Tomato Saar

Tomato saar.
Delicious spicy curry with ripe tomatoes from Maharashtra cuisine.

According to Wikipedia Maharashtra is the name of a state of India and its language is Marathi. In area it is the third-biggest state of India. Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra. Pune is the cultural and educational capital.
The food of Maharashtra is different in each place. The people in the Konkan region eat more rice and the ones near the ocean eat a lot of fish. In eastern Maharashtra, most people eat a lot of wheat, jowar, and bajra. Other important things people eat in Maharashtra are lentils, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, chilies, garlic, ginger, and aamras. Many people also eat chicken and mutton.

Tomato is known scientifically as Solanum lycopersicum, the tomato is the berry of a plant from the nightshade family, native to South America. Despite technically being a fruit, the tomato is generally categorized as a vegetable.

Tomatoes are the major dietary source of the antioxidant lycopene, which has been linked to many health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease and cancer.

They are also a great source of vitamin C, potassium, folate and vitamin K.
Source

This month in Shhhhh cooking secretly challenge facebook group we are sharing different dishes from Maharashtra cuisine. In this group members are paired up every month. And the pairs give each other two secret ingredients. This month my partner is Priya Mahesh. Who blog at Www.at200deg.com
Priya gave me two easy to use ingredients hing or asafoetida and jeera or cumin. And I gave her turmeric and ginger. Check out her blog for the amazing recipe she shared with these ingredients.

You may like some more tomato recipes here

Marinara sauce

Tomato coconut chickpea curry

Onion tomato chutney or dip

Tomato cilantro egg drop soup

Bitter gourd with tomato

This tomato saar goes well with hot steamed rice. I have added kokum in it. I love the mild tangy taste of kokum. But if you don’t have kokum, use tamarind paste or you can skip it if you don’t like tangy taste.

Recipe

Tomato – 4 medium

Water – 2 cup

Ginger – 1/2 inch piece

Green chilli – 2

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Coconut – 1/2 cup, finely chopped or grated

Oil – 2 tablespoon

Mustard seeds – 1/2 teaspoon

Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves – 12

Dry red chilli – 1

Hing or asafoetida – a pinch

Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon

Jaggery powder or sugar – 1/2 teaspoon

Kokum – 2 – 3 pieces, optional

Cilantro or coriander leaves – 1 tablespoon, chopped + to garnish

Method

1. Wash the tomatoes well. Make a cross-shaped incision or make X with a knife at one end. Don’t make too deep cut.

2. Boil 2 cup water in a pan. Add the tomatoes in it. Boil for 6 – 8 minutes or until the skin starts to separate. Don’t discard the water we will use it.

3. Let the tomatoes cool down. Discard the stem. Peel and grind into a smooth paste.

4. Grind the coconut, green chilli and ginger. Make a smooth paste. You can add 2 – 3 garlic cloves if you want. I didn’t.

5. Add cumin powder and keep aside. If you are using whole cumin add it with coconut, chilli and ginger and grind.

6. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds.

7. When the seeds start to splutter add cumin seeds and let them splutter.

8. Add dry red chilli. Now add hing or asafoetida and curry leaves.

9. Add coconut, chilli, ginger, cumin paste and turmeric powder. Mix well.

10. Saute till the mixture dried up.

11. Add ground tomatoes, salt, kokum and chopped cilantro or coriander leaves. Mix well.

12. Add the water we have used to boil tomatoes. When it starts to rolling boil reduce the heat. Cook on simmer for 10 minutes.

13. Remove from heat. Garnish with coriander leaves.

14. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Notes

1. Add green chilli according to your taste.
2. If you don’t have kokum then you can use 1 teaspoon tamarind paste or if you don’t like tangy taste skip it.
3. Use fully ripe red tomatoes to make tomato saar.

If you tried my recipe, you can share your food pictures with me in the social network sites by using hash tag, #batterupwithsujata
I would love to see your creations.

I would love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts and suggestions in comment.
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