Thakkali Thokku / Tomato Pickle

A few days back I had mentioned that we got around 20 kgs of tomatoes and had promised a recipe on "Thakkali Thokku". So here it is... I was just waiting for the tomatoes to ripen on their own. Nice red colour tomatoes are the best for this recipe. This would be a very good side dish for Idli, dosa, appam, adai, chapathis and even curd rice. I like to just mix rice with thakkali thokku and have it with nice vadams or papads.

The best thing about this recipe is neither my mom nor my MIL makes this. I somehow caught hold of this dish from my friends and am a huge fan of it. H likes to have this with idli/dosa. So for few days down the line my breakfast preparation time would decrease since I need not have to worry about side dishes.

The ingredients are very few and the preparation time is also very less about 10-15 minutes. But the cooking time would be more because we need to boil down the tomato puree until they become a thick paste. Of course this depends on the quantity. More the quantity, more the cooking time. This pickle stays in fridge for about 3 months and if kept outside stays fresh for about 5-6 days. Always use a clean and dry spoon to serve the pickle.



Ingredients:
Tomatoes - 6 kgs
Chilly powder - 250 grams
Hing / asafoetida - 25 grams
fenugreek seeds - 25 grams
Gingelly oil - 200 ml
mustard - 25 grams
Salt - to taste



Method:

• Wash and clean the tomatoes.
• Make a juice of all the tomatoes and keep it aside.
• Heat a heavy bottomed, wide mouthed pan or a uruli.
• Dry roast the fenugreek seeds. Powder and keep aside.
• Pour the oil in the pan. Using gingelly oil gives a longer life span for this thokku. We can also use other oils.
• Add mustard. Once mustard splutters, pour the tomato juice. 
• Now our job is to keep stirring until the juice gets reduced to a thick paste.
• If we use a non stick pan probably its enough to stir every 5 minutes or so. 
• It took me almost an hour to complete this task.
• Now add salt, powdered fenugreek, chilly powder and hing.
• Mix well and let it cook for another 10 minutes.
• Switch off the stove. Let it cool and store in an airtight container.

Delicious Thakkali Thokku is ready!!!