Raw Tomato Chutney

Raw Tomatoes are rare to find where I stay, so when I saw them at a vegetable stand, I filled up my bag, about 18-20 of them. I brought them back home happy with the loot & then started wondering what I will do with such a huge lot.

The Chutney was of course the first thing on my mind but I did not want to make it out of all the tomatoes because I wasn't sure if such a huge quantity will survive in the fridge for long. Lets keep half the tomatoes as they are, if we aren't able to do anything with them, they will ripen & then we can use them as normal tomatoes, we decided.

But the tomatoes never got a chance to 'age'. The chutney made with half of them got over in no time & within 4 days I was making the second lot, yes the same chutney, which also got over in 3 days time. This was some 2-3 weeks back and I am already missing it and looking forward to finding some more tomatoes in the market!

Basically, I love this chutney. This and a few more made in a similar way - Pumpkin peel, Ridgegourd peel etc. The addition of Til (Sesame) makes them very unique.

These chutneys were a regular at our home, the favourite one being the Ridgegourd peel. While we used a Mixer/Grinder, back in the village, the chutney was ground on stone and had a unique taste of its own. It would then be served with Hot Bhaakris (Jowar Flatbreads). The ritual after that was to make a small hole in the chutney mound and raw Peanut oil would be poured in, mixed and then devoured. Nobody had heard of cholesterol over there or rather they never had to, since right after this meal, most of them would be seen toiling hard in the fields, except of course us vacationers!

Raw Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Til (Sesame seeds)
• 8-10 medium sized Raw(green) Tomatoes
• 6-8 Green Chillies (Alter acc to taste)
• 8-10 Curry Leaves
• 2-3 Garlic cloves
• 1 tblsp Tamarind pulp
• 1-2 tblsp grated Jaggery (Acc to taste)
• Salt

Method

Lightly roast the sesame and keep aside.

Heat oil in a Pan. When hot, add the curry leaves & fry them for a minute.

Add the green chillies and fry well for about 3-4 min on low flame. Add the Garlic cloves and continue to fry for another 2 min.

Wait until the Chillies are properly roasted & then add the chopped tomatoes.

Roast them until they turn soft & mushy. At this point switch off the flame and add the grated Jaggery and tamarind pulp.

Allow this mixture to cool. Then add the salt & the roasted sesame seeds and then grind it to a coarse/fine consistency depending on your preference. As far as possible, avoid using water for this. If you have to add water, do it spoon by spoon.

This chutney, is a great accompaniment to the daily meal (both Chapati & rice) and also tastes delicious spread on toast.

Note:

If the chillies are not roasted properly, the chutney turns out to be very very hot without any real taste of the tomatoes, so be careful & make sure they are properly roasted/fried in the oil.

The qty of Jaggery can be adjusted according to taste, I personally don't like it very sweet so I use only 1 tblsp but anything up to 2 tblsp should be acceptable.

The sesame seeds can be replaced by peanuts but there will be a slight change in the taste. This will also taste good but different. If you have problem grinding this with the tomato mixture, dry grind it after roasting and then mix it with the tomato mixture for the final grinding.

This Chutney goes to Ramya's Mane Adige for her Chutney/Dip Mania event.