Complete Indian meal has a raita / pachadi in the menu and it is the cooling factor in the meal. This Thakkali pachadi / Tomato raita is perfect with the spicy Milagu kuzahmbu (pepper stew) and is made with fresh tomatoes and homemade yogurt.
I love how a complete meal, be it South Indian or North Indian always has a pachadi / raita in it. When eating a large meal, the yogurt in the pachadi does have a very soothing effect on the tummy.
It is especially useful to people like me who skips the curd rice / Thayir Saadham. Because of our use of yogurt in our everyday diet, we avoid a lot of stomach issues as we maintain a healthy dose of probiotics.
This Thakkali Pachadi is one recipe that I have never been able to get the same taste as my mother's. I have her handwritten recipe and have used the same ingredients, but I still prefer hers over mine.
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Guess now I have to just keep trying until one day it tastes like hers.
I have done a few blunders in this tomato raita recipe, this particular day when I clicked the pictures. The yogurt has to be mixed with the tomato mixture once the mixture has cooled well.
I added it while it was still hot and it sort of changed the texture of the pachadi. Also, I did not whisk the yogurt well because of time constraints and that also changed the texture of the tomato pachadi.
Other recipes that I made for lunch -
Milagu Kuzhambu
Paruppu Thuvayal
Beans Curry
Ingredients to make Thakkali Pachadi– Serves 4
- Tomatoes – 4 (chopped finely)
- Green chilies – 2
- Yogurt (whisked) -1 cup
- Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
- Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
- Asafetida – a pinch
- Oil – 1 tsp
- Curry leaves (optional) – few
- Cilantro – few (finely chopped)
- Salt – to taste
- Sugar – ½ tsp
Procedure to make Thakkali Pachadi –
- Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and the cumin seeds and let it crackle. Then add the asafetida and curry leaves and let it cook for about 5 seconds.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and green chilies along with the salt needed. Let the tomatoes soften a bit, but make sure that they do not cook completely and become mushy.
- Let the mixture cool down entirely and then add the whisked yogurt along with the sugar and cilantro. The sugar helps in cutting down the acidity.
- Mix well and serve the Thakkali Pachadi. If serving at a later time, add the yogurt just when you are ready to serve or keep the Tomato raita refrigerated so that it does not become sour.
Expert tips
- Always add the yogurt to the tomatoes when it is cooled down to room temperature.
- Adding the the yogurt to hot tomato mixture will curdle the Tomato pachadi.
- Also make sure to whisk the yogurt really well before adding to the raita.
- Homemade yogurt works best for the raita.
- Make sure that the yogurt we use for the raita is not sour.
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Thakkali Pachadi | Tomato Raita
Ingredients
- 4 Tomatoes Chopped finely
- 2 Green chilies
- 1 cup Yogurt Whisked
- ½ teaspoon Mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- A pinch Asafetida
- 1 teaspoon Oil
- few Curry leaves Optional
- few Cilantro Finely chopped
- to taste Salt
- ½ teaspoon Sugar
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and the cumin seeds and let it crackle. Then add the asafetida and curry leaves and let it cook for about 5 seconds.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and green chilies along with the salt needed. Let the tomatoes soften a bit, but make sure that they do not cook completely and become mushy.Let the mixture cool down entirely and then add the whisked yogurt along with the sugar and cilantro. The sugar helps in cutting down the acidity.
- Let the mixture cool down entirely and then add the whisked yogurt along with the sugar and cilantro. The sugar helps in cutting down the acidity.
- Mix well and serve the Thakkali Pachadi. If serving at a later time, add the yogurt just when you are ready to serve or keep the pachadi refrigerated so that it does not become sour.
Notes
- Always add the yogurt to the tomatoes when it is cooled down to room temperature.
- Adding the the yogurt to hot tomato mixture will curdle the Tomato pachadi.
- Also make sure to whisk the yogurt really well before adding to the raita.
- Homemade yogurt works best for the raita.
- Make sure that the yogurt we use for the raita is not sour.
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