What’s Cooking is a series in which I answer questions and share advice about food and cooking that you have but may be too shy to ask.
Tomato season has started early. Last week while shopping at the market, I filled a plastic bag with only green tomatoes. A woman standing next to me picking out some beautiful, bright red, ripe, tomatoes asked me why I was only taking green tomatoes. She wanted to know if I was going to leave them to ripen. I smiled and told her, no, I was going to make some condiments with them.
How many of you buy green tomatoes? What do you do with them?
Each year, when tomatoes are in season, I buy green tomatoes to make Achar to replenish my stock. And in keeping with eating seasonal, during that period of time, I make and eat a lot of Green Tomato Choka, Salsa Verde and a fry-up/sauté. Last year I treated the green tomatoes just as we would slice cucumbers by the seasoning the sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper along with a squirt of fresh lime juice – makes a delicious quick pickle that can be used for burgers or sandwiches.
Remember that 1991 movie with Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy – Fried Green Tomatoes – set in the Southern United States? Talk about the influence of popular culture: because of the movie many people think that the dish – fried green tomatoes – originated in the South but it didn’t. In the movie it is mentioned and served in an eatery called the Whistle Stop Café. Though the café was based on a real place in the south – Irondale Café in Alabama, it is only after the movie came out that people would flock to restaurants in the south hungry for fried green tomatoes. According to food historian and a writer in South Carolina, Robert F Moss, fried green tomatoes “entered the American culinary scene in the Northeast and Midwest, perhaps with a link to Jewish immigrants.” See how food travels? Anyway, I mention all of that to say that the first time I had and cooked green tomatoes was because of the movie. The idea sounded appealing. I followed a trusted recipe and the dish turned out well, but I did not like it. I don’t know if I’d sliced the tomatoes too thick or what, but I found it way too tart for me, and it seemed like a lot to get through, that is why I questioned whether or not I had cut the tomatoes too thick. The tartness might have also been contributed by the buttermilk that was recommended to be used in the batter for the fried green tomatoes.
Since then I have found other ways to eat and enjoy green tomatoes.
For a Choka I roast the tomatoes, sometimes over an open flame or in the oven along with onions and hot pepper and then mash everything together with salt and pepper to taste. Some thinly sliced scallions are added, and to temper the dish, I fry thinly sliced garlic in oil and pour it over the Choka, give everything a good stir to mix in and done!
To make an Achar, cut the tomatoes into large chunks because they will cook down as they lose some of their moisture. Mix together whatever masala/spice mix you use to make Achar along with garlic and hot pepper; heat oil, cook the mixture on low heat to cook out of the rawness of the spices along with enough salt to taste, then add the tomatoes and cook on medium heat until the tomatoes are cooked through. Now try that in place of Sour or with Black Pudding.
A green tomato Salsa Verde is a no-cook recipe and very easy to make – chop up the green tomatoes along with a couple cloves of garlic, lots of hot pepper, a handful of fresh coriander/cilantro or if you have, a couple blades (only) of Chadon Beni. Add salt to taste and a squeeze or two of fresh lime or lemon juice and pulse everything together. Salsa Verde done! Use it just as you would use sour or with grilled meats and grilled seafood. So good!
This fry-up of green tomatoes goes well with roti, dhal and rice, boiled ground provisions and even bread. To make it, heat some oil in a pan then add whole (brown/black) mustard seeds, when then start to pop, drop in some whole jeera/cumin and cook together for 30 seconds then add thinly sliced onions, garlic, and chopped hot peppers. Season with salt. Cook until the onions are softened then toss in the tomatoes, season with salt to taste and cook until the tomatoes for cooked through.
So, the next time you head out to shop and you see fresh, firm, shiny, green tomatoes, do not hesitate to grab some and do more than leave them on the counter to ripen.
Cynthia
cynthia@tasteslikehome.org
