Tomato and Onion Salad (Kachumber)

Any mom will vouch that teaching children to eat healthy food is not an easy job, especially once they start getting influenced by the outside world. Their first external influence is us, their family members. Devansh is more interested in the food in our plates than his own. I have noticed he eats well when he eats with us and when he’s having the same food as us. As I had mentioned in my earlier post, these days Devansh and I have the same breakfast, which is a relatively new development. However, we’ve been having the same lunch for almost 7-8 months now. As a result these days my lunch is a healthy meal of sabzi-roti, salad, and curds. I don’t know who is teaching whom about eating well here. But I can’t really complain, I am eating healthy food because of him. :-)

Like my previous recipe, this one too is a salad recipe. I figured summer is the right time to share salad recipes, because especially in this weather we should be eating more vegetables and fruits. This salad is made using red tomatoes and onions. As you may know, tomatoes are good for us in summer because they are high in water content, as high as 94%. They are also a rich source of antioxidants, which help us fight several types of cancer. The other main ingredient of this salad, onions, also provide us several and I mean SEVERAL health benefits. To name a few, they help boost our immune system, regulate our blood sugar, help us fight cancer, and heal infections.

I have written this tomato and onion salad recipe, exactly how my mother has been making this salad—or “koshimbir” as we Maharashtrian call it—since my childhood. It’s one of my favorite koshimbirs. It is best if you use raw vegetables in your salad, but this salad requires a little bit of tempering, Indian salad dressing should we say. :-) You don’t need to add too much oil though, just a tiny bit. You can start feeding your toddler this salad after s/he has started to chew food properly. I hope you and your kiddo enjoy this tangy salad.

Tomato and Onion Salad (Kachumber) Recipe

Print Recipe

Recipe of quick and easy, tomato and onion salad (kachumber) to make your lunch or dinner more interesting and nutritious.

Author Mukta Tikekar

Ingredients

• 1 large tomato
• Half onion
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 small piece of chili optional
• Half tsp cumin seeds
• Pinch of hing asafoetida
• Pinch of haldi turmeric powder
• 3/4 th tsp oil
• Pinch of sugar
• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Heat a tadka pan, and add oil.
• When the oil gets hot, add cumin seeds.
• After the cumin seeds splutter, add hing, haldi, and a piece of chili, and turn off heat immediately. (Adding chili to the tempering will make your salad spicy, so don’t add the chili if your child is not used to spicy food.)
• Chop tomatoes and (peeled) onion finely, and transfer them in a bowl.
• Add sugar and salt, and mix properly.
• After the tempering has cooled down, add it to the salad. (If you add it while it is hot it’ll make the tomato soggy.)
• Add chopped coriander to the salad and mix it well.
• Remove the piece of chili from the salad before serving it.