Tomato Thokku: An easy to make side dish for idli, dosa

Many get a break with sheer luck as their profile is viewed by many directors and producers. He moved from Dindigul to Chennai at an early age. His life centered around friends, school and college and he fondly recollects playing games like kabaddi and chor police (robbers and thieves), which very few children play these days. Ravivarman remembers being outdoors most of the time, enjoying ice sticks and boiled groundnuts with friends. One of his friends was an assistant director and that is how he did his first small role. It was a serial called Nadhaswaram which gave him a big break. Now, Ravivarman is essaying a role in the serial Neethane Enthan Ponvasantham. 

The actor misses his daily game of badminton but is busy babysitting his son. Apart from this, he tries out various dishes in the kitchen. He says that cooking is like acting where all the right ingredients come together to give an emotional fulfillment. His mother’s cooking is what he longs for. Ravivarman loves Indian heritage dishes and he remembers how his mother and then his wife meticulously used to pack lunch for his shoots. He loves only home-cooked food and does not like eating out. 

His favourites are sankara meen curry, pepper rasam, ennai kathirikai, tomato thokku (which is different from chutney), kali and sambar. During the last year, he perfected the recipe of tomato thokku and today, he is sharing the recipe. For tomato thokku, tomatoes should be burned first and then remove the skin. 

Tomato is not a native fruit of India but was introduced by the Portuguese. Ancient Indians ate a diet that included dairy products, wheat, barley, rice, fruits like mango and small bananas and pepper was used for seasoning. Archeologists have found fishing nets and hooks in the ruins of early Indian civilizations showing that they also liked to catch and eat fish. The word thokku is derived from the Hindi word chatni and chatni in Urdu means to lick. Thokku was discovered in the royal kitchens of the Pandyan kings — they needed a dish to last for a few days when they go hunting in the forests. Different nuts, fruits or vegetables were mashed and cooked with spices and oil will be poured as a preservative. Manga thokku is the most famous among them. Tomato thokku became very popular once the Portuguese introduced it in India. Chutneys and thokku can be traced back to 500 years.