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During winter time, I tend to look for the greenest, unripe tomatoes at the grocery stores. I keep them in a basket on the kitchen countertop at home. Though it takes two to three days to mellow, the resulting home-ripened tomatoes are worth the wait for their flavor : my solution to poor quality tomatoes of winter season.
Last weekend, I purchased two pounds of “just looking at them will make your mouth pucker” kind of firm-fleshed, unripe tomatoes. I couldn’t resist making an old classic with them for today’s meal. The following recipe is a traditional preparation from Nandyala, India. The intense, tangy ruchi of unripe tomatoes is matched by fresh coconut sweetness and chilli-ginger spiciness. A good meal to have on a mind numbing, cold winter day.
Unripe Tomato and Fresh Coconut ~ Ingredients for Kura
Recipe:
1 teaspoon peanut oil
Pinch each – cumin and mustard seeds
4 – green, unripe tomatoes (Round, Big variety)
4 – green chillies (Indian or Thai variety)
2 tablespoons – grated coconut, fresh
1 tablespoon – grated ginger
Salt and turmeric to taste
Wash green tomatoes and then cut them to bite-sized pieces – about four cups.
Place a wide skillet on stove-top. Add and heat peanut oil. Add and toast cumin and mustard seeds. When seeds start to pop, add the tomatoes. On medium-high heat, cook the tomatoes to tender-soft (but not too mushy or paste like).
Meanwhile, take the coconut, green chillies and ginger in a blender or Sumeet style mixer. Add a pinch of salt. Blend to fine paste.
Add this coconut-chilli paste to the simmering tomatoes. Also stir in the turmeric and salt. Mix. Cook, covered for another five minutes.
Serve the tomato kura hot with chapati or parathas for a light meal.
Kura with Unripe Tomatoes ~ Meal Today
Recipe Source: Amma, Nandyala
– Indira
The unique peanut oil taste in this recipe is interesting.
Comment by Mythreyee — January 29, 2008 @ 7:57 pm
Wow Indira! Will be trying this soon. I have always wondered what to make form green tomatoes except green tomato pachadi and sometimes i just toss them in Sambar! This is so unique!
Comment by Latha — January 29, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
This is the way amma makes thakkali kaai kootu. Its my all time favorite but getting green tomatoes are rare here. During childhood days we used to pluck from our home garden and make this wonderful dish. Thanks for bringing back those memories Indira!
Comment by Nirmala — January 29, 2008 @ 11:10 pm
Very Simple & Superb. I have been using green tomatoes only for pachadi. Will Definitely try.
Comment by Lakshmi — January 30, 2008 @ 4:57 am
in kerala we make a similar curry which will be dry and is called thoran.this one looks good.
Comment by sindhu — January 30, 2008 @ 6:20 am
I also use the green tomatoes to make pacchadi. But this combination looks great. Shall try it when I get the green tomatoes next time. Thanks for sharing Indira.
Comment by Uma — January 30, 2008 @ 7:48 am
Hi Indira,
My husband loves tomato kura. It’s something that I didn’t grow up eating, and I haven’t developed a taste for it yet. He puts besan in toward the end. Do you make that also? Do you put karvepaku in the pOpu also?
Comment by padmaja — January 30, 2008 @ 10:07 am
Green Tomato is my favorite too. I will be very happy to see them in grocery stores. I make chutney out of this. (Same as yours, except I grind coarsely roasted tomato along with other ingredients). I also make curry out of this which is very tasty. Will try your method 🙂
Comment by Rekha — January 30, 2008 @ 10:10 am
Hi Indira,
Can you please tell me where you get the unripe tomatoes in Seattle? I usually buy the tamatillos and they are very sour.
Thanks
Sarada
Comment by Sarada — January 30, 2008 @ 10:50 am
Indira,
I made your Coconut Pachadi(Raw) for lunch today. And it was heavenly. Its really “raw food” at its best. Thanks for the recipe.
