Saraswat Brahmin Style Tomato Saar | Tomato Curry Recipe from Chitrapur Saraswat Cuisine

Hi Supermoms,

I am sure most of us will agree that simple recipes are the best tasting ones too. I keep getting requests from readers to share easy to make side dishes for tiffin that can be cooked from scratch within minutes. Many of you are working mothers and would love to cook a healthy meal with minimum effort and easily available ingredients . 

Indian Cuisine is so diverse and today I am sharing a delicious recipe from the Saraswat Cuisine . The Saraswat Brahmin Community have a unique cuisine. They are from the Konkan region of India and like all other coastal Indian regions, coconut is the main ingredient in their dishes. This recipe is from the Marathi Classic Cook book 'Rasachandrika'. 'Saar' literally  translates to 'Juice'. Tomatoes are cooked along with green chillies and then flavoured with coconut and cumin seeds. 

While cooking and later tasting the Saar, interestingly I found it similar to the South Indian Kuzhambu  ( both Kerala and Tamil Cuisine) except that this recipe does not call for curd/yoghurt. It hardly takes 15 minutes to make the tomato saar and you can serve it along with the tiffin of your choice. 

Poha/beaten rice has always been my friend when I want to cook a meal in less than 15 minutes.   You can refer to this masala poha recipe and can if you try it at home, you can see for yourself how easy it is to cook a delicious meal with it. I also recently shared the lemon puttu recipe using poha and I served this side dish along with it.  A quick weekday dinner is ready.

Saraswat Brahmin Style Tomato Saar :

Preparation time : 5 minutes

Cooking time : 20- 25 minutes

Serves: 4

1 cup = 250 ml cup

Ingredients :

4 medium size tomatoes ( chopped roughly)

4 green chillies ( sliced)

4 cups water ( adjust)

pinch of sugar or jaggery ( optional)

salt to taste

To grind :

1/2 cup fresh coconut ( chopped)

1 teaspoon cumin seeds 

To temper :

2 teaspoons ghee/clarified butter ( use coconut oil if you are vegan)

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

pinch of asafoetida 

1 sprig curry leaves ( roughly chopped)

For garnish :

1 onion ( thinly sliced)

1 teaspoon ghee ( use coconut oil if you are vegan)

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar or jaggery

Method :

1. In a thick bottom vessel add tomatoes, chillies , water and salt.

2. Place the vessel over medium flame, cover and cook till the tomatoes are soft.

Chef tip : This step will take approximately 15 minutes on low/medium flame. 

3. Remove half of the cooked  tomatoes and transfer it to the jar of a mixer.

4. Add coconut, cumin seeds and grind it to a smooth paste.

5. Add this to the saar that is simmering.

6. Taste and adjust salt. 

7. Let the saar cook for another 5-7 minutes and then switch off.

8. In a small pan or kadai( wok) , add ghee and fry the onions along with salt and sugar till they are brown .

9. Transfer the onions to a plate and place the same an back on low flame.

10. Add ghee and temper with ingredients given for the same.

11. Pour this over the tomato saar and mix well.

12. Garnish with the fried onions. 

Your delicious Tomato Saar is now ready to be served along with your choice of tiffin.

Happy Cooking !

With love,

Masterchefmom