This is an ancient Gujarati dish from the Kathiyawad peninsula, where my ancestors are from. This recipe was carried by my great grandfather in the 1940s when he set sail for Uganda with his big ambitions and his sev sancha (a little machine that’s used to make chickpea flour noodles).
The recipe travelled again decades later, in 1972, with my grandparents when they left Uganda for Britain. It was passed on to me by my mother last year, and now it’s yours for safekeeping.
The recipe has stayed the same; it’s only the cook and the times that have changed.
Gujarati tomato and sev curry
You might think that tomatoes are out of season, but the Isle of Wight’s Tomato Stall still supplies much of the UK for another few weeks yet.
The sev – super-thin, fried chickpea noodles often called “nylon” sev – can easily be bought here in the UK: try the world food or ethnic aisles at bigger supermarkets, your local Indian grocer or online.
Eat this with another vegetable curry (such as my potato and spinach curry), rice and/or chapatis.
Prep 10 min
Cook 15 min
Serves 4 as part of a main meal
3 tbsp rapeseed oil
¾ tsp mustard seeds
1 big pinch fenugreek seeds
5 fat garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1kg mixed tomatoes, quartered
Salt
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander
¾ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp tomato puree
30-50g nylon sev
Fresh coriander, shredded, to serve
In a large frying pan for which you have a lid, heat the oil over a medium heat until it’s shimmering hot. Add the mustard and fenugreek seeds, leave them to pop for a minute, then add the minced garlic. Stir until the garlic is golden and getting sticky in the pan – this will take a minute, possibly two – then add the tomatoes and a big pinch of salt. Stir to combine, then cover the pan and leave everything to cook on a high heat for five minutes – it should be bubbling fiercely. Add the chilli, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, tomato puree and a couple of tablespoons of water, if need be to loosen the mixture, cover again and cook for a further two minutes.
Taste and adjust the salt or chilli, if you wish, then distribute the curry across four bowls and add a small handful of sev and a sprinkle of coriander to each. Serve as part of a meal with freshly steamed basmati rice and/or chapatis.
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