Andhra Style Tomato Pickle / Instant Tomato Pickle Recipe

I am a big fan of pickles one of my favorite is Tomato pickle. I tasted this for the first at one of my friend’s house. That’s was her grandma’s specialty pickle. I fell in love with this pickle and was desperate to learn to cook that. I took the recipe from her grand mom and tried it out. I was quite simple and easy to make pickle. I make this quite often at home, my husband and his siblings love it.

Looking at the nutrition facts tomatoes contain the carotene lycopene, one of the most powerful natural antioxidants. In some studies, lycopene, especially in cooked tomatoes, has been found to help prevent prostate cancer. Lycopene has also been shown to improve the skin's ability to protect against harmful UV rays.

So here you go a simple and instant tomato pickle recipe.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 2 kgs

Sesame Oil - 200 ml( can be adjusted as per your need)

Mustards seeds - 1 tspn(roasted and roughly crushed)

Curry leaves - 4-5 sprigs

Asafoetida - 1 heaped tspn

Red chili powder - 2 1/2 tbsps (can be increased as per your spice level)

Turmeric Powder – 1 tspn

Salt as per taste

Method:

Wash the tomatoes and chop them in small cubes. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large vessel, add the tomatoes and cook on high flame for 2 mins. Reduce flame, add salt and cook for at least an hour or so. Mix the tomatoes once in a while. Continue to cook till the water is almost evaporated. Towards the end of the cooking process, keeping mashing the tomatoes lightly with a ladle. It should be like a thick yet slightly loose consistency chunky sauce.

At this stay you could see the oil oozes out, now add chilli powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida and curry leaves. Stir well and cook the tomato mixture till the raw smell of the masala powder goes off and the oil floats on top. Now finally add the crushed mustard seeds, check for salt and add if required.

Turn off flame. Cool completely and transfer to a glass storage container.

Serve with idli, Dosa OR with rice.