Thakkali Kai Thuvayal

How to make Thakkali Kai/Green Tomato Chutney

         One of the perks of summer is; you can have your very own vegetable garden. If you have a green thumb, that is! If not, you need to have really nice in-laws like mine; who are all thumbs, that are green too :) You know where I'm going with this, by now. While my in-laws visited us last summer, they started a vegetable garden & tomatoes were top on the list of must have's. Eventually, when summer ended; there were quite a few tomatoes that were unripe & didn't have anymore favorable conditions to ripen either. After waiting for a few weeks - I finally concluded that, it's time for me to use those green tomatoes and decided to make a Thuvayal/Chutney this time. Its a sour & spicy chutney that goes great with your Idli, Uthappam, savory Kuzhi Paniyaram, Rawa Pongal, Masala Dosa & Bonda. Sending this slightly adapted recipe from Meenakshi Ammal's cookbook to Sri Valli's CCChallenge #15.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

Raw/green Tomatoes - 10-12 no:s small-medium sized) - wash & cut into 4 pieces

Dry red chillies - 1 to 2 (as per desired spice level)

Black gram dal - 1 Tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Oil - 1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp

Tamarind - about the size of a marble

Salt to taste

Stove Top Method:

1. Heat 1 Tsp of oil in a shallow pan, when its hot enough, add the mustard seeds, followed by Black gram dal - fry until golden brown & transfer into a bowl.
2. Heat the remaining oil in the pan, add the Asafoetida and Red chillies and fry until slightly crisp. To the same pan, add the cut tomatoes & saute until they are a bit soft. Reduce heat to low, add the pitted tamarind, Salt & saute for a few more minutes, without adding any water.
3. Turn off the heat & transfer contents to a blender/mixer when cool & grind until smooth in texture.
4. Now add the contents of Step 1 to the blender/mixer; grind briefly & transfer contents into a serving bowl and serve your choice of south indian breakfast/Tiffin like Savory Kuzhi Paniyaram, Instant Bonda, Masala Dosa, Rawa Pongal etc.