Tomato Tovve

Wishing all my readers a very happy new year. I spend the fag end of 2013 back home in India with my loved ones.  We spent some good time together, ate great food and yapped to our heart's content.  I realize that when I am here, I always refer to India as 'home', when I am in India, I refer US as 'home'. I guess the is the true sign of an expat! To think of it, we Indians we always global citizens. If we ignore the past century or so we were always outward looking. Thousands of years ago our ancestors traveled to far away places in all directions for trade, religion etc. It was just this past century that we lost our true self, we imported inward looking socialistic and left-leaning ideas. It never was us, so it did not take deep roots and here we are again in the spirit of our ancient ancestors truly global Indian.

This time I visited Bangalore and Mysore. Mysore has a special place in my heart, it is the place that I lived the longest till date. I wanted my Sunny boy to have a piece of Mysore too. Raju hotel being no longer in operation, we had to go to GTR for Masale Dose, unfortunately they do not serve Sambar with their Dose. Sunny boy was disappointed. But he really enjoyed their Noodles! He had a gala time at the Dasara Exhibition, Mysore zoo and not great but good time in Nanjanagudu and Chamundi Betta.  We had a delicious Jolada Rotti oota at Kamat Manuvana right in front of Manuvana which is the Royal burial grounds (in simple terms that is..)

On a more somber note, it was also just a few weeks after the death of the Maharaja and there were tributes on every street and gully. Dasara will never be the same without him, but time is indeed the greatest healer, Dasara will be go on....

For now it is some Tomato Tovve. It is not our regular Tovve, but something similar to what my Akka makes, which she picked up from her in-laws.

We will need,

Toor dal /Togari Bele  1/4 cup
Tomatoes 2
Turmeric a pinch
Ghee 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Ginger 1/4 " piece
Garlic 2-3 cloves
Chili powder 1/2 tsp (adjust according to taste)
Dhania powder 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Lemon wedges to serve

Method

• Wash the dal in several changes of water and place it in a pressure cooker. Add about 2 cups of water, the two whole tomatoes and a pinch of turmeric. Cook the dal till it falls apart. Remove from heat and let it cool
• Chop the ginger garlic and crush it in a mortar-pestle. Set it aside.
• Heat ghee in a wok. Throw in the mustard and jeera. Once they stop spluttering, add the ginger garlic paste. Cook for a few seconds and turn off the heat. Then add the dhania and chilli powder. Stir and let it cook in the heat of the wok for a few more seconds. 
• Once the spices are fragrant, pour it into the cooked dal. Place the dal again on low heat. Using the back of a heavy spoon, mash the tomato well. 
• Combine the dal, the spices mixture and tomatoes gently and adjust salt. Heat it thoroughly and serve with rice, pickles, papads and lemon wedges.