Make this delightful and delicious Green Tomato Chutney under 20 mins! This tangy and spicy traditional Andhra Green Tomato Chutney is full of flavors and goes well with rice, bread, flatbreads, appetizers and snacks. You can also spread it in sandwiches, wraps and rolls.
What is Green Tomato Chutney?
Green Tomato Chutney is a traditional South Indian Chutney variety made with unripe tomatoes, spices and herbs. Also known as Pachi Tomato Pachadi in Telugu, this is a traditional recipe made in the Telugu speaking homes & is often served in Andhra restaurants with a Andhra meal.
Green tomatoes are unripe tomatoes that are harvested early before they ripen. A lot of times due to the weather conditions they don’t ripen or they are just picked early to prevent wastage due to expected weather conditions.
Contents hide
1 What is Green Tomato Chutney?
2 More about Green Tomatoes
3 How to Make Green Tomato Chutney (Stepwise Photos)
4 Pro Tips
5 Recipe Card
But traditionally in Andhra Pradesh, unripe tomatoes are picked intentionally to make this Green Tomato Chutney. In this post I share my Mom’s recipe and it is made the most basic way.
We would grow a lot of tomatoes in our backyard. After sharing them with friends & neighbors, we would be left with so many more. So this chutney made way to our dinner table more often.
In the earlier days, this chutney was made in a mortar & pestle for a unique coarse texture. These days most of us use blender/grinder.
This chutney is usually mixed with hot steamed rice, topped with ghee and eaten. Sometimes we also eat it with dosa, idli, curd rice and chapati. But it goes well with just anything!
The basic green tomato chutney just has a handful of ingredients – unripe tomatoes, salt, cumin seeds, green chilies, tamarind and a drizzle of oil. When made in a mortar pestle, just these ingredients will work well and the texture is great.
But when made in a grinder/blender, tomatoes get too mushy and sometimes runny too. So for a similar traditional texture my Mom would add sesame seeds or chana dal and urad dal. You can replace them with peanuts.
More about Green Tomatoes
Here are some points to note while using green tomatoes:
- Green tomatoes should always be cooked well before consumption, especially when serving in larger portions. The presence of 2 toxins known as tomatine and solanine in green tomatoes can cause poisoning and lead to stomach problems if they are not cooked well.
- This kind of tomatoes have a sharp pungent taste which is similar to bitterness. Cooking them tones down the unpleasant taste and brings out more neutral flavors.
- It is hard for some people to digest the green tomatoes. So cooking them with herbs like curry leaves or mint leaves may be a better choice.
More Chutney Recipes
Mango Chutney
Tomato Chutney
Apple Chutney
Cilantro Chutney
Mint Chutney
How to Make Green Tomato Chutney (Stepwise Photos)
Preparation
1. Rinse 250 grams (half lb) green tomatoes under running water. Slice them thin. These tomatoes are usually hard and lack moisture so slicing helps to cook them faster.
2. Here are the ingredients required to make this chutney:
- 2 to 3 slit or chopped green chilies (adjust to taste, or sub with dried red chilies)
- 2 dried red chilies (adjust to taste or sub with green chilies)
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
- ¼ cup coriander leaves (optional, for variation)
- ⅓ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric (use up to ¼ tsp for color)
- 2 large (or 6 small) garlic cloves
- ½ tablespoon cumin seeds
- ½ tablespoon urad dal (replace with red lentils or peanuts)
- 1 tablespoon chana dal (replace with red lentils, sesame seeds or peanuts)
- ½ to ¾ teaspoon tamarind (optional, soak in 3 to 4 tbsps water & squeeze)
Make the Chutney
3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan. Add chana dal and urad dal or peanuts. Fry on a medium heat until light golden. Add cumin seeds and red chilies, fry for a minute until the chilies turn crisp.
4. Add curry leaves, garlic cloves and green chilies.
5. Fry them until the green chilies blister and the curry leaves turn crisp. If you use peanuts, make sure they are roasted well until aromatic & remove all the roasted ingredients to a plate and add to the grinder later while blending.
6. Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric. Stir fry for 2 to 3 mins and cook covered until they turn soft and completely cooked.
7. While you cook, if the pan dries out, add a splash of water.
8. At this stage taste test the mixture and add a little bit of tamarind if you want. If your tomatoes are already tangy, leave out the tamarind. I added here a tsp of the thick soaked tamarind water/pulp. Be careful at this step as too much tamarind can ruin your chutney.
9. Keep aside some of the chilies from the mixture to adjust the heat later. Add the rest to the grinder/blender along with coriander leaves (optional). We don’t add any water here.
