break the dry red chilies and deseed them if you prefer.
grate the coconut and keep aside. you can also chop the coconut into small pieces.
take all the ingredients to be ground in a wet grinder jar – chopped tomatoes, broken red chilies, garlic, coconut, coriander seeds, chopped onion, whole black pepper and turmeric powder.
add water and grind to a smooth fine paste. there should be no small chunks or pieces of coconut in the masala paste. keep the ground paste aside.
preparing the curry:
heat oil in a pan or pot. add mustard seeds and crackle them.
then add cumin seeds. saute till they browned. add onions and saute till translucent
then add curry leaves, dry red chilies and asafoetida/hing.
stir and then add tomatoes. saute them for 3 minutes.
add the ground masala paste and saute for 1 to 2 mins, stirring often
then add 3 cups water. season with salt.
bring to a complete boil first without a lid. then simmer the tomato curry on a low flame, again without a lid. stir the curry at intervals.
simmer till you see oil floating on top of the curry. about 12 to 15 minutes on a low flame after the first boil.
garnish with coriander leaves and serve tomato curry hot with steamed rice.
Recipe Notes
about 1 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves can also be added while grinding the masala paste.