Tomato Gosthu - Side dish for Pongal

Combinations make a dish very appetising! Just like Briyani goes along with Raita, Poori goes along with potato curry, a warm soup with fried bread crumbs, dosa with chutney - Each and every dish has a unique combination of side dish which makes it yummy!

Of course, each household will have a combination of dishes which is the signature of the chef (the mother!). In my home, amma used to make pongal (a rice dish made with south indian spices and dhal) with this tomato gosthu.  The tangy-taste of the tomatoes along with the coconut chutney makes it a wonderful combination for the pongal. It is easy to make especially for a working woman when you want to make your whole dinner in less than 1 hour. 

This version is a no garlic no onion version of the tomato gosthu. This is helpful on certain days in which we avoid onion and garlic when preparing our food. You can always add onion to the recipe and it makes it even more tasty! Going straight into the recipe, get ready!

Serves: 2 (generously)

Time to make: 30 mins (including chopping and cooking)

Ingredients:

Tomato - 2 big

Gram flour - 2 tbsp

Water - 1 cup water (approx 4 times more than that of gram flour or extra if needed)

Jeera - 1/4 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

Ginger - 1 tsp

Chilli - 1 small sliced

Curry leaves - 5-6 nos

Coriander leaves - a handful

Salt - as needed

Oil - 1 tbsp

Recipe:

> Slit the chilli, chop the tomatoes and ginger to fine pieces, keep them aside.

> Heat the kadai and add the oil. once the oil is hot, add the jeera and it will start to crack

> Next add the curry leaves, chilli and the ginger to the oil. Fry it well for 1 minute

> Next add the chopped tomatoes. Give it a good stir. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt to the tomatoes. This will help to add the flavours to the dish.

> Let the tomatoes cook well and you will see the oil oozing from the sides. 

> At this stage, mix the gram flour with the water quantity mentioned and add this mixture to the tomato gravy. 

> Let the gravy thicken once the gram flour mixture is added to the base. You can always add more water if you want the mixture to be little watery and not thick. 

> Once you start to see a little bit of boil, turn off the stove and add the chopped coriander leaves. 

Your Tomato Gosthu is ready to be relished!