Comment by Sapna — January 30, 2008 @ 11:09 am
Hi Indira,
It’s a quick and yummy recipe, also lite…
Comment by Nithu — January 30, 2008 @ 11:21 am
Hi Indira,
I will usually make pappu and chutney with these green one.let me try this too.thank you.
vineela
Comment by vineela — January 30, 2008 @ 11:47 am
I didn’t know about this trick for ripening tomatoes, thank you for detailing it. Is there a reason that you do not prefer canned tomatoes for Indian cooking?
Comment by Rainee — January 30, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Thank you all for your tasty and tangy notes on this recipe. Green, unripe tomatoes make great tasting dal and chutney, I like them too.
Padmaja: No, I don’t add but besan addition sounds interesting. I didn’t have any at home, but few curry leaves and at the end few sprigs of fresh cilantro will definitley add some jazz to this kura.
Hi Sarada: They are from Viet-wah, China Bazar. There is also another Viet-wah near to your place at Renton. Check it out.
Sapna: Thanks for trying out and letting me know. It’s been a while since I had that coconut chutney, another yum vantakam.:)
Hi Vineela: Me too, pappu chaala baguntundi kada pacchi tomatolatho.
Rainee: Somehow I never bought into the convenience of canned stuff. No to canned stuff for green earth.:)
Comment by Indira — January 30, 2008 @ 8:01 pm
Thanks Indira,
Thank you so much. My husband likes them a lot. I will try at Viet-wah.
Sarada.
Comment by Sarada — January 31, 2008 @ 9:45 am
hello,
testing 2
Comment by Anjali — January 31, 2008 @ 10:42 am
Hi Indira,
Great blog ! This is my first time commenting here. Yummy recipe. Never tried like that before. I make pachadi out of the green tomatoes and green tomatoes are tough find. you seem to have bought them at a vietnamese store. I should try there
I’ve started a blog recently and added couple of recipes to share with you all. Not to mention you are my inspiration . Wonderful work done here 🙂 Keep Going !
Comment by Rathna — January 31, 2008 @ 10:57 am
Hi Indira garu.. i enjoy your website immensely.. It teaches me a lot about food and also, i love the way u treat vegetables and kitchen as a whole.. ur site has a huge place in my heart and home.. Am not trying to flatter you but seriously, i cant thank you enough for what u have offered for young housewifes and vegetarians like me..
Comment by priya dilip — January 31, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
I’m going in search of green tomatoes on Saturday when I go to the market.
Comment by Cynthia — January 31, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
Wow awesome recipe Indira.. never cooked green tomatoes this way…
Comment by kalva — February 1, 2008 @ 6:43 am
Hello Indira,
I was wondering why the comment section went off & today i came to know the reason. Please dont bother about those who are jealous of your work.
Please keep the good work going with the your full heart & dont worry about some stupid comments those should not affect you @ any cost.
Hope u will come back with full force like the good old days & please dont care about others.
Keep going the nice work.
Thx
Janaki
Comment by janaki — February 1, 2008 @ 12:32 pm
Hey Indira,
I am happy that you did not eliminate or block all the routes for your readers to leave comments. I love your site and I have a soft corner for it because it introduced me to the world of food blogging. I check your blog soon after reading my daily news.
I also must confessed that I have benefited a lot from the generous advice and information that you have offered. I have a dear friend from Andhra who is not particularly fond of Punjabi and Persian cuisine which are the only two cuisines that I grew up with. We often invite each other over for meals and though I enjoyed everything he cooked, he enjoyed little of what I cooked. Of course he was not rude or ungrateful. Anyhow, all that changed once I started using your recipes for inviting him over and my other friends. One may say that there are many other avenues for getting Andhra recipes and whats so unique about Indira’s. My response would be that not only do I get the recipes from your blog but I also get some background info about the ingredients, its cultural significance and wonderful pictures to compare my accomplishment with the actual dish (at least visually).
I feel negative criticism is often a byproduct of fame and good work. I hope you keep up the good work and puleeez do not punish fans like us for a few rotten apples.
Comment by Sonia — February 1, 2008 @ 1:15 pm