When You Bring Italians and Indians Together You Get Tomato Basil Chutney

As some of you may know, and I don't think that there are many of you that do, I am a contributor to Honest Cooking. This is an online food magazine that features foodie bloggers of all walks and backgrounds and I happen to be one of them!

The other day I added a recipe I created for a Tomato Basil Chutney. Much to my surprise, I was featured on their home page after it was published. I pretty much died with excitement. You can see the article here, but I will provide you with the recipe here!

I modified the recipe a bit from when I initally made it. The base of the recipe was from a family recipe for tomato pachadi (similar a chutney). I then chose to take some fresh basil from our CSA. First I cooked all of the basil with the tomatoes, but decided that in order to not lose some of the basil flavor that I only cook half of it.  

Tomato Basil Chutney 
Ingredients

• 4 Roma tomatoes 
• 1 bunch of fresh basil 
• 6 green chilies 
• 1 tsp jaggery powder 
• 3 tbs tamarind paste 
• 2 tbs sesame oil (any oil)
• Chutney Powder: 
• 12 shelled pistachios 
• 1 tbs cumin seeds
• 1 tbs coriander seeds 
• 3 dry red chilies 
• 1/2 tbs poppy seeds 
• Poppu/Thadka
• Mustard seeds 
• Hing powder 
• Udad dal
• Chana dal
• Cumin seeds 

Directions 

1. Cut the tomatoes into a medium dice and roughly chop the basil

2. Heat the sesame oil in a medium size pan. Add the tomatoes, half of the basil, green chilies and 2 tbs tamarind paste.

3. While the tomatoes are cooking, add the ingredients for the chutney powder into a small pan and dry 

roast. Toast them until they are lightly browned.

4. Let the spices cool and then grind them into a fine powder.

5. Once the tomatoes are soft and sauce like, add the chutney powder and mix in. Add salt to taste.

6. Take the mixture off the heat and set a aside to cool for 5 minutes. Then place mixture into a blender.

7. Add 1 tbs of tamarind chutney, the rest of the basil and the jaggery powder. Then blend into a uniform mixture.

8. Once the chutney is blended, move it into a serving dish.9. In a small pot, heat oil. When the oil is hot (and I mean hot) add the hing powder. When that sizzles, add the mustard seeds. When the seeds start to pop, add the rest of the poppu ingredients. Cook for 20 seconds and then pour on top of the chutney. Be careful the oil is extremely hot and will sizzle when added to the chutney. 

*Notes*

* The spice level is always up to you. I feel like I can't stress this enough.

* Usually instead of pistachios, sesame seeds are used, but we ran out of them so I had to improvise. 

* This is good with traditional Indian fair, but it would also make a lovely sandwich spread. I actually think it would be good with mozzarella cheese. 

Ease: This can take you about a half hour to make 

Ayurvedic Friendly: Goodness no! 

Yummy: *licks lips*