Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Not Your Grandma's Green Tomatos. Green Tomato Sabzi, Quick, Spicy, and Vegan.

  
   Every year I plant tomatoes. They grow so easily and plentifully I usually wind up swamped by this time at the end of Summer. Things went a bit differently this year. We had a cold and rainy Spring and the early part of the Summer was not that warm, therefor I've spent the better part of August waiting for my tomatoes to turn red red red. The other day I got tired of waiting and wondered since Southerners in this country make a habit of eating Fried Green Tomatoes, how about people in other places. More specifically have green tomatoes fried or otherwise found their way into the Indian kitchen? The answer was, You Betcha!

   Green tomatoes seem to be a thing almost everywhere and I wondered just how many of those green tomato dishes were dreamed up by people like me who were hungry and tired of their tomatoes taking forever to ripen. There were a whole lot of ways to do Green Tomatoes but looking for a simple vegan version was pretty easy. Turns out that was what I was looking for for my Labor Day Vegan Indian Lunch Using Everything From Our Own Garden, a fast and simple recipe to get some use out of those slowpoke Green Tomatoes.

Green Tomato Sabzi

 

Here's What You Need:

3 cups of chopped Green Tomatoes
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 shallot finely chopped
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp Kashmiri chili
1 tsp cumin powder
4 Tbs jaggery or dark brown sugar
salt to taste

Here's What To Do:

Get yourself some green tomatoes.


Chop them into 3 cups worth.


Finely chop a shallot.


Heat 1 Tbs of vegetable oil in a skillet or kadhai.
When the oil is hot add in the mustard seeds.


When the mustard seeds start to pop add in the fenugreek and shallot.


Stir them around for about a minute then add in the tomatoes...


...cumin, coriander, Kashmiri chili and salt.


Mix everything together well then cover the pan and let cook for about 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes open the lid and give everything a good stir.


Add in the jaggery or brown sugar.


Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan again and let cook for another 5 minutes then stir again.
Take the lid off and let it further cook for another five minutes. Stir to make sure nothing is sticking or burning.


When the tomatoes are softened the sauce is ready.
Serve it up with rice or chapatti.


   It's hot spicy, sweet, and tart. A quick dish that goes from oven to table in less than an hour. This can easily be made ahead and reheated the next day for serving, always a plus when cooking on these extra hot hot hot Northern California September afternoons.

   Coming up next....more straight from the garden to the table, it's Wine Country Harvest Days follow along on Twitter @kathygori

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