Pachcha Thakkali Thokku (Raw tomato pickle)

I waited for the last tomatoes of summer in the garden to ripen to no avail. The days are getting colder and the nights are getting frostier, and I would probably end up losing all of them to blight. So I decided to pick them, and then promptly called amma to ask her what to do with them. Appa who picked up the phone said "it is quite elementary, just make koottu". I did and it was quite yummy, but I had a more tomatoes left over. So I went hunting for recipes online.

I was lucky to find a recipe for thokku on pachakam.com. I immediately sent it to amma, who totally approved of it. She makes a wonderful thokku with ripe tomatoes, and we both were curious to see what raw tomato thokku would taste like. I followed the recipe pretty faithfully for the most part, except change the order of things a bit. When amma makes ripe tomato thokku, she add tamarind (puLi) for a little sour twinge, but this ingredient was missing from the raw tomato thokku recipe that I found, although pretty much all the other ingredients are the same.

Ingredients:

• Raw tomatoes, around 10, cut in to small pieces
• Sesame oil - 1/2 cup
• Chili powder - 2-3 Tbsp
• Powdered fenugreek (vendhaya podi) - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 Tbsp
• Asafoetida powdered (Hing / Perungayam) - 1 tsp
• Salt to taste - around 1.5 to 2 Tbsp

Method:

• Heat 1/4th cup of sesame oil
• Add mustard seeds and asafoetida
• When the mustard seeds sputter, add the chopped green tomatoes and turmeric powder
• After 5 mins, lower heat and cook for around 1 hour stirring occassionally
• Half-way through, add the remaining 1/4th cup of sesame oil (The pickle should be of jam consistency when fully done)
• Just a couple of minutes before switching off the heat, add the salt, fenugreek powder and chili powder and mix
• Bottle and enjoy for up to 2 weeks

The recipe is a super hit at our place. V, who is generally not a oorugaai or thokku person, is enjoying it quite a bit with his thayir saadham.

I told amma to procure raw tomatoes whenever she can find it in Madras and give it a try!