Stuffed Tomato Curry – Vegetarian Party Menu Star!

19 Jun

Stuffed Tomato Curry

Stuffed tomato curry, when you want that one special recipe to shine at your dinner table. With a rich sauce and a delicious potato-based filling, stuffed tomato curry is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

[Best made when you have company in the kitchen for cooking and conversation.]

Stuffed Tomato Curry

You Need:

  • Tomatoes – 6
  • Oil for shallow-frying
  • Coriander leaves for garnishing

For the stuffing:

  • Potatoes – 3 medium
  • Red chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
  • Cumin powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Turmeric powder – a pinch
  • Onion – 1/2 (or 2 tablespoons when finely chopped)
  • Garlic – 2 cloves (or 1 teaspoon when finely chopped)
  • Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Oil – 1 teaspoon

For the curry:

  • Garam masala – a pinch
  • Pepper powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Red chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
  • Cumin powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Turmeric powder – a pinch
  • Onion – 1/2 (or 2 tablespoons when finely chopped)
  • Garlic – 4 cloves (or 1 teaspoon when ground)
  • Dry red chilies – 4
  • Cinnamon stick – 1
  • Cloves – 4
  • Coriander seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Oil – 2 teaspoons

Stuffed Tomato Curry Ingredients

In the picture above:
Left [top to bottom]: spice powder bowl (cumin, red chili, coriander, black pepper, garam masala], whole spices bowl (cumin seeds, coriander seeds)
Center [top to bottom]: potatoes, onion, garlic, tomatoes
Right [top to bottom]: dry red chilies, cinnamon stick, cloves, turmeric powder

How To Make Stuffed Tomato Curry:

1. Hollow out the tomatoes

Hollow Tomatoes Here’s the technique I follow:

With a knife, cut a cone-shaped hole into the tomato from the top, almost touching the base but not piercing it. Take the cone out. Then with a corer (or similar gadget, like a swivel peeler or melon baller), scoop out the tomato pulp.

Save the tomato pulp in a separate bowl, for later use in the curry.

Hollowed Tomatoes

2. Make the potato filling

Boil the potatoes, till they are soft enough to mash. [In an Indian-style pressure cooker, this is how you’d do it: place the potatoes with enough water to submerge them. Cook till the pressure cooker lets out two whistles. Let the steam release and lid unlock naturally.]

Peel and mash the potatoes.

Heat oil in a skillet or kadhai. Add cumin seeds and when they splutter, add a teaspoon of finely chopped garlic and two tablespoons of finely chopped onion. Cook on medium heat for a minute, then add the dry spice powders: turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder. Give the spices a stir. Add mashed potatoes and salt to taste.

Mashed Potatoes

Blend the potatoes very well with the fried onions and spices. Switch off the heat after two minutes.

Potato Filling

3. Fill and Pan-Fry the Tomatoes

Stuff the tomatoes with the potato filling. [Some filling might be left over – reserve it for use in the curry later.]

Tomatoes Stuffed

Pierce each tomato with a pin all over.

Tomatoes Frying Heat a shallow non-stick pan coated with some oil.

Place the tomatoes in a single file on the pan. Cook the stuffed tomatoes covered on medium heat, turning the tomatoes around every other minute, till they are lightly browned evenly on all sides. [This should take about 10-15mins]

While turning, take care not to break the tomatoes. Drizzle a little more oil while cooking if the tomatoes stick to the pan. 

Take the pan-fried tomatoes off the pan.

4. Make the curry

In a non-stick pan, heat two teaspoons of oil. When hot, add cumin seeds and coriander seeds. As soon as the cumin seeds have crackled and the coriander seeds changed to a darker color, add dry red chilies, cinnamon stick and cloves. Stir them around for a few seconds, then add a teaspoon of garlic paste and two tablespoons of finely chopped onions.

Cook on medium heat till the onions turn translucent.

To the pan, add the dry spice powders: turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, pepper powder. Give the spices a stir.

Making Stuffed Tomato Gravy

Add the tomato pulp [reserved from step 1] to the pan. Cook on high heat, stirring regularly, for 5 minutes.

Smoothly mash the leftover potatoes after filling the tomatoes [in step 3] along with half a cup of water. Transfer this to the pan with curry.

Deglaze the pan in which tomatoes were fried. Add half a cup of water to the pan in which stuffed tomatoes were shallow-fried [in step 3], and transfer this water to the pan with curry.

Pour in more water if you want the curry thinner. Add salt to taste [carefully – the potatoes were salted too].

Stuffed Tomato Gravy

Cook everything together for 6-7 minutes on low flame, covered, stirring every other minute.

5. Put it all together

Give the curry a good stir, and then place the pan-fried stuffed tomatoes gently in it.

Stuffed Tomato Curry

Let it simmer for 5 minutes, turning the tomatoes around a few times in between.

Stuffed tomato curry is ready to serve. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Stuffed Tomato Curry

Serve stuffed tomato curry hot on the side with boiled rice or chapatis, and a simple dal and raita.

Stuffed Tomato Curry

Notes:

Looking for more curries to make for a vegetarian party spread? Try paneer butter masala, gobhi musallam, lauki kofta curry.

2 Responses to “Stuffed Tomato Curry – Vegetarian Party Menu Star!”

  1. dorota / plants on the plate June 21, 2015 at 3:00 AM #

    i really like an indian take on tomatoes – especially in the summer. will surely try this, thanks!

    • S June 26, 2015 at 2:04 PM #

      Let me know how it turned out!

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