రసం/ చారు: Tomato Rasam/Charu- Tomato-Tamarind soup

INGREDIENTS:

1.Tomato.......................1 big

2.Tamarind....................lemon size.

3.Coriander powder......2 t sp.

4.Black pepper powder.....2 t sp.

5.Red Chilly powder...........3 t sp.

6.Jaggery...............................big lemon size.

7.Fenugreek powder............2 t sp.

8.Curry leaves

9.Turmeric.

10Salt.

11.Ghee....................................2 t sp.

12.Mustard seeds....................2 t sp.

13.Asafoetida ...........................1 t sp.

METHOD:

1.Cook tomato in hot water. when it becomes soft, peel off the skin. keep it aside to cool.

2.Soak the tamarind, take out the pulp.

3.Take a vessel put 2 cups of water, add the tamarind pulp, salt, turmeric and with curry leaves cook for some time.

4.Take the peeled tomato, put it in the mixi grind it to a pulp. Take out.

5.After the tamarind juice boiled nicely getting the flavour of it add , this tomato pulp to it.

6.Add all powders and jaggery to the rasam. Boil it again.

7.Take a small pan put ghee, when it is hot add mustard (hing) asafoetida

టమేట దోస/ ఉతప్పం: Tomato dosa/utappam- Tomato crepe

INGREDIENTS:

1.Rice flour.....................1 and 1/2 cup.

2.Tomato.........................1 big size.

3.Ginger...........................1" piece.

4.Green Chilly..................5 to 6. depending the pungency.

5.Garlic Cloves.................3 or 4

6.Cumin seeds..................1 t sp.

7.Salt for taste

8.Cilantro.

METHOD:

1.Cut tomato, ginger, chilly, garlic into pieces.

2.Put all above items, salt and rice flour in to a mixer. with little water grind it into soft batter. 

3.If required add some more water. Remove any small pieces left with help of a sieve. The batter must be fine. Keep this batter for 15 mts aside. Add cut cilantro to the batter.

4.Take dosa pan heat well. Taking one full ladle of batter put it on the pan, spread it evenly.Put oil around the dosa. Let it cook on medium flame. Turn it cook the other side.

5.Eat it  hot with coconut chutney.

6.Can make green dosas using spinach, mint or carrots instead of tomato.

టమోట పెరుగుపచ్చడి: Tamata perugu pacchadi- Tomato in yogurt gravy

INGREDIENTS:

1.Tomatoes..................2

2.Yogurt...........................1 and 1/2 cup.

3.Red Chilly..................2

4.Green Chilly..................3

5.Mustard.........................1 t sp.

6.Cumin seeds...................1 t sp.

7.Asafoetida.......................1/4 t sp.

8.Sugar................................1 t sp.

9.Oil.....................................2 t sp.

10.Curry leaves, Cilantro

METHOD:

1.Cut tomato into pieces. and, Cook till it becomes soft. If it is more watery let it cook some more to evaporate the water. Take it out, cool it. 

2.Take yogurt in a bowl, can use it as it is, or beat it nicely to smoothness.

3.Keep the pan on heat put oil, when it is hot add seasoning items, when they flutter add to the yogurt. mix well.

4.Now add the cooled, cooked tomato with yogurt. Add suger. Mix well enough, that tomato blends with curd.

5.Cut and add cilantro to the chutney.

6.This is goes well with rice as well as with roti.

మెంతి ఆకు-టమాట అన్నం: Menti Aaku Tamata annam- Fenugreek greens & Tomato rice

Serves: Four as a snack. Preparation time: 1 hour including assembling ingredients, washing, chopping, cooking.

Ingredients:
1 bunch Fenugreek greens 

2 medium sized Ripe Tomatoes

1.5'' Ginger piece.

1.5 cloves Garlic

1 Tsp Cumin seeds

1 Tsp Turmeric

1 medium sized Onion

4 Green chillies or to taste

1 Tbsp Salt or to taste

0.5 Tsp Sugar

2 Tbsps Oil

2 Rice cooker cups of Rice

3 stalks of Cilantro

Optional: Green peas

Method:
1. Wash the rice and boil it. Boil it with slightly less water (2 Tbsps less than normal) so that it is well cooked but grainy in texture. Set aside and leave to cool. 
2. Meanwhile, pluck the leaves from the stalks of Methi greens. Discard the stalks. We can use any tender stalks if they are not fibrous. Wash the Methi & Cilantro thoroughly in clean running water. Immerse them in salt water for ten minutes if you wish. Place in a colander to let the water drain out. 
3. With a mortar & pestle, pound the ginger and set aside. Pound the garlic and set aside. Pound the green chillies or chop them very fine and set aside. 
4. Finely chop the Onion and set aside. 
5. Chop tomatoes into chunks and set aside. 
6. Finely chop the Methi greens and set aside. Also chop the Cilantro. 

7. In a wok, heat the oil. Add Cumin seeds. When they splutter, add the turmeric, Garlic paste, Ginger paste, Green chilli paste and Onions. Let it cook until onion browns. You can add the salt at this stage since salt draws out moisture from the onions & makes them crisp. However, traditional cooks like to add salt right at the end. 
8. Mix in the chopped Methi greens and tomato chunks.  Add red chilli powder if you like the taste (optional). 
9. Cover and cook for six to seven minutes by clock. The tomatoes soften and make the mixture go soupy. 

