Tomato Chutney Recipe For Idli & Dosa

4.99 from 62 votes

Tomato Chutney Recipe For Idli & Dosa

This South Indian Tomato Chutney recipe for dosa or idli is a spicy, tangy, and vibrant chutney made from fresh tomatoes, spices and herbs. Also known as Tamatar ki Chutney in Hindi and Thakkali Chutney in Tamil, this recipe is made without onions and garlic. Make this zesty chutney at home, and enjoy it just as is or as a dip or relish with snacks like idli, dosa, vada, pakoda or spread on your chapati, paratha or bread toasts.

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Total Time30

Course: Condiment, Side Dish

Cuisine: South Indian

Diet: Vegan

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Servings:

Calories: 90kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

To Cook and Blend

1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon urad dal (split and husked black gram)
2 to 3 dry red chillies - broken and deseeded, I have used less hot variety of red chillies. Check point no 4 in notes.
1 to 2 cloves - optional
4 to 5 black peppercorns
1 inch ginger - peeled and chopped
1.5 cups tomatoes chopped, 225 to 250 grams or 2 large tomatoes
1 pinch asafoetida (hing) - optional
salt as required
2 tablespoons water - for blending or grinding, add 1 or 2 tablespoon more if needed

To Temper

½ tablespoon oil - sesame oil or sunflower oil or any neutral flavored oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
7 to 8 curry leaves
2 to 3 fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)
1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
1 dry red chili - halved and deseeded

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Cooking and blending tomatoes

In a frying pan or sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil and add urad dal. On a low heat, fry the urad lentils till they start turning maroonish.
Once the lentils get a maroonish brown color, add broken dry red chilies, cloves, black peppercorns and chopped ginger. Stir for some seconds, till the red chilies change their color.
Then add chopped tomatoes and asafoetida. Add salt.
Stir and saute till the tomatoes soften. About 6 to 7 minutes on a low to medium-low heat.
If the tomatoes start sticking to the pan, add a splash of water and continue to sauté.
After the tomatoes have softened, turn off the heat and set aside the chutney mixture to cool.
Once the tomato chutney ingredients cool, add them to a chutney grinder or small blender.
Add 2 tablespoons of water or as needed. Blend or grind to a smooth and fine consistency.

Tempering Tomato Chutney

In the same pan or different pan, heat ½ tablespoon of oil.
Add the mustard seeds and crackle them.
Then add curry leaves, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida and one broken red chili. Sauté till the curry leaves become crisp. Ensure that the spices and herbs do not burn.
Then add the blended and ground tomato paste. Stir to mix and combine.
Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes on a low heat. At this point you can add in a few tablespoons of hot water if the chutney looks thick to you.
Check the taste and add more salt if required.
Stir to mix. The chutney is done and ready to be served.
This Tomato Chutney pairs extremely well with idli, dosa, uttapam or vada varieties. You can even serve this Thakkali chutney with pakodas.
The remaining chutney can be stored in the fridge for 1 to 2 days.

Video

Notes

Use tomatoes, which are fresh, red and ripe. They can be tart or sweet-tart but not unripe.
If the tomato chutney is too sour or tart for your taste, balance it by adding a few pinches of sugar or brown sugar.
Ensure to cook the tomatoes really well, so that their raw flavor and aroma is not felt in the chutney
If using medium-hot chillies, add 1 to 2 according to your spice preferences. If using a hotter and spicier variety of chilli, add 1 or ½ of it.
You can skip adding cloves if you do not prefer it or have any allergy towards it.
You could use any neutral oil or sesame oil (gingelly oil).
The recipe can be scaled up to make for more servings.

Nutrition