Unripe Tomato koottu

This is a simple koottu / curry / subzi,  common in parts of Tamilnadu. We can see a small kitchen garden in almost every home and tangy tomatoes grow abundant and succulent throughout the year in India. One need not wait to get all their tomatoes ripe, just pluck a few big green tomatoes...enjoy that fresh flavor arising from the leaves and stem, (if you have not before)....even our palm will smell like tomato for a few hours.....isn't it completely relaxing:)

Getting some unripe green tomato is extremely difficult here. Last summer I got a few (see the picture below). The curry should be more on the tangy side. So if you doubt the taste, then try adding one ripe tomato to it. We can make this curry with ripe tomatoes too, but it will be like a thakkali kulambu:) . This can be prepared with tomatillos (sodukku thakkali)also. Tomatillo can be bought in any local grocery store at any season and they are the best fit to make this koottu, next to our native thakkali kaai:)

Source: I got this recipe from my Rukmani aunty while she was preparing this years ago:)

Half ripe tomatoes, I got from store.  If possible get them all in green like the only one above:)

Thakkali kaai koottu / Green tomato curry.

Ingredients:

Unripe green tomato - 1/2 kg
Toor dhal (red gram)- 1/4 cup
channa dhal - 1/4 cup
garlic - 2 pearls
turmeric - 1/2 tsp
asafoetida / hing - a pinch
Onion - 1
curry leaf - 2 sprig
mustard - 1 tsp
urad dhal (black gram)- 1 tsp
coconut oil - 1 tbsp

To fry and grind:

Channa dhal (bengal gram / kadalai paruppu)- 1 tbsp
dry red chilly - 4
cumin - 1 tsp
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
oil - 1 tsp

Method:

Pressure cook the dhals together with garlic, turmeric, little water, hing. Mash them together coarsely. keep aside.
Heat a tsp of oil in a wok and fry the channa dhal to red color, keep aside. Put the red chillies and take out immediately after it gets crispy. Then fry the coconut to get a nice smell. grind them all together to a coarse paste.

Now chop the tomatoes and onion into small pieces.
Heat oil in a wok and let the mustard splutter. Then goes the split urad dhal along with onion and curry leaves. Fry them for a minute and don't let them get red. Immediately add the tomatoes. Add 1/4 cup water, salt and cook covered for 5 minutes (not mushy). Then add the ground masala, cooked dhal and bring it to a boil. Switch off.

Thakkali kai koottu is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve as side dish with chapati, roti.
The best match is with plain rice and some appalam.

Tips:

It is more common to prepare this koottu without garlic and onion.
Total time taken less than 30 minutes.