South Indian Tomato Pickle

I never had tomato pickle until I was working in Chennai, India. I was mighty impressed by it! The bright colored spicy sour pickle goes well with crispy dosas, curd rice or any curry. The subtle combination of sweet, spicy and tangy is a great way to spice up any south Indian dish.

When I came to California, I found a few brands at local Indian grocery stores. They are fairly descent pickles, especially for the price. I wouldn't make this recipe unless you have extra tomato pulp from making your own homemade tomato sauce. That being said, homemade Tomato pickle is sooo much better than the commerically available tomato pickle!

To be honest, this recipe was an afterthought---I was eager to try out my new  Kitchenaid Stand-Mixer Grinder/Slicer/Strainer set.  I had made homemade tomato sauce two weeks ago.  The strainer separated the juice of the tomato from the flesh, pulp, skin and seeds. This made the solid remains of the tomato relatively free of moisture. I thought it would be a real shame to throw the  pulp, skin and seeds away. I was thinking of making tomato bread out of it, but then I remembered I was low on Tomato Pickle, so I decided my hand at making South Indian Tomato Pickle with it. I scoured the web and found two recipes for tomato pickle: One, Divine Taste, called for sesame seed oil. The second, Gayatri Vantillu's, didn't call for sesame seed oil, so I went with the latter! It came out delicious, although I made some adjustments to the recipe.

The solid remains of the tomatoes  are salted and left for a week in a jar. The tomatoes are then squeezed of their juices and dried out for an additional week. Tamarind, chili powder and fenugreek seeds are added to the salted tomato juice.  A masala of fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and red chilies is added to the pickles. Lastly, the sun dried tomatoes are incorporated back into the pickle.

That being said, you can make this recipe either with regular tomatoes or the remains of the tomatoes like I had. If you are using fresh tomatoes, you just need to increase the salt content to draw out the water in the tomatoes (I would stick with the 6 tablespoons & 1 teaspoon salt). If you are using tomatoes that have been juiced, I would reduce the amount of salt (maybe try 5 tablespoons).

I used tomatoes from my tomato sauce, so they were fairly dried out. I used 6 tablespoons of salt, which was too much. I had to cut the saltiness down by adding 2 teaspoons of sugar at the end, and it came out fine!

Ingredients
Tomatoes 3/4 lbs to 1 lbs
Turmeric  1/4 tsp
Salt  6 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon (use less salt if you are using tomatoes that have been juiced)
Tamarind, 1 tablespoon
Fenugreek seeds 1 tablespoon
Red Chili Powder 4 tablespoons or to taste

Masala
Mustard Seeds 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida powder  1/8 teaspoon
Red Chilies 2
Oil


Directions

Wash and dry the tomatoes and run them through the KitchenAid Strainer attachment, as detailed in my blog post, Homemade Tomato Sauce with the KitchenAid. Have two bowls set up-one directly underneath the mixer to collect the juice, and a smaller one in front of the mixer to collect the solid parts of the tomatoes.

Take the liquid part of the tomato juice and use it to make tomato sauce. Use the solid pieces for this pickle recipe.

Add turmeric powder and salt to the tomato solids. Put the tomatoes in a glass jar with an airtight seal. Seal the jar and place in a warm, sunny part of the house. Let the tomatoes sit for 1 week (7 full days).












After a week, the salt should have drawn out a lot of the liquid from the tomatoes. Drain the tomatoes, reserving the juice in a separate bowl. Squeeze the tomatoes, separating the liquid from the solid. I used a piece of cheesecloth for this. Really wring out as much juice as you can. When I was making mine, I yielded about 1.5 cups of juice and 1 cup of tomato solids.

Take the tomato solids and place them on a cookie tray. Lay them out as evenly as possible so to form a single layer of tomato peels. They should be fairly dried. Set aside.












Add 1 tablespoons (or 50 grams) of tamarind to the tomato juice. Mix the tamarind in with a fork or your fingers. It should turn a nice red color! If there is a seed in the tamarind, remove it. Take the tomato and tamarind juice mixture and blend it in a food processor until smooth.








Add the chili powder to the juice mixture and blend in the food processor for a few minutes.  Taste and add more chili powder if you like it spicier! I used 4 tablespoons of Korean Kimchi Chili Powder. Transfer the juice mixture to a glass jar with a seal on it (the jar you intend to store the Tomato Pickle in).

Dry roast the fenugreek seeds in a cast iron skillet. Allow the seeds to cool and then grind into a fine powder. Add the ground fenugreek powder to the juice mixture.

Make the masala by heating oil in a small frypan. Add the asofoidia powder, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and red chilies. Stir fry for a few minutes, until their aroma is released but before the chilies start to turn black and burn (they should retain their red color). Add the masala to the juice mixture.  Store it in the refrigerator until the tomatoes are dried out (2-3 days).






Drying out the tomatoes

Note the Dried Mikan Tangerine peels on the left,
tomatoes on the right!

Cover the tomato peels with a single piece of cheesecloth. The best way to sundry tomatoes is in your car.  Leave your car outside, windows shut. It took 3 full days for the tomatoes to dry out.Your car will stink like tomatoes, but you should already be having some tangerine mikan peels drying out there as well, so it is no biggie! The car will trap the natural heat of the sun, the glass will magnify the heat, and there is very little chance for bugs and other critters to get into your car. Keep them in the back seat for a minimum of 3 days or up to a week (I live in Oakland CA and we have been blessed by some sunny weather of late, adjust the amount of time depending on how much sun your neighborhood gets).

After 3 days or so, the tomato peels should be fairly dried out. Give them a feel with your fingers, if they feel wet or moist, then give them a few more days in the car. Once they feel fairly dried out, bring them out of the car.

Just to make sure that they are fully dried, pop them in the oven on the lowest possible setting (170 F on my oven) for about 30-40 minutes. Check on them fairly regularly, mixing them around with your fingers and feeling that they are fully dried.















Add the dried tomatoes to the pickles in the jar. Mix with a fork to distribute the dried tomatoes evenly.

Taste the mixture. If the tomato pickle tastes too salty to you, add sugar (I added 2 teaspoons of sugar).

Store the pickle in the refrigerator. It will keep for a long while.

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