Tomato Chutney

This is one of my comfort foods - A food item that is very familiar to me while growing up and brings back childhood memories whenever I make it. After a few days of travel, there are a few food items that I crave for after coming home - A flavorful sambar with Potato roast, or Crispy dosas with tomato chutney! Back in my hometown, while having Idlis or Dosas every morning, we are forced to alter the accompaniments atleast twice a week.. Some pair-ups for idlis are - Chutneys, Idly-sambar, Vadakari , Kurma etc.. However, Chutneys are easier to make and fits into a busy weekday morning schedule. A slight change or an addition of a new ingredient to a regular chutney produces a new chutney with a whole new flavor. There are a variety of chutneys that can be made just with tomatoes and all of them taste great. I'm so comfortable with tomatoes that if the chutney contains tomatoes, I am going to like it no matter what! I guess I have way too many chutney recipes to publish :-)

Almost every household in tamilnadu makes a version of tomato chutney unique to their family. Here is a divergent version of the regular tomato chutney that I know of, one more recipe from my sister! I've never made tomato chutney this way. Its very Simple to make and very tasty too. I am sure I will be making this quite often from now on. You can serve this pretty much with anything that needs a little kick - sandwiches, omlettes, chips etc...

Ingredients

• Pearl onions/Shallots-15 nos.(finely chopped) - you can substitute with 1.5 medium sized onions.
• Garlic cloves -5 (finely chopped)
• Red chillies - 3 medium
• Tomatoes(ripe &big) - 4
• Tamarind paste-1tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Procedure

• Grind 2 red chillies and salt in a mixer to a coarse powder.
• Boil the tomatoes,peel the skin, and grind it to paste along with tamarind paste to prepare tomato puree.
• Heat the oil in a pan add mustard seeds,1 red chilli, 1/4 tsp asafetida,curry leaves.
• Then add the finely cut onions and garlic and fry for 5mins
• Add the coarsely powdered red chillies and fry for 5mins.
• Then add the tomato puree and allow the contents to boil for 5 mins.

Goes well with Idli, Dosa, Uthappam, Curd Rice.