Tomato Saar is a tangy curry made with tomatoes, coconut and spices. This recipe comes from the coastal region of Maharashtra. It is best had with steamed rice.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Maharashtrian

Ingredients

  • 250 grams tomatoes (or 3 medium tomatoes or 2 cups quartered tomatoes)
  • 1.5 cups water (- for cooking tomatoes)
  • ½ cup coconut (- grated and fresh)
  • 2 to 3 green chilies (- chopped or 2 to 3 teaspoons chopped green chilies)
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ½ teaspoon jaggery (or sugar)
  • salt (as required)
  • ½ to ⅔ cup water (to be added later)
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 8 to 10 curry leaves
  • 1 red chili (- broken and seeds removed)
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 pinch asafoetida ((hing))
  • 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (- chopped)

Method

Cooking tomatoes

  1. Rinse tomatoes well in water a few times. Then quarter them. Keep aside.
  2. In a pan bring 1.5 cups water to a rapid boil.
  3. Add the tomatoes. Cover the pan and simmer on low to medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes till the tomatoes are tender.
  4. The tomatoes have to get softened. Let the tomatoes cool at room temperature or become warm.
  5. Then strain the tomatoes using a strainer, so that seeds are removed from the stock. Keep the reserved stock aside. Alternatively you can purée the tomatoes separately and then strain the purée. Then grind coconut, chilies and cumin separately. Since I do not strain tomato purée, I grind everything together.

Making tomato-coconut paste

  1. Add the cooked tomatoes in the grinder jar. Also add the fresh grated coconut, chopped green chilies and cumin seeds.
  2. Without adding water grind to a smooth and fine consistency.

Making tomato saar

  1. Now take the tomato and coconut paste in a pan. I have used the same pan in which I cooked the tomatoes.
  2. Add the reserved stock.
  3. Add ½ cup water in the grinder jar. Swirl and rotate the jar, so that the tomato-coconut paste stuck at the sides and bottom of the jar gets mixed with the water.
  4. Now add this water in the pan. You can add water as required. You can overall add about ½ to ⅔ cup water.
  5. Season with salt as per taste.
  6. Add ½ teaspoon jaggery or sugar. You can add less or more as per your taste.
  7. Mix very well and keep the pan on a stove top on low to medium heat.
  8. Bring the tomato saar to a boil. Then turn off the heat. Cover and keep aside.

Tempering the saar

  1. In a tadka pan or a small frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil. Keep the heat to a low.
  2. Then add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds begin to crackle.
  3. When the mustard seeds begin to crackle, add ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds.
  4. Let the cumin seeds also crackle.
  5. Then add 8 to 10 curry leaves and 1 red chili (broken and seeds removed). Fry for a couple of seconds till the red chilies change color. Take care not to burn them.
  6. Turn off the heat and add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder and 1 pinch asafoetida. Mix well.
  7. Now pour this tempering in the tomato saar.
  8. Cover the pan with a lid and allow the tempering flavors to get infused in the saar for 3 to 4 minutes.
  9. Then stir the tomato saar. Add 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves and mix well.
  10. Serve Tomato Saar with steamed rice accompanied with a side veggie stir fried dish.

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.