Sun Dried Tomato Pickle
My love for pickles developed during my hostel days. Those who have the hostel days experience can probably relate well to that. I had the sun dried tomato pickle from one of my friends. Her mom packed her the pickle with some dosa to bring back to the hostel. We all devoured the pickle. I still remember the lip smacking taste of that pickle.
I had tried many tomato pickle recipes, but they were all made with fresh tomatoes and never tasted the same. Couple of years ago, when I got a good yield of tomatoes from my summer garden, I started sun drying the well ripe ones to avoid wasting them. I used them in my pasta and they tasted really good. So I thought to try the pickle with sun dried tomatoes since they tasted delicious. They turned out to be really good. But it was not the same as what I had before. The next time, I tried with sesame oil and it tasted the same way as I had before. In this recipe, I am using less oil, but the more the oil you use, the longer it will last. But trust me, they will disappear fast because of its taste.
Yields - 16 oz mason jar
Ingredients
2 cups - Sundried Tomatoes (refer notes)
1 cup - boiled water
10 - cloves big garlic sliced
2 tbsp - ginger chopped
2 - dry red chili
1 tsp - chili powder
2 tsp - Kashmiri Chili powder
1/2 tsp - turmeric powder
1/4 tsp - fenugreek powder
1/2 tsp - mustard seeds
1/4 tsp - asafoetida
1/2 cup - boiled water
2 tbsp - vinegar
2-3 - sprigs of fresh curry leaves
1/4 cup - sesame oil
salt to taste
Directions:
- Add the boiling water to sun dried tomatoes and let it sit for 15 minutes for them to get softened.
- In a heavy bottom pan, splutter the mustard seeds and add the sliced garlic and ginger and cook till light golden brown.
- Add dry chili and lower the flame. Add turmeric powder, chili powder, fenugreek powder and asafoetida and cook till the raw smell goes away.
- Add the soaked tomatoes (along with the water if any) and the additional 1/2 cup hot water to the pan.
- Let everything come to a boil. Add salt to taste and vinegar. Add curry leaves and let it cook on low flame for another 5 minutes. Turn off the flame when the tomatoes are softened well. Let it cool.
- Transfer to a sterilized bottle and store in the refrigerator.
- Use tomatoes those are well ripe. Cut them into slices if using big tomatoes and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle kosher salt or sea salt on top of each slices and sun dry for 2-3 days depends on the heat. You can store them in a clean glass bottle till ready to make the pickle. Make sure not to over crowd the baking sheet.
- Alternatively you can use 2 pints of well ripe cherry tomatoes. Cut them into halves and place on 2 baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle Kosher/sea salt over them. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 250 F for 2 hours 30 minutes or till the tomatoes are dry.
