Aish Cooks

Easy Tangy Tomato Chutney / Indian Tomato Dipping Sauce

A very easy recipe for tangy tomato chutney – goes with almost everything from dosa & idly to vadas, samosas or other appetizers. Growing up, the tomato chutney I remember having was chunky and had onions in it. Well, this version of the recipe has evolved a lot over time. At first it was just to eliminate the onions to make it to D’s liking: it used to have a lot more steps which have all been trimmed along the way after realizing it did not hurt the yummy-factor one bit. The inclusion of the tamarind was to compensate for the tomatoes not being tangy-enough and you can skip it if you like your tomatoes just the way they are 🙂

So here’s an the recipe for onionless-tomato-chutney, that you definitely would keep making over and over again once you find out just how delicious it can be!

Source: My own

Makes: Approx. 1 cup chutney (Serves 6-8)

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1. Tomatoes – 3, diced
2. Dry Red Chilies – 1 or 2, to taste
3. Green chilies – 1 (optional)
4. Garlic – 1 tbsp, chopped (approx. 2 pods)
5. Tamarind – 1″ piece or 1 tsp paste (optional)
6. Urad dal – 2 tbsp
7. Channa dal – 1 tbsp
8. Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
9. Cumin seeds (jeera) – 2 tsp
10. Asafoetida/ Hing – a pinch
11. Curry leaves – few
12. Oil – 1 tbsp
13. Salt – to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Add mustard, urad, chana dal, jeera and dry red chilies. Allow mustard to crackle and stir to prevent dals from burning.
2. Add curry leave, green chilies, hing and garlic and saute for a minute on med heat.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and salt. Saute to combine everything well.
4. Cook on med-heat with lid on for 5-7 minutes until tomatoes and soft and mushy.
5. Turn off heat and let the mixture cool a little.
6. Transfer to blender. Add water if needed to adjust the consistency of the chutney (be careful to not thin it out too much – I usually add only 2 or 3 tbsp of water).
7. Blend the mixture to a smooth paste. Check and add more salt if at all needed.

Transfer chutney to a serving dish and you are ready to dip in!

Note:

The spice from chilies can be very hot because they are ground in the chutney. So try with just 1 chili of each kind at the most and increase based on spice-level desired. Also, be careful when adding water as it can dilute the seasoning in the chutney. Just a few spoons of water should do it as this chutney tastes best with  slightly thick consistency.