Sunday, July 12, 2009

Tomato Saar

Konaki cuisine uses a lot of coconuts - its the base for most side dishes, like bendhi, sukke, bhutti and for almost all the curries had with rice, like ambat, ghashi, saar, sambaren...
If its not used in the masala, then its part of the garnish at least. You will see very few dishes in Konkani cooking that do not use coconut.

Everytime there is a hint of an arguement of coconuts not being healthy, most pachchis (means mother's sister, but used for all 'aunties') are up in arms defending the poor coconut. They will give you lectures on how coconut and coconut oil is actually good for you.
Traditional Mangalorean cooking uses coconut oil for the seasoning. Specific types of Happol (papads) are fried only in coconut oil, because they taste best only that way !

Tomato Saar

This is a very simple and super tasty saar (something like a rasam, but thicker) with tomatoes and coconut. It has the spice from the green chillies, tangy tart flavour from the tomatoes and sweetness from the jaggery...
Simple to make and goes very well with rice and simple side dish like an upkari

I am thrilled that Sia is hosting the RCI event this month featuring Mangalorean and Udupi cuisine, orginally started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine

To read my other posts on Mangalorean cuisine, see Dudhya Koddel, Pathrode, Tendle Bibbe Upkari, Tendle Bhutti, Khatkhaten and Solkadi

What you need -

4 tomatoes
3-4 green chillies
1 cup dessicated coconut
a few curry leaves
1 red chilli
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp grated jaggery

What you do with it -

Blanch the tomatoes in hot water. Peel the skin off and keep aside to cool
Keep this water to use later. This is where the nutrients are
Grind the chillies, coconut and tomatoes in a blender till smooth
Add the water reserved earlier and a little more water if required, to the tomato-coconut paste
Add salt and jaggery and bring to a boil
Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds, broken red chilli, curry leaves and asafoetida
Pour the seasoning over the saar and serve with hot rice

11 comments:

Deepthi Shankar said...

our method of making saaru is slightly different .. this is a nice variation

SJ said...

coconut in saaru hmmm..never heard of it. This one shall be made. And I shall let you know how it tasted..be ready for my verdict :P


on the other hand if you were my neighbour I would have got this sarru for 2 nonsensical post of mine sigh...

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

sounds yummy... And looks great too...

Sig said...

I am loving your Mangalorean cuisine series, so many similarities to Kerala cusine! Mallu aunties will defend coconut to the core too... :)

Suparna said...

hey arch, I love tomato saar it so yumm...with piping hot rice and a drop of ghee. I love coconut based dises nothing to beat M'lore/Kerala cuisine :)
TC

roma said...

I learnt to make this from a Konkani friend and everyone at home is a huge fan of it now! Yours looks delicious!

Archana said...

@Deesha, try this, the coconut adds a lovely creamy thickness
@SJ, I dont even need the posts, just be my neighbour :D
@Oriya girl, Roma, thanks !
@Sig, thanks and yes, it is very similar to Kerala cuisine..
@Suparna, U bet ! actually just hot rice, salt and ghee(toop, meet, sheeth) makes an awesome meal :)

Jayashree said...

Nice.....I think coconuts add to the taste of almost any dish they are added to.

Parita said...

tomato saar looks delicious, perfect with hot steaming rice, love tangy flavor of tomatoes with coconut!

Usha said...

Looks delicious, look forward to trying this ! Thanks for letting me know that you tried the parappu podi and liked it....

Anonymous said...

Hi Archana,
I made this with ginger and garlic. It was delicious.Thanks for teh recipe.

Vini

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