Tomato Raita | South Indian Thakkali Thayir Pachadi
Thakkali Thayir Pachadi is a South Indian Tomato Raita made with cooked tomatoes, lentils, mustard seeds, yogurt and coconut. Serve as side with main course rice recipes like Biryani, Pulao.
Servings 4 people
Equipment
- Mixer Grinder or chutney jar
Ingredients
- 5 Tomatoes Large tomatoes, ripe yet firm
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
- ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds or Rai
- 1-2 Dry Whole Red Chilies
- ½ tablespoon Chana dal
- 1 pinch Hing or asafoetida or 1/8th teaspoon (skip this ingredient for GF recipe)
- ¼ cup freshly Grated coconut
- ½ teaspoon Jeera or Cumin seeds
- 1 Green chillies
- 1 cup Curd (fresh and thick)
- salt to taste
- finely chopped coriander leaves as required
Instructions
- Rinse and chop tomatoes and keep aside.
- Heat a pan, add coconut oil and mustard seeds. Once mustard crackles, add chana dal and dry red chilies.
- Once dal is roasted brown, add hing or asafoetida and the finely chopped tomatoes.
- Reduce the flame and allow the tomatoes to cook, until mushy.
- In the meanwhile, whisk 1 cup of yogurt until smooth. Mince coconut, cumin seeds and green chilies in a mixer grinder jar until coarse. Keep this aside.
- Switch off the flame, remove the tomatoes from the pan onto a serving bowl and allow it to cool. Note - Chuck the bowl in the refrigerator to speed up the process.
- To the cooled tomatoes, add the coconut mixture and whisked yogurt. Season with salt and mix well.
- Garnish tomato raita with finely chopped coriander. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Notes
- Allow the cooked tomatoes to cool before adding yogurt. Never add cool yogurt to hot tomatoes. It will affect the taste and texture of the dish.
- Adding salt at the end or just before serving prevents the raita from losing its consistency and turning watery.
- Ensure the yogurt is fresh and thick. In summer, yogurt tends to taste sour. In this case, add some sugar to balance tartness.
- If serving for guests, I would recommend adding yogurt just before guests arrive.
- Vegan recipe - Substitute regular yogurt with Vegan curd.
- For a gluten-free recipe, omit hing or asafoetida.