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Thakkali Kurma Recipe

Turns Everyday Tomatoes Into A Comforting South Indian Curry

Thakkali Kurma is a South Indian tomato-based curry that blends the tang of ripe tomatoes with a creamy, coconut-based gravy. Unlike tomato gravies that are primarily onion- or butter-based, this dish derives its body from a fresh coconut-cashew-goram paste. When cooked, the tomatoes disintegrate and create a naturally tangy sauce that complements the body of the paste. This kurma goes well with any meals, especially when you want to make easy vegetable curries without using many ingredients. The flavour is built layer by layer, starting with whole spices like cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and fennel seeds. Then onion, green chilli and garlic-ginger paste is added to create the savoury layer of the recipe, and then the turmeric, coriander and red chilli powder act in adding colour and warmth to the dish. The ground coconut mixture is added as the next step after the destruction of the tomatoes so that everything gets integrated into the sauce. Thakkali Kurma can be used in different ways for meals like idiyappam, dosa, appam, chapati or steamed rice. Depending on the level of consistency, it may be made slightly thinner so that the dish can be soaked up into idiyappam, or made thicker than usual for dosa or chapati. It is one of the few South Indian curry recipes that uses tomatoes as the main ingredient, unlike other curry recipes that use tomatoes as a flavouring ingredient.