Tomato Thokku ( Pickle ) - 3

          My family loves tomatoes, tomato chutney, tomato rice, tomato pickle/thokku, tomato dosa everything is a favorite at home. So, when I come across a new recipe with tomatoes, I always try it out. I have already posted two varieties of tomato thokku/pickle, today's recipe was given to me by a friend. I have used a little tamarind along with the tomatoes in this thokku, this one goes very well with idlis, dosas, adais, or even mixed with some rice..

Need To Have

• Chopped Tomatoes - 4 cups
• Dried Red Chillies - 6 to 8
• Tamarind - small lime size
• Sesame Oil - 3 tablespoons
• Mustard Seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

Method

          Grind together the tomatoes, tamarind and red chillies, take it in a thick bottomed pan, just add a little water to the blender, add that water to the ground tomato.

          Add the salt and cook it on medium heat till it's reduced to a thick jam consistency, as shown in the picture. Keep stirring at intervals as the tomato mixture will stick to the pan. Once you get the thick jam consistency, switch off and transfer it to a bowl.

         Heat the sesame oil, add the mustard seeds, once it starts spluttering, add the asafoetida, and when the spluttering stops ( almost ), switch off. Let it cool a little, then add it to the cooked tomato, mix and store.

Note
Choose ripe and tangy tomatoes.
You can add more or less chillies according to your spice level, the key is, the spiciness from the chillies should balance the sourness from the tomatoes and the tamarind.