Tomato Pickle | Thakkai thokku

Pickles are an essential condiment in indian cusine. There is no elaborate meal without a small piece of pickle in it. Usually it is a preserved item which adds a lot of good probiotics in to the diet. This Tomato pickle ( Thakkali thokku ) recipe is an instant pickle recipe and stores well in the refrigirator.

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I love to eat it with idli or dosa or add it to any rice dish like paruppu sadham or thayir sadham (curd rice)

Some Pointers before you begin the recipe,

I have used the canned tomato recipe, personally I find it richer, but if you don’t refer you can follow the same recipe with fully ripe plump tomatoes, quantity mentioned in the ingredients.
Adding the special ground powder ( fenugreek and mustard seeds) elevates the dish to another level. Do not skip it.
I have showed garlic in my step by step picture, but it is optional. If you are a purist and prefer to keep it as tomato pickle you may skip it.
It is important to cook the tomato until all the moisture in it is gone. This process helps in preserving the pickle for longer time.

Instant Tomato Pickle / Thakkai oorugai

Divyabharathi

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Servings 10

Ingredients

Canned or 10-15 ripe tomatoes
1 tsp Mustard Seeds For grinding
1 tsp Fenugreek seeds For grinding
3 big ladles of gingerly Oil
A sprig Curry leaves
4 tsp red chilli powder
1 medium lemon size thick Tamarind extract
1 tbsp Salt adjust to taste
1 tsp Mustard Seeds For seasoning
A few garlic pods for seasoning optional
1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds for seasoning
1 tsp brown Sugar optional

Instructions

In a pan, dry roast the mustard for grinding until it sputters and keep aside, next add in the fenugreek seeds (dont let it brown too much ) remove it from heat cool it down and grind to a find powder
Take a wide pan, add the canned tomatoes or chopped tomatoes, add some salt and cook it down until it turns soft and mushy.
Next add in the spice powders, turmeric, red chilli powder and the tamarind extract, salt and cook it down until the raw flavours are gone and the tomatoes absorb most of the moisture and has thickened.
In a kadai, add oil, add mustard seeds allow it to sputter, add fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and garlic pods (optional).
Now add in the prepared seasoning to the tomato pickle.
Cook on medium flame and stir occasionally to avoid burning and cook until the pickle turns Rich red and thicker. We want the pickle to have lesser moisture so it last longer.
To balance the sharpness of the tomatos you can add a tsp if brown sugar. You can totally skip it if you find the taste fine.l, do one final check for salt and turn off the flame.
Cool it off completely and transfer to a clean dry glass or a ceramic jar.
Enjoy this pickle with dosa, idli, or any rice dish of your choice.

Notes

1.We will be adding only 1 tsp of the ground mixture to the pickle the remaining powder can be used for making pulikuzhambu or vethakozhambu or stored for later use.

2.You can use whole tomatoes as well. Will be about 7-8 tomatoes finely chopped

Keyword indian condiments, instant recipes, pickles, tomato pickle

Step By step Pictures to make the Tomato pickle.