Marinara sauce cooked with chilly powder, mustard, curryleaves to make a delicious tangy chutney
- 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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Dry roast the fenugreek seeds in a pan until golden and grind it to a smooth powder. Set it aside.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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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.
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!