Tomato chutney with garlic and onion is a spicy, tangy, flavorful tomato chutney with garlic and onion. It's like a thick, relish-like sauce that elevates any meal with which you have it. Pairs perfectly with South Indian breakfasts like Aloo Masala Dosa, Idli, or Uttapam, and even works wonderfully with bread or roti. Just one dunk into this vibrant chutney is enough to wake up your taste buds and add a punch of flavor to your plate.
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Why will you love this dish?
- Bold, Balanced Flavors: The perfect blend of tangy tomatoes, pungent garlic, and sweet onions can not only create the best creamy tomato soup but can also create a rich, savory chutney that's both comforting and delicious.
- Versatile Pairing: Whether served with dosa, idli, uttapam, or spread over toast and rotis, this chutney complements a wide variety of dishes, just like the chutney powder mixed with ghee or sambar Kerala style.
- Quick & Easy: Simple ingredients, minimal prep, and a short cooking time, like making quick bread pizza, banana nut muffins, and fresh corn grilled, make it ideal for busy mornings or last-minute meals.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: Stores well in the fridge for several days, making it a great option for meal prepping or adding flavor throughout the week.
- Naturally Vegan & Gluten-Free: It's a wholesome, plant-based option that fits many dietary preferences without compromising on taste.
Ingredients needed
As the name suggests, this flavorsome relish is made with tomatoes, onion, garlic, and spices. They are all fried in oil and ground together to a fine paste.
- Ripe tomatoes, the homegrown ones, are the best
- Onions, shallots, and garlic
- Dried Red chilies
- Spices like turmeric and red chili powder
- Curry leaves
- Sugar and canned tomato paste (optional)
- Vegetable oil for tempering
How to make Tomato Chutney with Garlic?
Start by washing the tomatoes thoroughly and patting them dry. Chop them into small chunks for even cooking. In a pan, heat some oil and splutter mustard seeds along with dried red chilies and urad dal (optional). Add garlic and curry leaves.
- Step 1: Heat some oil and splutter mustard seeds along with dried red chilies and urad dal (optional)
- Step 2:Add garlic and sautee
Next, add shallots and onions, and sauté until they soften. Add spices, red chili powder, and turmeric.
- Step 3: Add shallots and onions.
- Step 4: Add red chili powder and turmeric.
Then add the chopped tomatoes to the pan. Season with salt and a pinch of sugar to balance the acidity. If you like a deeper color and rich flavor, you can also add a small spoonful of canned tomato paste.
Cook the mixture well, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and most of the moisture has evaporated. Let it cool slightly, then transfer to a mixer jar and blend into a smooth paste.
- Step 5: Add chopped tomatoes and sautee again.
- Step 6: Cook until most of the moisture has evaporated, cool, and blend the contents.
Once blended, pour the chutney into a clean bowl or container. Adjust the consistency by adding a little water if needed.
You can prepare a quick tempering by heating oil in a small pan, spluttering mustard seeds, and adding curry leaves and dried red chilies. Pour this tadka over the chutney before serving. Enjoy it warm or at room temperature with dosa, idli, uttapam, or even toast.
Useful Tips
- Use homegrown fresh tomatoes like Cherry, Roma, Beefsteak, and the like, if available and handy, as that gives this relish a very unique and appetizing taste. You can also make them with store-bought organic tomatoes to get a similar taste.
- This chutney can also be made in advance and preserved in the refrigerator for about a week or more.
- Ensure to fry the tomatoes, onion, and garlic in oil very well so that the raw taste disappears. It is preferable to fry all the ingredients until they leave oil on the sides of the pan.
- If you are using very small tomatoes, you can skip chopping them and fry them as is, so you can save some time. The bigger tomatoes, of course, will need to be chopped into small pieces so they are fried well.
- Adding a teaspoon of sugar is optional. The addition of sugar, however, enhances the taste of this dish, like in sabudana khichdi, especially if the tomatoes are sour and even otherwise.
