Tomato Pickle, Thakkali Oorugai

          Happy Halloween ! this time of the year always makes me nostalgic, I had landed in the US (New York ), years ago, during this time, in the month of October. Driving from New York, after gaping at the multi-laned highways and reaching Philadelphia, the next thing to catch my eye was these skeletons and other scary stuff, outside people's homes. Well, at that time I didn't know anything about Halloween, and I couldn't understand, why people would want to decorate their homes with these scary and sometimes gory things. But then now, after so many years, after all those Halloween costumes my daughter had worn, starting from pre-school, now she's 14, she's going to celebrate Halloween with a couple of friends here in India, I think back about the time in the US ( missing it ), and those memories make my eyes water. Well, now, wiping those tears and coming back to today' dish, Tomato Pickle, the recipe has nothing to do with Halloween, I made this to go with the Paneer Parathas that I have already posted. I didn't want to have the regular pickle with it, made this thokku or pickle with tomatoes and I tweaked the seasoning a little so that it had a more North Indian flavor in it. The pickle came out very good and tasted excellent along with parathas, next time you make parathas, do try this simple and flavorful Tomato Pickle..

Need To Have

• Tomatoes - 3 cups, chopped
• Red Chilly Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Amchur Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Sugar - 1 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Mustard Seed - 1/3 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/3 teaspoon
• Fennel Seeds - 1/3 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/3 teaspoon
• Nigella Seeds - 1/3 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

Method

          Heat some oil, add the mustard,cumin,fennel,fenugreek and nigella seeds. When they start spluttering, add the chopped tomatoes, followed by the turmeric powder, chilly powder, amchur powder, salt and sugar, Mix and cook it covered till the tomatoes breakdown and turn mushy. Then remove the lid , add the fenugreek and cumin powder, keep mixing for another 5 minutes and remove.

Note
A mixture of mustard, cumin, fennel, fenugreek and nigella seeds is called panch phoran, you get them in Indian stores, use about 1 and a 1/2 teaspoon of it instead of adding them individually like I did.
I made a small quantity, hardly lasted for 2 days, so I didn't use much oil, but if you are making a bigger batch, add more oil and saute till the floats up, then store it, it'll last longer.