10. Mix in the sugar (and the salt if you didn't add it earlier) and rice. Let it cook for a minute. The rice soaks up the soupy juices and turns out dry. 
11. Garnish with chopped Cilantro. 


Serve with a Perugu pacchadi or Raita. 

Variations:
1. Adjust the garlic, ginger, green chillies according to taste. 
2. Traditional cooks say that souring agents like tomato/tamarind etc halt the cooking process. If you feel touchy about that issue, let the Methi greens cook for sometime before adding the tomato chunks. I add them together since I like to expose greens to the minimum cooking time, my greens just get cooked along with the tomato instead of initially being cooked & then cooked again while the tomato cooks. 
3. I cook the Methi greens for only 6 or 7 minutes since I make a small quantity (it cooks quickly). Also, it is advisable to cook greens for no longer than 8 minutes to preserve most of the vitamins and phytochemicals. However, traditional cooks may complain that the greens are still raw, you can cook it for longer if you wish!
 4. This same recipe can be made with Pudina (Mint) greens instead of Methi greens & Tomato. Also, a mix of greens can be used (Spinach, Mint, Fenugreek, Cilantro). However, remember not to club Tomatoes with Spinach. 
5. Try tossing in a handful of green peas for taste, nutrition and visual appeal!

Trivia:
I have fond memories of this dish, mom made it once when my sister & I were in an 'I-am-not-hungry' phase, this made our mouths water and our stomachs rumble!! One of my all time favourites. Very simple to make, great taste along with the goodness of green leafy vegetable...
Aahaahaahaa, try this out if you want to know what "Yummy" means!

టమేట పచ్చడి- Tamata Pacchadi: Tomato Chutney

Serves: Fills a 500 ml bottle. Preparation time: 30 minutes.

Green Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:
6 medium sized Green Tomatoes
5 Green chillies
6 tsp Oil
2 Tsp Mustard seeds (Rai, Avalu)
1 Tsp Turmeric
1 shallow Tsp Asafoetida
1 shallow Tsp Fenugreek powder
1 Tbsp Tamarind paste
1 Tsp or to taste; Salt
1/4 Tsp Sugar
3 sprigs Cilantro

Method:
1. Chop Tomatoes, Green Chillies into chunks. Fine chop the Cilantro.

2. Heat 4 Tsps oil. Add Green chillies and Green tomatoes. Cover and cook on low flame until tomatoes soften, around 6 minutes.

Add Tamarind paste and leave to cool.
3. Heat 2 Tsps oil in a pan. Add Mustard seeds. When they splutter, switch off flame and add Fenugreek powder, Asafoetida, Turmeric. Let it cool. 
4. Grinding:
First grind the spice mix from step 3. Next add the vegetables from step 2, mix in salt & sugar and grind on pulse/whipping mode with quick spurts of power so that the tomatoes are not completely mashed
5. Add Cilantro, transfer into a bottle, and refrigerate.

Ripe (Red) Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:
6 medium sized Ripe (Red) Tomatoes
3 Tsps Oil
2 heaped Tsp Split Black Gram
4 Dry Red chillies
1 heaped Tsp Coriander seeds
1 heaped Tsp Cumin seeds
1 level Tsp Mustard seeds
1 level Tsp Turmeric
1 level Tsp Asafoetida
1 level Tsp Fenugreek powder
1 Tbsp Tamarind paste
1 Tsp or to taste; Salt
1/4 Tsp Sugar
3 sprigs Cilantro

Method:
1. Chop Tomatoes into chunks. Finely chop the Cilantro. Break up the Dry red chilli into small bits.

2. Heat 1 Tsp oil in a pan. Add tomatoes, cover and let simmer until tomatoes wither/go tender, but not completely done. Add Tamarind paste and leave to cool.
3. Heat 2 Tsps oil in pan. Add Black Gram and Dry Red chillies. When black gram turns pale gold, add Coriander and Cumin seeds. When Black Gram goes golden brown (dry chillies would be dark brown & giving off an aroma by now), add Mustard seeds, they'll splutter. Switch off flame and add Fenugreek powder, Turmeric and Asafoetida. Leave to cool.
4. Grinding:
First add the spice mix from step 2 and grind. Then add Salt, Sugar and the Tomatoes from step 3 and coarse grind on pulse/whipping mode with quick spurts of power.
5. Mix in the chopped cilantro. Bottle and refrigerate.

Variations:
1. You can mix and match the ingredients as per taste, like I made a red-green tomato pacchadi recipe mix since my green tomatoes were actually yellowing.
2. Manju pinni suggests: Prepare the chutney first and then pour the tempering  of step 3 over it right at the end. This way, the spices smell fresh, the seeds (black gram, mustard) are whole & crisp instead of being ground down.
3. If preparing a large quantity, it may be wise to first dry roast the Cumin and Coriander seeds separately and then add them to the fried black gram-red chillies. This is because all these spices have different cooking times and can easily stay undercooked/get burnt within a few seconds of misjudged timing.
4. Cumin & Coriander seeds can be substituted with powders. 
5. If using whole Fenugreek seeds: Roast to a black-brown, leave to cool and powder. Then add to the cooled tempering from step 3. 

