Twice Cooked Tomato Chutney

This takes a little longer to make than your average chutney, but well worth the effort. Double cooking  the chutney (once before pureeing, and once after) makes the onion, garlic and tomatoes extra flavorful. I like to add sambar powder to my tomato chutney. Sambar powder is a roasted, powdered blend of spices from south India containing red chilies, coriander seeds, turmeric, lentils and fenugreek. You could leave out the sambar powder if you wish or use only turmeric and chili powder instead.

The recipe below is my ‘special’ version. For a simpler, ’everyday’ version of this tomato chutney, I simply saute the onions, garlic and tomatoes, blend in a blender, temper some black mustard and cumin, add the pureed chutney and cook again. No matter which version I am making, I always twice cook the chutney.

This chutney will freeze well, so if you have a bumper crop of tomatoes this summer, and dont know what to do with them, this is a great option for you. I put the chutney into ice cube trays and place in the freezer. Once they are frozen, I remove the cubes from the tray, put them in a zip lock bag and return to the freezer. This way, you can defrost even tiny quantities of chutney.

Serving tomato chutney with idlis or dosas is traditional. Here, I serve the chutney with pita bread.

Twice Cooked Tomato Chutney with Cumin and Fennel: Recipe

makes about 2 cups

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon each cumin seeds, fennel seeds, black mustard seeds, urad dal (black gram)
1/8 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 dried red chili, optional
1/2 cup curry leaves loosely packed
1 large onion (about 2 cups when diced)
8 pods garlic, peeled
6-8 (about 1 lb) ripe tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon sambar powder

for tempering:
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/8 teaspoon each cumin seeds, fennel seeds, black mustard seeds, urad dal
a few curry leaves

Heat oil in a large wok. Add cumin, fennel, black mustard and urad dal. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add fenugreek seeds, red chili if using, and curry leaves. Cook for about 30 seconds. Then add chopped onion and garlic. Cook on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook on medium for about 15 minutes or till the tomatoes are completely soft.

Cool the chutney a little and then puree in a blender, along with sambar powder and 1/2 cup water till smooth. (Make sure to vent the blender lid slightly when blending hot stuff).

Wipe the wok, and heat oil for tempering. Add all tempering ingredients. When the mustard seeds splutter, reduce heat and carefully pour the blended chutney into the wok. Be very careful, the chutney may bubble and splatter. Add salt. Cover the wok and cook the chutney on medium-low for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with idli, dosa or pita bread.

Collards Greens Dal

I usually make dal (also called dhal or daal) with spinach. But there was a bunch of collard greens hanging out in my fridge, so I used those instead. Unlike fresh spinach, collards have a better texture when cooked with the lentils. Sambar or Rasam powder adds a lot of flavor to this dish. For those not familiar with Sambar and Rasam powders – they are staples in every south Indian kitchen and made by dry roasting and grinding coriander seeds, red chillies, bengal gram dal, fenugreek and other spices.

Red Lentils (Masoor Dal) – 1/3 cup
Bengal Gram Dal (Channa Dal) – 1/3 cup
Green Gram Dal (Moong Dal) – 1/3 cup
Collard greens – 1 bunch
Tomatoes diced – 1/2 cup. I like Del Monte canned tomatoes with zesty jalapeno
Onion – 1 small
Garlic – 4 cloves
Ginger – 1/2 inch piece, optional
Sambar or Rasam powder – 3 tbsp
Asafoetida – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
Oil – 1 tsp

Finely chop the onion and garlic. Peel the ginger, dont chop it so that you can pull it out at the end of cooking.

Heat a large pot with the oil. Add all the lentils and fry on low heat till the lentils are very slightly brown. To the lentils, add 5 cups of water, salt and turmeric increase heat and bring to a boil. Stir constantly to prevent the lentils from foaming over.

Once the water is boiling, reduce heat to medium low. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and sambar or rasam powder. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

While lentils are cooking, wash the collard greens. Remove the tough talk and veins. Stack up the leaves, roll them tightly and chop into strips.

After 20 minutes, check to see if lentils are done. I dont like them too mushy so I dont let them go more than 20 minutes.

Add the chopped collards into the lentils and cook another 5 minutes until the collards are just wilted. Turn off heat. Pull out the ginger piece. Taste and adjust for salt. Depending on how tart the dal is, add lemon juice accordingly. Sometimes the tomatoes alone will do the trick and you wont need the lemon, so taste first!

You could mix in some chopped cilantro at this point. I prefer not to because they take the attention away from the collard greens.

Serve with rice or rotis.

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