Cooking with Green Tomatoes and Chilies from my garden.

Today, my green tomatoes are the stars in my kitchen. I pulled out the last of my tomato plants and harvested all the tomatoes that have not had a chance to ripen. I look forward to this end of summer crop so I can make my favorite pickle from my childhood. It is simplicity itself. I hope this recipe is useful to all of you looking for new ways to use them. Agreed, a few of the ingredients might not be available in a non Indian home. I am sure you have some Indian friends who’ll be more than happy to lend them to you. Or else they are readily available at Indian stores.

Green Tomato Pickle

3 cups green tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds, whole

2 or 3 mild green chilies, chopped or slit

1/4 teaspoon ‘hing’ or asafoetida [this is what you’d borrow from your Indian friend]

6 curry leaves, [this too]

salt to taste

Warm the oil and drop the mustard seeds in it. Wait till they pop, turn the stove off. Add the green chilies, hing, curry leaves and salt. Twirl everything in the pan. Pour over the chopped tomatoes. Mix everything together. Let it rest for at least fifteen minutes to incorporate all the flavors. Must be refrigerated after half a day. Use within a couple of days. 

Serving suggestion, mix with rice.

Thanks for dropping by

Best, S.