinese broccoli. After which, in went some tumeric powder, garam masala and 1/4 cup of fresh/frozen grated coconut and salt. So good.
Maldive fish (tuna) flakes are difficult to find. I bought my supply when I was in Sri Lanka. You could try looking for it in an Indian grocery shop but I really have not been able to find it locally. A good substitute is bonito (tuna) flakes, the Japanese equivalent. Tumeric powder and garam masala (a spice mix) can be bought easily in almost any supermarket.
Finally, the last food item on my plate is just a potato! It is soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. I microwaved a peeled whole potato until it was cooked through. Then, I heated some olive oil till it was very hot. I plopped in the whole cooked potato, seasoned it with salt and pepper, flattened it with the back of my frying slice and held it there for about 2 minutes until it was golden brown and crispy. I did the same for the other side of the potato. Eat it hot as like french fries, it will lose its crispiness when cooled. The potato complements the stronger tasting grilled fish with Tomato Chutney and Fried Chinese Broccoli with Spices.
Let me know if you come up with any other ideas to serve this Tomato Chutney! I would love to try it!
I like this for dinner with country bread. So simple and satisfying.
- With a sunny side up egg
- Topped over grilled fish
I am sure that with time, I will be able to come up with more ways to serve my Tomato Chutney. It is so versatile and I so like it! That was my dinner. Yum yum yum.
The vegetable is chinese broccoli (kai lan). I diced up the stems, shredded the leaves and diced up some onions. In hot oil, I crackled mustard seeds, sauteed onions, added dried Maldive fish flakes, diced green chillies and the chinese broccoli. After which, in went some tumeric powder, garam masala and 1/4 cup of fresh/frozen grated coconut and salt. So good.
Maldive fish (tuna) flakes are difficult to find. I bought my supply when I was in Sri Lanka. You could try looking for it in an Indian grocery shop but I really have not been able to find it locally. A good substitute is bonito (tuna) flakes, the Japanese equivalent. Tumeric powder and garam masala (a spice mix) can be bought easily in almost any supermarket.
Finally, the last food item on my plate is just a potato! It is soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. I microwaved a peeled whole potato until it was cooked through. Then, I heated some olive oil till it was very hot. I plopped in the whole cooked potato, seasoned it with salt and pepper, flattened it with the back of my frying slice and held it there for about 2 minutes until it was golden brown and crispy. I did the same for the other side of the potato. Eat it hot as like french fries, it will lose its crispiness when cooled. The potato complements the stronger tasting grilled fish with Tomato Chutney and Fried Chinese Broccoli with Spices.
Let me know if you come up with any other ideas to serve this Tomato Chutney! I would love to try it!
The bottom layer is made of crushed digestive biscuits, the middle is a marshmallow layer and the top layer is raspberry flavoured Jell-O! It does not lasts more than a day in my house. If I serve it as a dessert at a party, it lasts all of 10 minutes.
If you like biscuit based cakes, marshmallows and Jell-O, look out for my next blog post!
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