This vegan Hyderabadi Tomato Chutney, aka “Tamatar ka khatta” is the delicious tangy, spicy condiment that accompanies lots of Indian and Pakistani food. Its made with simple ingredients and ready in under 20 minutes!
It is the PERFECT addition to any lonely rice dish you make, like Matar Pulao, Chicken Malai Pulao or steamed rice with lentils or honestly just any fried snack you can think of, South Asian or otherwise.
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About Tomato Chutney
This particular Tomato chutney is known as “Tamatar ka khatta” in Urdu/Hindi, which literally translates to “tang of tomato”. It comes from the Hyderabadi cuisine made by cooking tomatoes in oil and spices. It is closely related to tomato ka kut, which is another Hyderabadi tomato curry recipe, served with eggs on top. Hyderbadis are known for their love of tangy food. Case in point would be the Hyderabadi khatti dal. True Hyderabadis would tell you that they always have a batch of this tomato chutney in their fridge or freezer, and I must say I like that sort of ahead-thinking when it comes to food!
Ingredients
Here are some notes on the ingredients.
- Tomatoes – Fresh ripe tomatoes are ideal for this recipe. But, don’t worry, you can also use canned tomatoes.
- Powdered Spices – Salt, red chili flakes, Turmeric, Red chili powder
- Whole Spices – Nigella seeds (Kalonji), cumin seeds (Zeera), mustard seeds (Rye), whole red chilies (Saabit laal mirch), curry leaves. You may not have all the ingredients in your pantry, and thats fine, you can skip them if you don’t have them all but I would highly recommend not skipping the curry leaves.
- Spice base – You need garlic and onions to get the “base” started. You can skip the onions if you don’t like them for xyz reasons.
- Oil – Any regular cooking oil, ghee or butter would do.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to make the chutney
This is a very straightforward and quick recipe. Here’s a quick pictorial to guide you through the steps.
Step 1: In a deep skillet or pan, add oil. Then add whole spices, garlic, onions and curry leaves.
Step 2: Sauté onions and garlic at medium to low heat until golden.
Step 3: Add powdered spices.
Step 4: Cook for 1 minute to allow the spices to infuse the oil.
Step 5: Add crushed tomatoes into the pan and cover with a lid for 15 minutes. Let it simmer at low flame until the oil separates from the side and the moisture from the tomato evaporates.
Step 6: When you see the oil separation, add some extra water to bring the chutney together and cook at high heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Cool the chutney down before serving.
This chutney is generally served at room temperature so you don’t need to reheat it if you’ve made it earlier in the day. If you are having it on the next day, simply bring it out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for about 10 – 15 mins. No need to reheat it.
Expert Tips
- Fry onions and garlic at low heat to prevent them from turning brown. We need to stop cooking when they turn golden. You can add a splash of water to prevent further cooking while you add your spices.
- Always add powdered spices BEFORE adding tomatoes. This allows the raw spices to be tempered in oil and be activated.
- Never store your cooked chutneys in plastic tupperware. It WILL stain your plastic yellow or even corrode it from the inside if its cheap plastic. Always store chutneys in glass, ceramic or steel containers.
Pairing Tomato Chutney
This tangy “tamatar ki chutney” is popularly eaten with rice dishes that are non-spicy on their own like Pulav rice and steamed rice. Rarely also eaten with roti, parathas and kebabs. Here are a couple of things this chutney is normally eaten with:
- Steamed rice and lentils
- Pulav rice, like the Malai boti pulao
- Zeera pulav, kebab and salad (as shown in picture)
- Served as a condiment for dinners and get togethers.
- Used as a dipping sauces for spicy chicken samosas or chicken nuggets
Frequently Asked Questions
Your chutney can last for over a month easy in the fridge! Just make sure to keep it in a glass / ceramic airtight container in the fridge.
Absolutely! If you plan on using it later and not right away, you can easily freeze the chutney after it cools down. Freeze in a ziplock bag and simply reheat in the microwave whenever you are ready to consume.
This chutney is not overly spicy to begin with (atleast not to my “brown” palate). But if you are someone who can’t eat spicy food in general, then I’d say switch the red chili powder to paprika and you should be fine. Some people in my family also add a teaspoon of jaggery aka “gud” in their chutneys.
If you are fan of fusion and experiment than absolutely! We love it as a dip with nuggets and Arabic grill platters. And because of the flavors, I can tell you it will go well with Mexican food too!
More recipes like this
Here are more chutneys and vegetarian recipes for you:
Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!
Hyderabadi Tomato ka khatta
Ingredients
- 1 kg fresh tomatoes or canned
- 1½ teaspoon table Salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon Crushed red chili flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Red chili powder
- 1 medium onion chopped 60 gm
- 6 big cloves of garlic
- 1/3 cup vegatable oil
Whole spices
- 1/2 teaspoon Nigella seeds Kalonji
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds Zeera
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds Rye
- 4 whole red chilies Saabit laal mirch
- 8 to 10 curry leaves
Instructions
- Add onion and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Remove and set aside.
- Add tomatoes in the food processor and process till it becomes finely chopped (salsa consistency). DO NOT ADD WATER.
- In a saucepan or small pot, add oil and place on the stove at medium heat.
- Add the chopped onion and garlic, along with all the whole spices. Saute till the onions and garlic become slightly golden.
- Reduce the heat to low, and add all the remaining spices and salt, saute for 1 to 2 mins.
- Now put all chopped tomatoes in the pot and increase the flame back to medium high. Once you see the tomatoes have heated up, put the lid on and let the tomatoes cook for 10 to 15 mins.
- Once all the water from the tomatoes has evaporated, cook for another 5 mins until you see oil seperate on the sides.
- Now add 1 cup water and cook for another 5 mins at medium to high flame or until you start seeing oil seperation again on the sides.
- Serve warm or room temperature with rice or dishes of your choice.
Notes
- The chutney or Khatta can safely be consumed for 1 month to 45 days after it has been made, if refrigerated.
- You can also freeze the chutney for upto 4 months.
- Save the chutney in an airtight container in the fridge and simply leave outside to come down to room temperature before serving
- This chutney is served at room temperature so it doesn't need heating up prior to being served.
Asiya Umer says
I did not add the 1 cup of water. Why was it necessary?
Wajiha says
hey there! Its ok if you dont want to add the water. It just gives more volume towards the end, to be eaten with rice as well.
arshad says
Happy everyday！
Wajiha says
thankyou