Tomato Uragaya / Tomato Pickle

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes :– 500gms
• Fenugreek Seeds :– 10gms
• Salt :– As per Taste
• Tamarind :– 50gms
• Turmeric Powder :– 1/4tsp
• Red Chili Powder :– 50gms

For Seasoning:

• Mustard Seeds :– 1tsp
• Fenugreek Seeds :– 1/2tsp
• Asafoetida :– 1/8tsp
• Red Chilies :– 2 (Break Each Chili Into Two Pieces)
• Oil :– 50gms

Method:

Wash & dry tomatoes. Cut each tomato into eight pieces. Similarly cut all the tomatoes into pieces and take them into a dry bowl.

Add turmeric powder and salt to the tomato pieces and mix well. While mixing squeeze the tomato pieces to make them soft and release some juice.

Transfer the tomato pieces along with the juice to a ceramic or glass bowl and cover it. Keep the tomato bowl in a dry place for two days (48 hours).

On the third day squeeze the tomato pieces and separate from the juice. Spread the squeezed tomato pieces in a plate.

To the tomato juice, add tamarind and allow it to soak. Place the juice bowl and tomato pieces plate under sun and dry them.

Cover the juice bowl with a slotted plate to avoid dust falling into it. Dry the tomato pieces till they turn crisp—this may take two or three days, depending upon Sun light. When the tomato pieces are dried till crisp then we can start preparing the pickle.

Now, we need to prepare fenugreek seeds powder. Heat a pan and add the fenugreek seeds and fry them. Grind roasted fenugreek seeds to make a fine powder.

Squeeze and remove the tamarind from the juice.

Spread the tamarind in a plate and remove the seeds and pith if any. Take the tamarind into a mixie jar and grind to smooth paste. If required add some juice for easy grinding of the tamarind. Add this tamarind paste to the juice and mix well.

Now add the dried tomato pieces to the mixie jar and crush them coarsely—this coarse crushing adds some texture and taste to the pickle.

Add this coarsely crushed tomato pieces to the juice and mix well. Now add the red chili powder and roasted fenugreek seeds powder to the juice and mix well. The pickle is ready for seasoning.

Seasoning:

Heat a pan and add oil to it. Add the fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds and fry stirring.

By the time the mustard seeds crackle fully fenugreek seeds change color. Then add the red chili pieces and asafoetida. Before the red chilies turn dark in color add the seasoning to the prepared pickle and mix well.

Keep this pickle aside for two hours and then serve. The bitterness of the fenugreek seeds powder gets balanced with the tamarind-tomato juice and tastes better after two hours.

Serve with plain hot rice and ghee, dosa, utappam, pesarattu, Curd rice etc.