Tomato Pachadiటమాటా పచ్చడి
⏱ Prep 10m🍳 Cook 22m🍽 Serves 4🌿 Vegan
Video: Vismai Food (YouTube)
Tomato Pachadi is one of those Andhra chutneys that takes five minutes to make and disappears from the table before anything else does. Ripe tomatoes are cooked down with green chillies and garlic into a soft, tangy pulp, then blended with a generous heap of fresh coriander (kothimeera) before a sharp mustard-and-dal tempering is poured over it sizzling. It pairs with rice and ghee, with idli, with dosa — really with anything that can use a bright, herbaceous hit of tomato.
📍 Make it in Plano
This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.
Finding Desi spots near Plano…
Ingredients
- ▪Ripe tomatoes4 large (about 500g), roughly chopped
- ▪Fresh coriander leaves (kothimeera) with stems1 cup packed
- ▪Green chillies4, slit
- ▪Garlic cloves4
- ▪Dried red chillies2
- ▪Cumin seeds (jeera)1 tsp
- Tempering
- ▪Oil2 tbsp
- ▪Mustard seeds (avalu)½ tsp
- ▪Urad dal (minapappu)1 tsp
- ▪Chana dal (senaga pappu)1 tsp
- ▪Curry leaves (karivepaku)1 sprig
- ▪Saltto taste
🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
- Fresh coriander is labelled cilantro in most Western supermarkets. The stems carry flavour — include them. Dried coriander has a completely different taste and is not a substitute here.
- For a smoked version: hold each tomato on a fork over a gas flame, turning until charred in spots, before chopping and cooking. This adds a subtle char that home cooks in Andhra Pradesh often do over wood fires.
- Serrano or jalapeño peppers work in place of green Andhra chillies. For milder heat, remove the seeds before slitting.
Method
- 1Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan over medium heat. Add dried red chillies, green chillies, and garlic; stir for 1–2 min until the garlic just colours and the chillies puff.
- 2Add tomatoes and a generous pinch of salt. Cook on medium, stirring occasionally, for 12–15 min until the tomatoes collapse completely and the excess water cooks off. The mixture should look jammy. Cool to room temperature.
- 3Toast cumin in a dry pan for 30 sec until fragrant. Remove and set aside.
- 4Blend the cooled tomato mixture, toasted cumin, and fresh coriander together to a coarse paste — pulse rather than run continuously; some texture makes the pachadi more interesting.
- 5Taste and adjust salt. Transfer to a serving bowl.
- 6For the tempering: heat remaining oil in a small pan until shimmering. Add mustard seeds and let them pop. Add urad dal and chana dal; fry until light golden.
- 7Add curry leaves — they will crackle immediately. Pour the tempering over the chutney at once.
- 8Stir gently, let it rest 2 min for the flavours to settle, then serve with rice, dosa, or idli.
A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.