Tomato Kurma Recipe, Thakkali Kurma

Updated on March 18, 2026 by Raks Anand 67 Comments

Tomato kurma, also called Thakkali kurma in Tamil, is a quick, flavorful South Indian gravy made with ripe tomatoes, coconut and whole spices, all ready in just 20 minutes. No heavy masalas, no long ingredient list, no complicated steps, yet an excellent side dish. Beginner friendly recipe with step by step pictures and quick video.

When you want to make something quick yet different from usual coconut chutney and sambar, you can prepare this.

Check out my Idiyappam recipe that pairs well with this and my Thakkali kuzhambu recipe in this website.

Jump to:

What is Tomato Kurma?
About
Tomato Kurma Ingredients
Step by step images
My notes
Substitutions & Variations
Tomato kurma Top tips
Recipe card

What is Tomato Kurma?

Tomato kurma (Thakkali Kurma) is a south Indian style tomato curry where ripe tomatoes is the base, simmered with fresh ground masala paste (spice paste) of coconut, fennel seeds, green chilies and fried gram dal.

The word kuma comes from the Mughal era qorma, a sauce enriched with nuts, yogurt or coconut. In South India, kurma always means coconut. The ground coconut paste is what gives the gravy its characteristic texture without dairy.

Kurma is popular across Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka, an everyday side dish as well as go-to option for breakfasts like idiyappam, soft idlis, dosa or for dinner as side dish for chapati, roti.

About

I always wanted to make this kind of kurma for long time. So when I heard this recipe from Raji (Aj's classmate's Mom) I was very excited to try this one. She was happy to share two simple recipes from her handwritten note recipe book from her mom. One amongst the two is this kurma. Even though she told this recipe as 'Vengaya Kuzhambu' I made it more like Thakkali/ Tomato kurma.

I think my tomato ratio is more than she mentioned. Though I have not brought the same recipe she told, the taste was amazing! I kept appreciating the simplicity of the recipe and yet the whole house smelt so good of this kurma.

Tomato Kurma Ingredients

Here are the ingredients to make Tomato Kurma.

Tomato - Use fresh red ripe tomatoes for lovely colour as well as taste, flavour
Onion - Gives flavour, volume, base and texture to the kurma
Coconut - Base for the gravy masala, thickens, balances the taste together
Fried gram dal - (Pottukadalai) Thickens and gives homogeneous consistency
Green chilli - For spice and flavour
Fennel seeds - Main flavour in the gravy
Sambar powder - I used my sambar powder which is mostly coriander seeds and red chillies. You can also replace it with red chilli powder and coriander seeds powder
Turmeric powder - For colour and used for it's goodness.
Cinnamon - For imarting mild flavour in the kurma.
Cloves - Adds flavour
Salt

Please check my recipe card for measurements.

Step by step images

To begin with, grind coconut, fried gram dal, green chillies and fennel with little water to a fine paste.

Then heat a pan or kadai with oil. Temper with cinnamon and cloves. After that, add finely chopped onion and fry till translucent.

After that add finely chopped tomatoes and little bit of salt. Fry furthermore until it becomes soft. Add sambar powder and turmeric. Mix well and fry for two more minutes.

Then add 1 & ½ cups of water, add more salt if needed and bring to boil.
Finally add the ground paste and boil for 3-4 minutes. Adjust water consistency if it is too thick.

Serve with idiyappam / Chapathi/ Idli / Dosa. Below I served Tomato kurma with idiyappam. Yumm!!

My notes

Since we have named it as tomato kurma, use more tomato. Naatu thakkali or Bangalore tomato, whatever variety you use. Just make sure to balance the spice accordingly.

You can also reduce tomato and use more onion to make Vengaya kuzhmabu.

Substitutions & Variations

Sambar powder - My sambar powder is combination of red chilli and more of coriander powder, traces of turmeric, cumin etc. No kopra or asafoetida in it. So if you want, you can use Aachi or Sakthi sambar powder which are close to homemade.

Or even Red chilli powder and coriander powder (½ teaspoon chilli powder, to 1 teaspoon coriander powder)

If you do not like any masalas like Cinnamon, clove or fennel seeds, you can skip it. You can use ½ teaspoon garam masala instead.

Poppy seeds, kasa kasa is banned in Singapore. If you are in a place where you can get it, you can halve the pottukadalai and add a teaspoon of poppy seeds along coconut.

There is no ginger garlic in this recipe, but you can add a teaspoon of ginger garlic paste if you like that flavour.

To make it more rich or if you do not have pottukadalai, you can add 4 cashews in place of fried gram dal in this recipe.

I do not add cardamom as it has an entirely different flavor profile and overpowering aroma. So just pattai is enough.

Tomato kurma Top tips

Do not add any ingredient more than mentioned as it could totally over power the flavors. Everything has to be mild.
Add water carefully as we want it to be thick like Kurma.
The kurma is tastier and flavourful with resting time.
You can garnish with a lot of fresh coriander leaves if you like. It adds a fresh flavor. I at times even add fresh curry leaves torn after I switch off.

This recipe is naturally gluten free, vegan. You can keep thakkali kurma in fridge up to two days.

Ask AI for Instant pot version or pressure cooker version of this recipe

You can read Thakkali kurma recipe in Tamil here and watch short video below in the Recipe card.

Recipe card

Print Pin

5 from 5 votes