Green Tomato Pitla

Hi All, it has been a while but here I am with another recipe. So, this time I had a bumper harvest of tomatoes and lots of it green and I had no idea what to do with them. Of curse, some of them turned red after a while but I just had too many and couldn't wait for so long. So my mother-in-law suggested to me about this one and shared the recipe, it's a south Indian gravy-like Sambhar called Pitla. Traditionally its made with Bitter Gourd (Parikkai/Pavakkai) but here it's using green tomatoes.

INGREDIENTS

Green Tomatoes: 5-6 medium chopped into cubes

Tamarind juice: 1 cup

Toor Dal: 1 cup cooked in the pressure cooker

Pitla powder: Red Chilli (2), Urad dal (2 Tsp), Black Pepper (2 Tsp)

Curry leaves: 6-7

Salt as required

Oil for Tadka

Turmeric powder: 1/4th Tsp

Mustard seeds: 1/2 Tsp

Green Tomatoes

                               

Green Tomato Pitla

MAKING

Pressure cook the toor dal and keep aside. In a bowl, boil 1 cup Tamarind juice and chopped Green tomatoes with required salt and turmeric powder.

Fry the pitla curry ingredients until light brown, you could double the quantity of each ingredient if you want to add more spice. You can dry fry it or fry it in 1/4th Tsp oil.

Allow it to cool and grind it into a nice smooth powder. 

Add it to the boiling green tomatoes and cook again for a few minutes. Finally, add the cooked Toor dal and mix it well. Boil for a couple of minutes. Switch off the gas.

For Tadka, in a pan, pour 1 Tsp oil, in it add mustard seeds and once it splutters, add it to the pitla and garnish with fresh curry leaves.

Delicious, Green tomato Pitla is ready to eat. Serve it with cooked rice and a veggie side. 

TIPS/VARIATIONS

As I said, it's traditionally made with Bitter-Gourd, but the Pitla curry powder is the same. You could make a lot of Pitla powder and store it in an airtight container. Do not over boil or overcook the tomatoes as doing so would make it mushy.