Tamatar chi Bhajee (Nutty-Hot Tomatoes with Garlic)

This curry isn't that substantial on its own, but it makes a decent dinner when served over Tayyar Shaadum, a yogurt-y rice that's almost a curry in its own right. The two go extremely well together and between the peanuts, lentils, and yogurt, have enough substance to them that they make a reasonable main course. Iyer suggests serving this with roti, but I quite like adding a vegetable-stuffed paratha to my plate.

Tamatar chi Bhajee

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. dry-roasted unsalted peanuts
• 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 dried Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies, stems removed
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 450g diced tomatoes¹
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 15 fresh or frozen curry leaves

Directions

1. Combine peanuts, garlic, chilies, and salt and grind/pound with a mortar and pestle² until it makes a sort of gritty, chunky, spicy peanut butter.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat (unless you already used it when blending the peanut mixture, in which case, skip this step).
3. Add the peanut mixture to the pan and stir-fry for a minute or so.
4. Add tomatoes, cilantro, sugar, and curry leaves.
5. If using fresh tomatoes, pour in half a cup of water. If using canned tomatoes, use some of their juice instead of the water.
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat slightly and continue to simmer (vigorously), uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10-12 minutes.
7. Serve over Tayyar Shaadum with roti or (preferably vegetable- or paneer-stuffed) paratha.

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¹ If using fresh tomatoes, make sure they are very ripe and juicy. If you can't get really good fresh tomatoes, used canned instead. ^Back
2 If you don't have a large enough mortar and pestle, you'll have to improvise. I managed to (somewhat awkwardly) use my immersion blender to do this job. I ended up adding the oil to the peanut mixture to help it blend better. Maybe not an ideal solution, but it worked. ^Back