Camellia Panjabi: Curried Cherry Tomatoes

Serves 3-4

Vegetarian

Tamatar salan

This dish borrows spicing from Bengal but is an unusual semi-dry curry of whole cherry tomatoes or other small tomatoes. It was first shown to me by the late Mumtaz Khan, the famous caterer of traditional food of the Hyderabad region, but I have modified it.

This recipe is from Vegetables the Indian Way by Camellia Panjabi

Vegetables

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Method

Wash the tomatoes and remove the stalks. Cut 6 or 7 of them in half and put all the tomatoes aside.

Heat 60ml of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the finely sliced onions and a pinch of salt (the salt helps accelerate the frying process and the onions will be dark brown sooner). When they are darkish brown and crisp, squeeze out the oil from the onions and set aside.

Put the remains of the onion oil and the other 60ml of oil into a deep sauté pan on a low to medium heat. Add the panch phoran spices and after 20 seconds add the ginger, garlic, turmeric and chilli powder. Pour in a little water, say 60ml, then add the ground coriander and cumin and stir well. Add the tomato purée.

After a minute add the browned onions, the coriander leaves,

10 curry leaves (leaving 10 for the final seasoning) and the coconut milk. Add the salt and sugar, stir and cook for 5 minutes.

Add all the tomatoes and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the lemon juice, then taste and add more salt and sugar if you need to.

Just before serving, heat the oil or butter in a large ladle over a medium heat, and add, in this sequence, the remaining 10 curry leaves, the garlic, cumin and fennel seeds and the torn bits of chilli, and fry for 8–10 seconds. Pour this over the tomatoes and stir.

This is an ideal dish to serve with rice and dal, or as an accompaniment to a vegetable biryani.