Name: Rajasthani Pyaz Tamatar Kachumber
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 2 Onion, roughly chopped; 2 Tomato, roughly chopped; 2 Green Chili Pepper, chopped; 3 tbsp Coriander Leaves, roughly chopped; 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder; 1 tsp Black Salt; 1½ tbsp Mustard Oil, raw; 1 tbsp Lemon Juice

5 mintotal

Prep 5 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: High

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Ingredients

Quantities are for 2 servings.

Ten minutes of rough chopping. Dress it at the table so the onion keeps its bite.

Method

Peel the onions and chop them quite roughly into large chunks rather than fine dice. Do the same with the tomatoes.
Place the chunky onions, tomatoes, and chopped green chillies into a deep bowl.
Add a generous handful of roughly chopped coriander, stems included; they carry as much flavour as the leaves.
Sprinkle the fiery red chilli powder and black salt over the vegetables.
Pour the raw mustard oil and lemon juice directly on top. Toss vigorously to ensure the spices and pungent oil coat every piece.

How to tell it's done

Juicy, intensely pungent, and boldly spicy with satisfying, large rustic crunches.

Nutrition

Per serving, from 2 servings.

166kcal

Where the calories come from

Protein2.6 g6%
Carbohydrate16.6 g38%
Fat11.1 g56%

Saturated fat: 1.3 g
Fibre: 3.7 g
Sodium: 1176 mg
Potassium: 503 mg
Calcium: 42 mg
Iron: 0.7 mg

Estimated by calculation from the ingredient list, using USDA FoodData Central. Not a laboratory analysis.

Getting it right

Tip

The salad is meant to be highly spiced. The raw mustard oil acts as a binder that carries the chilli powder perfectly over the veggies.

What to serve it with

Best eaten with rustic bread like Bajra Roti or Missi Roti and an earthy bowl of Dal.

Common mistakes

The kachumber is watery.: Chop coarsely, as the recipe says, and dress at the last minute. Finely diced onion and tomato salted early release far more liquid than large chunks do.
The raw onion is harsh.: Let the chopped onion sit in the lemon juice for a couple of minutes before the rest goes in. That short soak takes the edge off without cooking it.

Substitutions

Any raw pungent oil can replace the mustard oil, though the sharpness in the nose is particular to it.
Kashmiri chilli powder keeps the colour and drops the heat considerably.

Storing and reheating

Make it and eat it. Chopped onion and tomato can wait an hour or two undressed in the fridge, but mustard oil and lemon on raw onion do not keep.

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