- Tomato paste addition is optional as well, and you can skip it if you do not like using canned paste. I normally add the paste to get a nice bright color and an appealing look.
- You can also choose to skip the tempering step in the end, as the ingredients for the chutney are already fried in oil.
Related Recipes
If you tried this Tomato Chutney with Garlic Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and a 📝 comment below. I love hearing from you!
Tomato chutney with garlic
Ingredients
- 5 medium sized tomatoes If using cherry tomatoes, use equivalent of that
- 4 large garlic pods chopped
- ½ medium sized onion finely chopped
- 4-5 shallots halved
- 1 tbsp tomato paste canned
- 2 red chillies dried
- 4 tsp Chilly powder Kashnmiri
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 stalk curry leaves
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
For Tempering
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 red chillies dried
- ¼ tsp black gram urad dal (split )
- 4-5 curry leaves
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- In a thick bottomed pan, heat oil .Add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
- Add curry leaves and dried red chillies.
- Add garlic and sautee for a while.
- Add onions and shallots and fry them for about 5 minutes.
- Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt and sugar.Sautee fro 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add chopped tomatoes , sautee.Cook covered for about 10 minutes .
- After a while , the water will evaporate .Keep cooking till it leaves oil from the sides.
- Add in the tomato paste and mix it well.
- Cool the mixture and grind it to a fine paste.
For tempering (optional)
- Heat oil in a pan.
- Add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
- Add dried red chillies, split black gram, and curry leaves.
- Add this to the ground paste.
- Tomato chutney is ready to be served.
This chutney looks really yummy. I bet it would be good on a cheese board. Like many others here, I'm more accustomed to chunky chutney recipes. Thanks for introducing this new idea to us!
Tomato chutney is my favorite and my son loves it. This is is amazing how simple ingredients could lead to such a tasty and yummy recipe.
I agree it's amazing how simple ingredients can make such a tasty recipe . Thank you for the wonderful comment!
This chutney looks yummy I love trying different chutneys I am surely gonna try it soon.
Great to hear that , hope you like it as much as we do!
The chutney is looking delicious and spicy. Thank you very much for sharing ☺️😊😋😋
Thank you so much for the wonderful comment!
My pleasure 😘😘,🌹💕🌺🍫❣️❣️ Stay happy and blessed forever 💗❣️🍫
tomato soups are my favourite! definitely will try your version I am sure I will love it as well
Thank you so much !
We also have so many field tomatoes right now so this is the perfect recipe to use them!
Wonderful hope you enjoy making and having it!
Oh, this recipe looks good. I am definitely gonna try that next weekend. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much!
Wow! This looks good. I haven't really tried making chutney but it looks pretty easy. Thank you for sharing the recipe. Can't wait to try it.
Thanks a lot for the wonderful comment!
Oh yes, we make this chutney quite often at home. Love it. So flavourful and easy to make.
Yes rightly said falvorful and easy! Thank you.
Woah! This looks really flavorful and yummy! I once made a pumpkin soup from scratch for my baby and she loved it. i’ll try to make this one, minus the chili powder, i’m sure she’s gonna love it too.
Wonderful enjoy. Thank you for stopping by!
I can make some flat bread to go with this. I am in the process of growing some tomatoes, so will look into doing your recipe!
Hmmm. This looks so colourful and delish. I'm guessing a side dish can go with it. Bread? Rice?
Thank you so much !
Looks delicious and oh-so-flavorful! Perfect for this season.
Thank you so much for the wonderful comment!
I've never made a chutney before. The ones we normally buy aren't smooth so this would make a nice change.
Hope you enjoy this version of the chutney ! Thank you for the comments.
I am so used to chutneys being chunky and having large pieces of fruit and/or vegetables so this dish being smooth reminds me of soup or a creamy sauce.
Indian chutneys are usually smooth and thick .They can be a little spicy to be had as soup , its more like a dip. Do check this link https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/recipes/chutney/
This looks so flavorsome! 🙂
Thank you so much Ronit!