TOMATO SAAR | MAHARASHTRIAN TOMATO RASAM

Tomato Saar is my mother's recipe (with my nod to today's need for meals in a jiffy). It is a staple of the Alibag cuisine  - a land of gorgeous beaches, swaying coconut trees and the most delicous seafood.  This saar for instance is very similar to the rasam prepared in Southern India. There are several versions of this saar - with red gram (toor), horse gram (kulith) and even cilantro.

Serve as a soup or goes well with rice.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes, chopped , ripe and large - 3
Coconut, scraped -1 cup ( 100 g )
Garlic - 3 cloves
Cumin seeds ( jeera ) -1/2 teaspoon
Salt - to taste ( or 1/2 teaspoon )
Red chilli powder -1/2 teaspoon
Cooking oil / ghee - 2 teaspoon
Mustard seeds -1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida ( hing ) - a pinch
Curry leaves - 10-12
Green chillies, slit - 2
cumin coriander powder -1
Sugar - 1 teaspoon ( optional )
Fresh coriander leaves, chopped -1 teaspoon

Method :

1.Transfer  tomatoes into a pan, add three cups of water and bring it to a boil. Simmer for fifteen minutes and  when it is a little cool remove skin of tomatoes .You can pressure cook for 3 whistles.

2.Grind coconut, tomato & red chilli powder  into a paste.

3.Heat ghee in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds ,asafoetida, crushed garlic  and curry leaves.

4.Add pureed tomato coconut paste and slit green chillies,red chilli powder,coriander cumin powder and bring it to a boil and add sugar ( optional ).

5. Cook on low heat for ten minutes. Adjust seasoning. Serve hot, garnished with coriander leaves with rice /chapati .