Trevor's Recipe Collection
Trevor's Recipe Collection
Trevor's Kitchen
Trevor's Kitchen
Tomato Curry #1
Tomato Curry #1
Ingredients:
1¼ tsp fennel seeds
1¼ tsp black mustard seeds
1¼ tsp cumin seeds
1¼ tsp coriander seeds
Rapeseed oil
2 onions, peeled, cut in half and finely sliced into half moons
1¼ tsp salt
8 curry leaves, plus extra to garnish
1.2 kg tomatoes (ideally a mixture of 1kg vine and 200g yellow baby plum)
1½ green finger chillies, very finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2½ tsp tamarind paste
400ml tin coconut milk
About the Recipe
India has a vast library of dishes that use tomatoes, but they tend to be in the background. Rarely are they the star, as they are in so many Mediterranean dishes, from spaghetti napoletana to gazpacho, which are built tomato-first. We have just a few rare jewels that truly celebrate the tomato, such as Keralan tomato fry and Gujarati sev tameta shaak; but it’s thakkali kuzhambu, from Tamil Nadu, on which today’s recipe is (very) loosely based. The sweetness and acidity of tomatoes is married to classic pickling spices, then tempered with curry leaves, tamarind and coconut: the ingredients that define south Indian cooking.
As with the tomato season, this dish has a magic moment when all the water in the coconut milk evaporates to render the oil, leaving you with a silky, luxurious heap of deliciousness that’s perfect for scooping up with charred roti or mixing into hot rice.
Sniff your tomatoes before you buy: they should smell ripe, warm and summery. The yellow tomatoes aren’t essential, but they do make the dish look prettier. You’ll need two large frying pans. Serves four.
Recipe by: Meera Sodha
Getting it done:
Heat a pan on a medium flame and, when hot, toast the fennel, mustard, cumin and coriander, shaking the pan every few seconds, for a minute or two, until the coriander seeds turn golden (coriander always takes first). Tip the seeds into a mortar and bash until fairly well ground.
Heat four tablespoons of oil in the same pan and, when hot, return the ground spices with the onions, salt and curry leaves. Fry for 10-12 minutes, until the onions are golden and crisp-edged. Meanwhile, cut the vine tomatoes into eighths and the baby tomatoes in half.
Add the chillies and garlic to the pan, cook, stirring, for two minutes, then add the tamarind and coconut milk, stir and transfer half the mixture into a second pan.
Divide the tomatoes between the pans, so they sit in one layer. Set both pans on a medium heat and cook for 20-25 minutes without stirring: you want the tomatoes to keep their shape while driving off the water in the coconut milk. You’ll know there’s none left when you can see oil at the sides of the pan. (Don’t worry about the curry being dry: the tomatoes contain a lot of juice, which will come out while they’re resting.) Now tip the contents of the second pan gently back into the first.
If you’d like to add a final bit of pizazz, heat a little oil in a saucepan and, when hot, drop in a handful of extra curry leaves. Let them crackle and crisp, then take off the heat and pour over the tomatoes. Serve with chapatis or basmati rice and some coconut yoghurt.
Ingredients:
1¼ tsp fennel seeds
1¼ tsp black mustard seeds
1¼ tsp cumin seeds
1¼ tsp coriander seeds
Rapeseed oil
2 onions, peeled, cut in half and finely sliced into half moons
1¼ tsp salt
8 curry leaves, plus extra to garnish
1.2 kg tomatoes (ideally a mixture of 1kg vine and 200g yellow baby plum)
1½ green finger chillies, very finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2½ tsp tamarind paste
400ml tin coconut milk
Getting it done:
Heat a pan on a medium flame and, when hot, toast the fennel, mustard, cumin and coriander, shaking the pan every few seconds, for a minute or two, until the coriander seeds turn golden (coriander always takes first). Tip the seeds into a mortar and bash until fairly well ground.
Heat four tablespoons of oil in the same pan and, when hot, return the ground spices with the onions, salt and curry leaves. Fry for 10-12 minutes, until the onions are golden and crisp-edged. Meanwhile, cut the vine tomatoes into eighths and the baby tomatoes in half.
Add the chillies and garlic to the pan, cook, stirring, for two minutes, then add the tamarind and coconut milk, stir and transfer half the mixture into a second pan.
Divide the tomatoes between the pans, so they sit in one layer. Set both pans on a medium heat and cook for 20-25 minutes without stirring: you want the tomatoes to keep their shape while driving off the water in the coconut milk. You’ll know there’s none left when you can see oil at the sides of the pan. (Don’t worry about the curry being dry: the tomatoes contain a lot of juice, which will come out while they’re resting.) Now tip the contents of the second pan gently back into the first.
If you’d like to add a final bit of pizazz, heat a little oil in a saucepan and, when hot, drop in a handful of extra curry leaves. Let them crackle and crisp, then take off the heat and pour over the tomatoes. Serve with chapatis or basmati rice and some coconut yoghurt.
About the Recipe
India has a vast library of dishes that use tomatoes, but they tend to be in the background. Rarely are they the star, as they are in so many Mediterranean dishes, from spaghetti napoletana to gazpacho, which are built tomato-first. We have just a few rare jewels that truly celebrate the tomato, such as Keralan tomato fry and Gujarati sev tameta shaak; but it’s thakkali kuzhambu, from Tamil Nadu, on which today’s recipe is (very) loosely based. The sweetness and acidity of tomatoes is married to classic pickling spices, then tempered with curry leaves, tamarind and coconut: the ingredients that define south Indian cooking.
As with the tomato season, this dish has a magic moment when all the water in the coconut milk evaporates to render the oil, leaving you with a silky, luxurious heap of deliciousness that’s perfect for scooping up with charred roti or mixing into hot rice.
Sniff your tomatoes before you buy: they should smell ripe, warm and summery. The yellow tomatoes aren’t essential, but they do make the dish look prettier. You’ll need two large frying pans. Serves four.
Recipe by: Meera Sodha
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