Instant Tomato Thokku – 15 Minute Tomato chutney

Name: 15 minute Tomato Thokku
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 2 cups Store bought Marinara sauce (It was about 1/2 a jar of sauce); 1 tsp mustard seeds; 1 tsp fenugreek seeds; 1/2 tsp urad dal; 10 to 15 curry leaves; 1/4 tsp asafoetida/hing; 1/2 tsp turmeric powder; 11/2 tsp chilly powder ( you can add more to make it spicy); 1 tsp salt (or as per taste) (remember that sauce already has some salt in it.); 2 to 3 tbsp sesame oil

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This quick and easy Instant Tomato Thokku or chutney is the best accompaniment with rice, idlis, dosas and your favorite tiffin items.

We love idlis and dosas at home. I am pretty sure we cannot function without it for more than a week. Conisdering that we have it regularyly chutneys and sambars are staple dishes. I love a good chutney. And nothing like a spicy tomato chutney / thokku when tomatoes are in season. I really enjoyed a good harvest of tomatoes in my garden this year. And guess what I made often? Yes, a spicy tomato chutney to go with my idli.

We use tomatoes pretty much everyday in our cooking. From rasams to sambars, sabzis to curries, it’s one fruit that has to be in my kitchen all the time. Considering it gets used so often, it’s pretty normal for me to run out of tomatoes before I even realise it. And in those situations, this instant tomato chutney is a great dish to make, especially when you are hit with sudden cravings of spicy chutneys to go with your rice and tiffin items. Trust me it happens all the time for me.

My mom made this killer tomato thokku. It was spicy, flavorful and honestly all about the tomatoes. She would make a big batch with lots of tomatoes and the problem was it would get over in the same day. First we would have it with rice for lunch, then we would smear some on bread or rotis for snack and again with idlis / dosas or dosa waffles ( yes, that’s a dish and it’s delish) for dinner. Not to forget the tastings we have every now and then.

Looking for more side dishes for idlis and dosas? You will also like – Butternut squash chutney ,

Peanut chutney,

chayote squash chutney,

Tiffin sambar recipe,

arachuvitta sambar

I once tasted the same thokku in my friend’s place and it was really good. She asked me if I could find anything different and I really tried to figure out what but we came up with nothing. And that’s when she told me her mom had used the left over marinara sauce for the thooku. I was surprised! Trust me. Because it did not taste like it was made form the sauce at all.

Since then this thokku has become a staple dish in our house. I always end up buying a jar of marinara for those emergency pasta situations. But it always ends up getting used for the emergency chutney days 🙂

What If I don’t have marinara sauce?

You can still make this with freshly ground tomato puree. Thats how my mom used to make the original recipe. All you need in beautiful ripe tomatoes, puree them and use instead of the sauce. But since they are raw, they will need more time to cook. You will have to keep cooking it until you see the oil release from the sides of the pan.

Are fenugreek seeds must in this recipe?

Yes! They give a wonderful flavor to this dish and balances the tartness and sweetness from the tomatoes. I usually have roasted fenugreen powder in my kitchen for sambars, kuzhambu etc. All youbhave to do is roast the fenugreek seeds until golden and grind them to a powder using your food processor.

Why should you make this instant tomato chutney / 15 minute tomato thokku?

Easy and simple to make
Perfect side dish for idlis and doeas
Goes well with rice
Great recipe to make use of leftover marinara or tomato sauce
Great for travel and lunch boxes

I can assure you,this s so simple! All you need in 15 minutes, a jar or half of marinara sauce, few ingredients for tadka and you have a lipsmacking garlicky, tangy thokku that you can have with your idlis, dosas, parathas and rice. I even had them with some crackers and they were really good.

3.5 from 6 votes

15 minute Tomato Thokku

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

20 mins

Marinara sauce cooked with chilly powder, mustard, curryleaves to make a delicious tangy chutney

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: South Indian

Author: Preethi

Ingredients

2 cups Store bought Marinara sauce (It was about 1/2 a jar of sauce)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
10 to 15 curry leaves
1/4 tsp asafoetida/hing
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
11/2 tsp chilly powder ( you can add more to make it spicy)
1 tsp salt (or as per taste) remember that sauce already has some salt in it.
2 to 3 tbsp sesame oil

Instructions

Dry roast the fenugreek seeds in a pan until golden and grind it to a smooth powder. Set it aside.
Heat oil in a kadai/ pan and add the seasame oil. When it heats up, add the mustard seeds, asafoetida, turmeric powder, curry leaves, urad dal, roasted fenugreek powder. Let the mustard seeds splutter.
Now add the marinara sauce,chilly pwder, salt and cook in medium flame until the thokku thickens. (adjust the chilly powder as per spice levels. Also kashmiri chilly gives a brighter red color without making it too spicy)
When they are nice and thick, oil separated to the sides of the pan, switch off. Store in an airtight container for about a week in the refriegerator.
If your marinara sauce does not have garlic, you can add some crushed garlic while you temper the mustard seeds for extra flavor. It tastes great without garlic too.

Recipe Notes

It is recommended not to avoid any of the ingredients mentioned in the recipe so that you do not get any flavor of the italian herbs in the sauce itself.

This recipe can also be done with tomato puree. In that case grind tomatoes so that you get aboout 2 cups of puree and proceed with the recipe.

You can also add a tbsp of sambar powder if you like that flavor in your thokku!

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