This South Indian Tomato Chutney is a tangy and spicy chutney made with fresh tomatoes, lentils, spices, and herbs. Also known as Tamatar ki Chutney or Thakkali Chutney, this recipe is made without onions and garlic. It pairs well with idli, dosa, vada, and other South Indian snacks.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Condiment, Side Dish
  • Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 teaspoon urad dal ((hulled and split or whole 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)
  • 1½ cups/225 to 250 grams or 2 large tomato (– chopped)
  • 1 pinch asafoetida ((hing), optional)
  • salt (– add as required)
  • 2 tablespoons water (– for blending or grinding, add 1 or 2 tablespoon more if needed)
  • 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)

Method

Cooking & Blending Tomatoes

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Then add chopped tomatoes and asafoetida. Add salt.
  4. Stir and saute till the tomatoes soften. About 6 to 7 minutes on a low to medium-low heat.
  5. If the tomatoes start sticking to the pan, add a splash of water and continue to sauté.
  6. After the tomatoes have softened, turn off the heat and set aside the chutney mixture to cool.
  7. Once the tomato chutney ingredients cool, add them to a chutney grinder or small blender.
  8. Add 2 tablespoons of water or as needed. Blend or grind to a smooth and fine consistency.

Tempering Tomato Chutney

  1. In the same pan or different pan, heat ½ tablespoon of oil.
  2. Add the mustard seeds and crackle them.
  3. 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.
  4. Then add the blended and ground tomato paste. Stir to mix and combine.
  5. 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.
  6. Check the taste and add more salt if required.
  7. Stir to mix. The chutney is done and ready to be served.
  8. This Tomato Chutney pairs extremely well with idli, dosa, uttapam or vada varieties. You can even serve this Thakkali chutney with pakodas.
  9. The remaining chutney can be stored in the fridge for 1 to 2 days.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.