Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

You have not planned to make jam, but you are left with lot of tomatoes. You do not have the raw materials for jam, pectin or preservatives. The following way you can make good jam and preserve it for a week or refrigirate and preserve it more.

When you have sugar, make jam:

Blanch the tomatoes.

Keep each tomato on a strainer, make four vertical slits on its sides and slowly ease out the seeds. This way the juice will not get wasted. Rinse the tomato in a small cup of hot water and remove the seeds completely. De-seed all the tomatoes like this.

Blend the tomatoes in a mixer into a paste, not very smooth.

Measure this pulp. The sugar you add should be one and a half times the pulp.

Add the pulp , the juice and the sugar in a pan and boil. Let it simmer till the jam thickens. You do not need to add any flavour.

Remove from fire and store in a container. Refrigirate.

When you have red chillies, make pickles and dip:

Recipe for tomato hot sweet dip:  Take the blanched and de-seeded tomatoes – 1 cup

Fry 2 red chillies in a teaspoon of oil.

Make a smooth paste with the chillies and two tomatoes. The rest of the tomatoes should be ground coarsely.

In a frying pan heat two teaspoonfuls of oil and splutter half a teaspoon of mustard seeds in it.

Fry an onion in this.

Add the tomato paste,  with one teaspoonful of sugar and 3/4 spoon of salt ( if sour tomatoes are used, slightly increase the quantity of salt) in this, and fry tiil the mixture thickens.

Remove from fire and this can be preserved for two days.

Recipe for tomato pickle: Sour tomatoes are best suited for this.

Cut the raw tomatoes into small cubes – 1 cup

Heat 2 table spoonfuls of gingelly oil in a frying pan and splutter 1/2 a teaspoon of mustard seeds in this.

Let this cool down a bit.

Add 1 teaspoonful of red chilly powder and 1 teaspoon of salt to the oil and mix it well.

Add the tomatoes to this and fry till the oil gets separated.

Add fried garlic or 1/4 teaspoon of asefotida to this and mix well.

This will preserve for four days.

Tomato puree:

Mix the de-seeded tomato with a reaspoonful of salt, in a blender, in to a smooth paste.

Deep freeze the mixture.

This can be used for making the above recipes.

Tomato, lemon, ginger squash:

Take raw tomatoes and de-seed them by the method mentioned above – 4 tomatoes.

Blend the tomatoes and strain.

Add the juice of 1 lemon to this.

Beat ginger with 1/4 cup of hot water in a mixer and strain.

Add this to the juice.

Add 5 teaspoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt to this and mix.

Add enough water to make this 400ml.

This serves two.

If you have potatoes, make Tomato- potato fry:

Take

3 tomatoes

1/4 kg boiled and cubed potatoes

Cinnamon 1 inch piece

Ginger 1 inch piece, cut

Green chillies 2, slit, and de-seeded

Cut onions  1cup

Corriander leaves

Cut the tomatoes into small cubes. Pour two tablespoonfuls of oil in a pan and fry cinnamon golden.

Fry the onion and green chillies in this.

Put ginger and fry.

Add the tomatoes and fry well, till oil gets separated.

Add boiled potatoes and one teaspoon of salt to this and fry till dry.

Add cut corriander leaves.

If you have coconut and unripe tomatoes, make curry:

Unripe tomatoes, cut   2 cups

Green chillies       1

Grated coconut     1 table spoon

Beaten curds         two table spoons

Coconut oil or salad oil  1 teaspoon

Curry leaves

Grind coconut in a mixer with the green chilly.

Mix this with curd.

Fry unripe tomatoes in a teaspoon of oil.

Add the coconut curd mixture to this and 1 teaspoon of salt and boil for 2 mts

Remove from fire and add the salad oil with curry leaves.

Try these recipes and use the tomatoes for tasty cooking.