Tomato Pachhadi

Red post alert! Wait wait.. I am talking about the lovely tomatoes in the post 🙂 This is my all time favourite pachhadi (pickle) and its Mom-made. This is a gem from my mom’s kitchen and is addictively tasty. Everyone who has tasted this pickle totally loved it…and can vouch for this recipe. Hopefully you enjoy it with your family too!!!

Ok!!! Agree, that it requires lot (#notveryhelathy) of oil, but I think its okay sometimes 🙂 So here it is!!!

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes (We used 4 lbs here.. About 2kgs)
• Oil – 3 tbs + 1/4 cup + 3/4th cup (Used canola oil)
• Turmeric – 1tsp
• Fenugreek seeds (Methi) – 1 tbsp
• Red Chilli powder – 1/4 cup (as per your spice levels)
• Salt

Disclaimer: There’s going to be lot of mess on the stove top. But trust me, its worth it 🙂 

Procedure:

1. Rinse the tomatoes well and ensure that they are absolutely dry before you use them. If the tomatoes are wet, the pickle may be spoilt. The best tomatoes for the pickle are the ones with lot of pulp.

2. Cut the tomatoes into pieces and make into puree in a blender (just like how you would make tomato juice).

3. Now, heat some oil in a pan and carefully pour the tomato juice into the pan. There is no particular measure for oil at this stage  as the oil here is used to ensure that the tomato juice does not stick to the vessel. The tomato juice will take a long time (about 1 hour 15 min) to boil and finally turns into a paste after all the water is evaporated. There should be absolutely no water left in the pan. Do not cover the pan while the juice is boiling. 

4. Meanwhile, dry fry the fenugreek seeds till they turn golden brown and make into powder. Add the powder only after the entire tomato turns into a paste with no water left. Along with fenugreek powder add turmeric powder and mix well.

5. Now comes the most important part. Heat oil (1/4 cup) in the pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, channa dal, curry leaves and hing.

6. Once the ingredients splatter, switch off the stove and add red chilli powder to the hot oil, mix it and transfer immediately into the tomato paste. This is important as the red chilli powder may burn(turns black in oil) if it is in the oil for long time.

7. After adding the red chilli powder, add enough salt (don’t have to add more like a pickle) and mix it well. After the pickle is ready, add required heated oil, so that the pickle does not dry up. For 4 pounds (2kg approx) of tomatoes we added about one and half cup of oil. Keep it on the stove for 5 more minutes and switch off the stove.

8.Let the pickle completely cool down (without the lid) before you transfer it into a preserving bottle. This pickle has to be stored in the refrigerator.

Ok! Now.. Time to make hot white rice to savor the freshly made tomato pickle !! Let me know how you enjoyed it with your family.

Happy eating!!!!

-Signing off