Culture & Health:
Green or Ripe tomato pacchadi is eaten with fresh hot rice & ghee. It is also an excellent accompaniment with Dosas, Idlis, Uttappams. It is an awesome spread for sandwiches and savoury snacks. Totally yummy with yogurt-rice.
Fresh pacchadis are full of vitamins and antioxidants, they can be made with very little oil & salt for the health conscious.

Trivia:
The Green Tomato pacchadi recipe is my mom-in-law's (Indira aunty), Krishna's favourite favourite favourite.
The Ripe tomato pacchadi recipe is mom's, it was an ever-green (or should I say ever-red) part of our family menu, my sister LOVED it like crazy, and mom makes it frequently.
Do you guys know what Tomato is called in Telugu? A local cultivar that produced small sour fruit was called "Ramamulagakaaya" during my mother's childhood. Of course, it is a now-extinct name, we only see normal tomatoes in the market, and Tomato is Tamata for us! :-)

టమాట పెసర పప్పు పులుసు: Tamata Pesara Pappu Pulusu- Tomato & Yellow moong bean soup stew

One of my all time favorites back in India.


Preparation time : 10 mins, Cooking time : 20 minutes.

Ingredients -
(1 cup holds - 240 ml)

Pesarapappu/Moong Dal - 1/2 cup.
Water - 1 1/2 cup
Tomatoes - 4.
Tamarind - lemon size.
Salt - to taste.
Chillies - 1/2
Pulusu Podi - 11/2 tsp.

Tiragamata
Senagapappu - 1 tsp
Aavalu - 1 tsp
Mentulu - 1 tsp.
Inguva - a little more than a pinch
Karvepaku - one strand.(Optional)


Method.

1.Pressure cook the moong dal with tomatoes for 3 - 4 whistles.
2.Soak tamarind in water, for 15 minutes, and make the extract
2.a or , with some water microwave tamarind for 30 - 45 seconds / until soft and take the extract.
3. Once the pressure is low, to the moong dal , add tamarind extract, salt, chillies and pulusu podi and allow it to boil for 5 - 10 minutes.
4. In the tiragamata baanali , add a little oil, when hot, add senagapappu, mentulu, aavalu and inguva, once aavalu splits, add the tiragamata into pulusu.

Pulusu Podi

Makes pulusu for 3 - 4 times.
Ingredients

Endu Merapakayalu - 4 - 6
Dhaniyalu - 1/2 cup.
Jeelakarra - 1 tsp.
Senagapappu - 3 tsp
Minapappu - 3 tsp.
Mentulu - 1 tsp.
Endu Kobbari - 1 - 2 tsp.(Optional).

Dry roast all the above ingredients and make a powder once it cools.


Variation : Vankaya, Bendakaya, Ullipaya, Are pretty tasty in this pulusu.

Other Cuisines : Idey, with kokum & Jaggery will become gujarati dal of course without pulusu podi, and With all vegetables(Carrots, celery, capsicum, etc.) and vegetable broth instead of water will make it a hearty lentil soup :).

Trivia : My grandmother , always made pulusu podi fresh. This pulusu does not need biyyapindi as moong dal thickens pretty quick. The main ingredient of pulusu podi is dhaniyalu, love it when it's fresh. The podi is a slight mix of sambar and chaaru podi.

టమాట పప్పు: Tamata Pappu- Pigeon peas with tomato

Preparation time : 30 min
Serves : 2





Ingredients

1 cup toor dal
2-3 medium sized tomatoes cut to chunks
2 tbsp tamarind pulp (soak marble sized tamarind in hot/warm water & then extract the pulp)
1 green chilli cut lengthwise
3-4 curry leaves
salt
2 tsps red chilli powder (adjust accordingly)


For Popu / talimpu / tadka:

1/2 tbsp oil
hing / inguva
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp″ jeera
1 tbsp urad & chana dal
1/4 tsp″ turmeric

Method

Wash dal, add 2 cups of water, tomato chunks, a pinch of hing, green chilly and a drop of oil. Pressure cook till dal is cooked.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, jeera and dals.
Once they crackle, add a pinch of hing, curry leaves and turmeric.
Now add the cooked tomatoes (top layer of the cooked dal) to the popu/tadka and fry for a min.
Add the tamarind pulp and 2-3 tbsps of water.
Add red chilli powder, salt and let it cook for around 5 mins on medium flame till the oil separates.
Check the taste and adjust salt if needed.
Now add the cooked dal and mix well.
Switch off the flame. Serve hot with plain rice, ghee and pickle/papad.

Note: Dry roast dal if you like to, before you pressure cook. Mudda pappu being the very essential, tomato pappu is the next essential pappu in our kitchen. I remember we used to have it atleast 3 times a week in our childhood but never bored of it.

We can also add tomato chunks directly to the tadka (without cooking with dal), but I love this taste. Adjust water accordingly to get the desired gravy consistency.