Tomato Koshimbir

This is a dish that showcases tomato. Tomato is a very special ingredient in my book. It was rarely or almost never used in the house when I was growing up. Onions and tomatoes were never stocked in the house. My father has very few dislikes but tomato is one of them. My sister is not fond of them either and I like tomato only when it is mixed with something else. Most Maharashtrian recipes do not call for tomatoes so we never bought them unless my mother made one of her specials just for me. This salad was one of her specials. It has onions, powdered roasted peanuts and cilantro in addition to the tomato. There is a variation of this salad that I will post another day.

As luck would have it my daughter loves tomatoes. She is so fond of them she eats them raw as a snack. She swipes slices when I chop them. From the time she was two I have planted cherry tomatoes in the garden every summer. She helps herself to tomatoes whenever she wants. When she was little she would lovingly offer me some and I would tell her there would not be enough for her if I took some. I did not want to tell her I did not like them and influence her tastes. Now she wonders how anyone can dislike tomatoes.

My husband too is fond of tomatoes so I use them a lot. But some dishes like this one will always be special.

You will need
2 large tomatoes
1/2 onion
a handful cilantro
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt to taste
1 tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 green chili pepper or Serrano pepper

Dice the tomatoes, onion and cilantro. Grind the roasted peanuts to coarse powder. In a bowl combine the tomatoes, onions and cilantro with the ground peanuts. Add salt and sugar. Break up the green pepper into small pieces. In a small pan heat the olive and turn off heat. Add the cumin seeds and the pieces of pepper. Let the oil cool completely. Pour the cooled oil over the tomato mixture. Combine and let it sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week one, day one of BM #50 for the theme One Ingredient three dishes. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#50.