Tomato curry recipe – sharing a step by step recipe of spiced & lightly tangy tomato curry from the Goan cuisine. A vegan recipe.
This recipe of tomato curry has coastal flavors of ground coconut and spices. a family recipe I have been making for many years now. My mom’s special tomato curry which goes well with rice or chapathi or rotis.
When there are no veggies in the kitchen, I prepare this vegan tomato curry along with steamed rice. Curry and rice is a meal I have grown up with. So for me when its curry with rice, I don’t need anything else.
This tomato curry recipe is similar to the Goan curry with mix vegetables, I had posted earlier. Just that there are tomatoes in this curry that make the curry lightly tangy. As the tanginess of the tomatoes, is balanced by the subtle sweetness of the coconut and the heat from the spices and red chilies. Also cumin seeds are not added in this one.
I don’t make this curry hot or spicy. Hence I have added Kashmiri red chilies, which give a bright red color and are mild in heat. In fact, we always make this curry with dry Kashmiri red chilies. Depending on the type of dry red chilies, the taste and flavor of the curry will change from being a bit smoky to hot.
Like most of the coconut based curries, this tomato curry also goes well with some steamed rice or chapati. Accompany a light side vegetable salad or a pickle by the side. You can also have some stir-fried or pan-fried vegetable dish, by the side.
How to make tomato curry
1. Take all the ingredients to be ground in a wet grinder jar – chopped tomatoes, broken red chilies, garlic, coconut, coriander seeds, chopped onion, whole black pepper and turmeric powder.
2. Add 3 tbsp water and grind to a smooth fine paste. There should be no small chunks or pieces of coconut in the masala paste. Keep the ground paste aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan or pot. add mustard seeds and crackle. then add cumin seeds & saute till they get browned.
4. Add some chopped onions and saute till translucent.
5. then add curry leaves, dry red chilies and asafoetida/hing. Stir.
6. Add chopped tomatoes.
7. Saute the tomatoes for 3 minutes on a low flame.
8. Add the ground tomato-coconut-spices masala paste.
9. Stir and saute for 1 to 2 minutes on a low flame.
10. Add water.
11. Season with salt.
12. Bring to a complete boil first without a lid. Then simmer the curry on a low flame, again without a lid.
13. Simmer till you see oil floating on top of the curry. About 12 to 15 minutes on a low flame after the first boil. Stir the curry at intervals.
14. Garnish the curry with coriander leaves. Serve the tomato curry with steamed rice or jeera rice or chapathi.
More Curry recipes
Tomato Curry
Ingredients
for the tomato-coconut-spices paste
- ½ cup tightly packed chopped tomatoes
- 2/3 cup tightly packed grated fresh coconut or ½ cup tightly packed chopped fresh coconut
- 2 to 3 small to medium garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1.5 tablespoon chopped onion or shallots
- 4 to 5 kashmiri dry red chilies - broken and seeds removed if you prefer
- 5 whole black pepper - optional
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 3 tablespoon water for grinding the masala paste
remaining ingredients for curry
- ½ to ⅓ cup chopped tomatoes for sauteing
- 1 tablespoon chopped onion
- 2 dry red chilies - stalks removed
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 6 to 7 curry leaves
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- 2 tablespoon oil
- few coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
- salt as required
Instructions
making paste
- Rinse and chop the onions, garlic and tomatoes.
- Break the dry red chilies and deseed them if you prefer.
- Grate the coconut and keep aside. You can also chop the coconut into small pieces.
- Take all the ingredients to be ground in a wet grinder jar - chopped tomatoes, broken red chilies, garlic, coconut, coriander seeds, chopped onion, whole black pepper and turmeric powder.
- Add water and grind to a smooth fine paste. There should be no small chunks or pieces of coconut in the masala paste. Keep the ground paste aside.
making tomato curry
- Heat oil in a pan or pot. Add mustard seeds and crackle them.
- Then add cumin seeds. Saute till they browned. Add onions and saute till translucent
- Then add curry leaves, dry red chilies and asafoetida/hing.
- Stir and then add tomatoes. Saute them for 3 minutes.
- Add the ground masala paste and saute for 1 to 2 mins, stirring often
- Then add 3 cups water. Season with salt.
- Bring to a complete boil first without a lid. Then simmer the curry on a low flame, again without a lid. Stir the curry at intervals.
- Simmer till you see oil floating on top of the curry. About 12 to 15 minutes on a low flame after the first boil.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve tomato curry hot with steamed rice or chapathi or jeera rice.
Notes
- About 1 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves can also be added while grinding the masala paste.
Hi
This is my favorite blog for recipes.
I tried this recipe today.
It came out great .
Thanks a lot for ur recipe posts.
Welcome Aruna. Thanks for your positive feedback for blog.
Hi Dassana…i tried this today. .its awesome like ur other recipes..thank u. N yes i am loving all ur videos.
