Tomato Chatni

11 March 2009 1,245 views 11 Comments

It seems as if without a bowl of chatni Bengali platter is never complete. The little bowl of chatni at the end of any meal brings a fulfillment to the meal. Chatni, for those who are not so aware of this word, is a sweet serving prepared of tomato, ripe mango, pineapple, or for that matter any sour fruits and even dry fruits. Chatni is prepared in various styles in all Bengali households. The preparation also depends on the season; tomato for winter, ripe mango for the summers, or any seasonal fruits during its time. The main ingredient though a fruit it is often accompanied with sugar or jaggery for enhancing the sweetness of the dish.
The last time when I went home, mom gave me a whole jar of jaggery. I had completely forgotten about it, last night I was cleaning up the kitchen when I found this jar, and the first thing that came to mind was having it with milk and rice. I was thinking of what else to do with that, when I saw the tomatoes. The answer to my question was instantaneous; chatni is the best option.
I prepared it this way; you can prepare it in any way possible. I will try to post some other types of chatni on my following posts. The combination of jaggery and dry chili helps in increasing its shelf life to almost two days without refrigeration.
For this chatni the only spice used is panch phoron. Panch phoron, as the name suggests is a combination of five different spices; “panch”, meaning five and “phoron” is spice. Nigella, cumin, fenugreek, fennel, and mustard mixed in same proportions are used for preparing panch phoron. This combination of spices is an earmark of Bengali cuisine. It is used in preparations like Khichudi and vegetarian dishes .

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Tomato: 6 medium sizes
Palm Jaggery (Taler gur): 2 tablespoon
Bay leaf (Tej pata): 2
Dried chili (Sukhno Lanka): 2
Cashew nuts (Kaju): 5 or 6, cut into small pieces
Mustard Oil (Sarser Tel): 1 teaspoon
Panch Phoron: ½ teaspoon

Preparation:

Cut the tomatoes into quarters
Heat oil in a wok, as it gets heated throw in the panch phoron and bay leaves
When the panch phoron starts popping put in the tomatoes and red chilies along with the jaggery
Add little salt and stir the tomatoes well, partly mashing them
Let the tomatoes be cooked in low flame
As the tomatoes softens pour in the cashew nuts and take out of flame

chatni

Tips: Do not add water for the tomatoes to cook, this will make the chatni taste watery, and that doesn’t feel good.

Check for more updates from my kitchen, till then Happy Cooking and Happy Eating

Sending this to SWC-Meals on Wheels hosted by Lakshmi.

11 Comments »

Lakshmi Venkatesh said:

Looks very nice and a new dish to me.

[Reply]

# 11 March 2009 at 4:42 PM

Asha said:

Great entry, nice chatpati chutney to take!

[Reply]

# 11 March 2009 at 4:48 PM

Priti said:

Looks lovely….nice colour

[Reply]

# 11 March 2009 at 5:17 PM

Trupti said:

chutney looks very delicious

[Reply]

# 12 March 2009 at 1:18 AM

Priya Sriram said:

Tomato chutney looks delicious Sudheshna! Guess adding jaggery makes it very tasty!

[Reply]

# 12 March 2009 at 2:20 PM

meetsudeshna (author) said:

@ priya,

Yes Priya, the combination of tomato and jaggery is just irresistible. I have clicked the photo with a webcam, and so the colors don’t show so good. Try it out, I’m sure you’ll like it

[Reply]

# 12 March 2009 at 2:29 PM

chitra said:

this chatni is new to me,nice entry for the event!! me too planning to post a chutney for this event:)

[Reply]

# 12 March 2009 at 5:26 PM

Arch said:

Looks yum… a friend of mine had made with with raisins – was heavenly…long time since i’ve had this – got to try it out…

[Reply]

# 15 March 2009 at 5:52 PM

dragonlife said:

Dear Sudeshna!
Greetings from Shizuoka, Japan!
Bengali Gastronomy does have a lot to offer, doesn’t it?
It’s great to discover new cuisines all the time so far away and yet so near!
There is a universal love for tomatoes! To think they appeared on our plates only in the 16th Century! LOL
By the way, I do not mean it as a criticism, but signing acroos your picture make them a bit difficult. I understand you want to protect them, but signing in the bottom half would improve the sight!
Looking forward to reading your next posting! Make a point of buzzing me then!
Cheers,
Robert-Gilles

http;//shizuokagourmet.wordpress.com/

[Reply]

# 19 March 2009 at 1:27 PM

Cook like a Bong » Click for Stacks said:

[...] The picture which I sent for the event and you can find the recipe for chutney here. [...]

# 1 July 2009 at 10:20 AM

Welcome to Our New Site | Cook like a Bong said:

[...] millions of Bengalis spread around the globe, who just want to taste mom’s alu posto or the chatni at the end of the afternoon meal. But most of us are not aware of the right ingredients or when to [...]

# 10 July 2009 at 11:41 AM