10. Use the pulse mode and grind to a slightly coarse chutney. Taste test and adjust salt, tamarind and chilies to suit your taste. I had kept aside my red chilies. If you blend yours with them, you will get a different color.
Temper the Chutney
This kind of chutney is traditionally not tempered but if you want you may do it.
11. Pour 1 tablespoon ghee or oil & heat it on a low flame. Add a pinch of mustard seeds, half tsp chana dal,1 pinch urad dal and 1 crushed garlic clove. When the lentils turn golden, add 1 small broken dried red chili piece and a few curry leaves. Fry until the leaves turn crisp, turn off and add hing.
Pour the hot tempering over the green tomato chutney.
Pro Tips
- Traditionally no lentils, sesame seeds or peanuts are used in this chutney. However every home has their own favorite ingredient. My Mom always used sesame seeds. I use chana dal and urad dal to balance the flavors and impart a nutty flavor.However you may leave out all these.
- Peanuts add a more nutty flavor and they go well in combination with raw coriander leaves. You will get a more drier and coarse chutney with these ingredients.
- You can substitute dried red chilies and green chilies, one for the other. But Andhra style traditional chutney is made only with green chilies.
- Tamarind is used to make the chutney tangy and it has to be balanced with hot green chilies. You may leave out though but the taste of tamarind and green chili is the key here in a Andhra Style chutney.
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Recipe Card
Green Tomato Chutney Recipe
Green tomatoes aka unripe tomatoes are cooked with spices and herbs to make a delightful and delicious traditional South Indian chutney. It goes well with just anything – rice, bread or with snacks.
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For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Prep Time7 minutes minutes
Cook Time13 minutes minutes
Total Time20 minutes minutes
Servings3
AuthorSwasthi
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 2½ cups (250 grams, ½ lb) green tomatoes sliced, unripe tomatoes
- 2 to 3 green chilies (adjust to taste or use dried red chilies)
- 2 dried red chilies (adjust to taste or use green chilies)
- 2 large (or 6 small) garlic cloves
- ½ tablespoon cumin seeds
- ⅓ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric (use up to ¼ tsp for color)
- 1 tablespoon chana dal (replace with red lentils, sesame seeds or peanuts)
- ½ tablespoon urad dal (replace with red lentils or peanuts)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
- ¼ cup coriander leaves (cilantro)
- ½ to ¾ teaspoon tamarind (optional)
To Temper (optional)
- 1 tablespoon ghee or oil
- 1 pinch mustard seeds
- 1 pinch urad dal (optional)
- ½ teaspoon chana dal (optional)
- 1 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 Pinch hing
- ½ dried red chili , broken
- 1 sprig curry leaves
Instructions
How to make Green Tomato Chutney
Rinse the tomatoes well and slice them. Slit or chop green chilies. Crush and peel the garlic cloves.
Pour oil to a pan and heat if on a medium heat. Add chana dal and urad dal or peanuts. Fry them until light golden. Add cumin seeds and dried red chilies.
Fry until the chilies turn crisp for about 30 to 40 seconds. Add the green chilies, garlic and curry leaves. Fry them until the curry leaves turn crisp and the green chilies are blistered. (If you use peanuts, make sure they are roasted well until aromatic and remove all the roasted ingredients to a plate and set aside)
Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric. Stir fry for 2 mins and cook covered on a medium to low heat until soft and mushy. If the pan is too dry you may sprinkle some water.
Optional – If your tomatoes are tangy you may leave out using tamarind. Soak tamarind in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water and keep aside. When it softens, squeeze with your fingers to extract the juice.
Once the tomatoes are soft, mushy and completely cooked, taste test this and add tamarind only if required (about 1 tsp extract). Turn off the heat and cool this mixture.
Keep aside some of the dried/green chilies. Add the rest of the cooled mixture/ingredients along with coriander leaves to a grinder or blender. Grind on a pulse mode to make a slightly coarse chutney.
Taste test and add more salt, tamarind or chilies (that we set aside) to suit your taste. Transfer to a serving bowl.
To Temper (Optional)
Pour ghee or oil to a small pan and heat it on a medium flame. Add mustard, chana dal, urad dal and garlic. When the lentils turn golden, add red chili, curry leaves and hing.
Pour this over the green tomato chutney.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
Nutrition Facts
Green Tomato Chutney Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 166Calories from Fat 99
% Daily Value*
Fat 11g17%
Saturated Fat 4g25%
Trans Fat 0.02g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2g
Monounsaturated Fat 5g
Cholesterol 13mg4%
Sodium 379mg16%
Potassium 378mg11%
Carbohydrates 16g5%
Fiber 5g21%
Sugar 7g8%
Protein 4g8%
Vitamin A 918IU18%
Vitamin C 108mg131%
Calcium 46mg5%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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