Welcome Richa. Thanks for sharing positive feedback.
The most perfect recipe ever !!!! Thanks a lot…
thankyou so much sonam 🙂
Hi! I’m trying this recipe for the very first time. And the dish looks yum and when I and my family taste it,it would be yum too.
Before grinding the ingredients,do they need to be roasted or saúteed or something?
thanks. no need to roast the ingredients. in goan cuisine, the ingredients are not roasted and ground fresh.
Ah okay! Thanks a lot! The dish came out yum! Thanks for sharing a lovely recipe!
thanks for letting me know janani 🙂
Hi. I have tried a couple of recipes from your site, and they have turned out absolutely fab.
I have a general doubt though. When we simmer gravy or curry without the lid, the curry tends to splash around. Any tip u can suggest to reduce this mess.
Thanks a lot!
its best to use a deep pan or pot, to simmer gravy or curry. also keep on a low or medium flame.
Tried this out tonight ,it was really tasty! Your website has taught me to cook good, vegetarian Indian Food, and I am so happy for this! I also made some of your paneer recipes and Aloo Palak! Thank you very much! Greetings from Norway!
Oscar
welcome oscar. nice to know this. thanks for sharing your positive feedback.
Hii dassana,
Can I use coconut cream instead of fresh coconut, as fresh coconut is not available right now.
Thanks
welcome ràsika. yes you can use.
It was awesome all my relatives ate like anything thanks
welcome rashmika
I do not have a grinder jar, but this sounds amazing! Can I use a blender or a food processor? I have both of those… thank you!
welcome molly. you can use any of them. but they should be powerful. because grinding coconut is tough.
Hi reading your recipes since yesterday. Amazing – so extensive n intensive. Got all I wanted except VEG Parsi Curry which has coconut, raw peanuts, dahlia (channa) til, khus khus, etc. Could u please post the recipe. Thank you. Kashmira
PL first recipe site I enjoyed reading n told my sisters n friends about.
thanks kashmira. i have added your request in the recipe request sheet. will take some time to add the recipe. also convey my thanks to your sisters and friends.
Hi Dassana, your recipes are too good
yet simple to make. I tried most of them n just loved making them.Thanks.
I am a goan too .
good to know ashwini. thanks for the feedback too.
Garam masala
which is the best brand of garam masala.
best is to make homemade garam masala.
I like all dishes u have mentioned here… U really make it simple and easy for us… Right now I m looking for fish curry Goa style, also know as Maashaychi kadhi or Maashacha Kalvan. Please if u can put its recipe here. I have always tried to make it but landed up with spoiling the dish… 🙂
thanks manjiri. you can try the following goan curry recipes and replace fish with the veggies. but the fish just has to added to the curry and cooked.
1 – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/vegetable-curry-recipe-goan-vegetable-curry/
2 – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/mushroom-caldin/
This looks delicious. Is there another name or substitute for asafoetida? I can’t find it anywhere.
Thanks 🙂
thanks. asafoetida is called as ‘hing’ in hindi. generally onions and garlic are used as substitutes for asafoetida.
Hi dassana, I made this curry a couple of weeks ago and it was lovely. My husband a proper Sikh and avid meat eater was loving this veg dish. I did feel though that the curry tasted even better the following day! Thanks for sharing !
welcome neetu. glad to know this. thats a big compliment.
Hello Dassana,
Today i cooked tomato curry. it tastes good but:
1) its very watery.
2) my paste was not as smooth as u had mentioned…b’coz i did not have fresh coconut, i used dry one…so i can feel coconut in the gravy…can i use cashew nuts in place of coconut next time…plz tell me how to make lil more thick gravy…
the curry is not watery. if you would have simmered more, the watery consistency would have reduced. for dry coconut, you will have to grind really well. also adding warm water while grinding dry coconut helps. i think you use dry coconut slivers or pieces. dry coconut slivers or pieces gives a much intense coconut taste and flavor, then fresh coconut or coconut powder. cahshew nuts will change the whole taste of the curry. it will be like a punjabi curry.
Thank you so much…
You are the best.. very soon i am going to be a married and your website and recipe helps me a lot to cook and make excellent recipe…
welcome pooja. wishing you a happy married life. glad to know that you liked the website and recipes.
Can I use crushed coconut(dried)?
dried coconut will give a different flavor and taste. but you can still try this curry. soak the dry coconut in hot water for 30 minutes. just about cover the coconut with water. this softens then and then while grinding you add both the coconut and water.
Your recipe says 2tbsp oil but in the image the oil seems much more that 2 tbsp. Just saying.
sujay, its 2 tbsp oil only. could be photo illusion.
Any particular reason why the text is black background and grey text? Just curious, I think it is good for the eyes though I would like white text in black background better.
teresa, no particular reason. its the default color of the software which shows the recipe instructions.