Simple Tomato Curry Recipe

Simple tomato curry for chapathi, poori etc (without using coconut or onions) can be made easily using fresh tomatoes from the market or even from your own garden and few Indian spices!

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This simple tomato curry can be made using minimum ingredients with very little effort which can be served with rice, chapathi (Indian flatbread), poori etc for a quick, delicious side dish.

This is an easy, simple South Indian Kerala style recipe using fresh tomatoes and spices (without coconut milk).

I didn’t add fresh onions or garlic also in this curry, but I added onion powder and garlic powder for flavor, but you may skip those if you do not want them.

This easy and simple tomato based curry or gravy without coconut can be prepared really quick within very few minutes, and so this is perfect for busy morning breakfasts too.

Tomato curry is also known as thakkali curry in Malayalam language in Kerala, South India while it is known as tomato sabji or tamoto bhaji in other parts of India.

See more similar recipes in this blog:

Tomato And Onion Curry Recipe where we use both onions and tomatoes to make the delicious curry.

Kerala style tomato onion fry recipe, which is more exotic with spicy flavors and it is also very easy to make.

Garam masala powder is what I used to make this simple tomato curry so yummy easily.

You can make this side dish for chapathi within minutes, and adjust the spices based on your preference.

In fact, this is one of the most quick, simple and easy to make curry for chapathi.

If you wish, you can adjust the spices and flavors to make it according to your preferences.

As I mentioned, this is made the most simple to help someone to make a quick tomato curry for chapathi without having to grind anything like coconut or making coconut milk or even slicing onions.

It goes great as a simple and yummy side dish with rice, dosa and idli as well.

Tomato curry is also known as tomato kulambu/kuzhambu or tomato kulambu/kuzhambu where the words kulambu or kuzhambu means curry in many parts of South India.

A must ingredient for this easy and delicious tomato curry is garam masala powder.

See my post on onion curry for chapathi here which is one of the most easy recipes for Indian onion curry where the simple side dish for chapathi is made using just onions and spices.

I always like to make tomato based recipes for chapathis as they can be made really quick.

There are different kinds of tomato based side dishes perfect for chapathis.

Recently I made this side dish for chapathi for morning breakfast and while I didn’t plan it earlier, it took me only less than 15 minutes to finish preparing the dish.

This curry using fresh tomatoes is so easy to prepare as you need to chop only two fresh tomatoes and you can make this yummy and easy curry in few minutes.

As I already metioned above, I used garam masla powder to add wonderful flavor to this super easy curry for chapathi.

You may also use 1 teaspoon of curry powder if you wish.

So here is how you can quickly and easily prepare this tomato curry for chapathi and poori following this very easy recipe

How To Make Simple Tomato Curry For Chapathi & Poori?

We use the following ingredients to make simple tomato curry.

Ingredients to make simple tomato curry

2 large sized fresh tomatoes

salt as needed

Spice Powders

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon garam masala powder or curry powder

½ teaspoon coriander powder

¼ teaspoon cumin seeds powder

¼ teaspoon black pepper powder

¼ teaspoon red chili powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder or finely minced fresh garlic

¼ teaspoon fenugreek powder

heavy cream 2 tablespoons (optional, you may also use thick coconut cream or milk instead if you wish)

cilantro leaves (fresh coriander leaves) 1 tablespoon chopped (optional)

For seasoning

2 tablespoons oil

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

1 string curry leaves make sure there is no water in leaves

2 to 3 dried red chilies (broken)

Step By Step Process

Cut the tomatoes in small pieces and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.

When the mustard seeds start spluttering, add the broken dried red chilies, curry leaves and fry for few seconds.

Carefully add the chopped fresh tomatoes to the pan.

Add salt and mix well (if you are using ginger garlic paste instead of onion, garlic powders, you can add now and saute well).

Cook in medium to high heat for few minutes, say 3 to 4 minutes, with stirring in between to make sure the curry is not burning at the bottom of the pan.

You may also close the pan and cook the tomatoes in low heat for another 2 to 3 minutes if you want the tomatoes to be really soft and melt into the gravy.

As the tomatoes get cooked, the juice of the tomatoes will be released and the gravy is formed naturally when it combines with the oil.

Once the tomatoes are cooked, add all the spices – onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin seeds powder, garam masala powder, red chili powder, black pepper to the tomato gravy in the pan and stir in.

Mix everything well and cook for another two to three minutes until the flavors are all well blended with the tomato gravy.

It is best to cook the gravy until the gravy starts to separate from the oil, which takes only a few minutes.

I didn’t use coconut milk to prepare this tomato curry, but if you wish to make this tomato curry creamy, you may also add two to three tablespoons of coconut milk or heavy cream (stir in to the prepared curry), to make it even more delicious and creamy.

Also garnish with chopped fresh cilantro leaves (coriander leaves) if you have, which will add even more flavor if you like the flavor of cilantro.

Enjoy the delicious tomato curry hot with chapathis, rice, dosa etc.

Below you can get the recipe for simple and easy tomato curry recipe in detail.