A delicious and versatile tomato-onion relish aka tomato onion thokku recipe in Instant Pot. You can serve this as a side with different dishes. Make this relish a part of your weekend meal prep and trust me, folks, it comes in handy for many meals.

This tomato-onion relish was my go-to dish during our kitchen renovation. I was making it in bulk, and I served it as a side for idli, dosa, upma, pongal, yogurt rice and also used as a sandwich spread. Didn’t I say it’s versatile? (PS – Don’t forget to check my kitchen tour and pantry tour)

It is more like gojju (sweet and spicy gravy) and thokku (vegetable pickle). Call it tomato-onion gojju or tomato onion thokku, making this in bulk is quite easy in Instant Pot or pressure cooker.

Meal planning-

You all know how much I love meal prep and meal planning. I haven’t updated any new meal planners but will be starting soon. You can check my previous meal planners under my meal planner category. Meal planning and prepping helps you sail through the busy weekdays with ease.

With the veggies chopped and with some premade sauces, frozen dals relish like this; you can whip the meals quite quickly. I have a new series on meal planning, coming up on my YT channel as well as here. So stay tuned.

Simple Relish | Thokku

What is this relish all about? We are cooking tomatoes and onion with salt, red chili powder, and jaggery along with some mint and curry leaves. That’s about it. Jaggery helps to balance the spice and sour, but that’s completely optional. You can reduce the amount accordingly. It’s not a complicated recipe, but it is not instant either. After pressure cooking, we need to simmer it for quite some time so that the flavors infuse well, and it helps in the increased shelf life of the relish as well.

PS – if you love these kind of sweet and spice relishes, check my chakalaka too.

It stays pretty well in the refrigerator. As you all know, use a clean spoon every time, and you don’t need to reheat if you are not serving it with rice. Just bringing to room temperature is sufficient. As I mentioned before, you can serve this with idli, dosa, upma, yogurt rice, savory pongal, and mix it with rice. You can use it as a sandwich spread also.

How to make tomato-onion relish in Instant Pot-

Set the Instant Pot in saute mode and add the oil.
When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and hing. Let the mustard seeds splutter.

Now add the onion, mint leaves, and curry leaves.

Saute it for five minutes.

Turn off the Instant Pot and add the tomatoes, salt, and red chili powder.

Gently mix and add the jaggery and sprinkle two tbsps of water on top.

Close the Instant Pot lid and make the vent is in the sealing position. Pressure cook this for 5 minutes at high pressure and let the pressure release naturally when the cooking is complete.

After the pressure is all released, open the Instant Pot and set it back in saute mode.
Mix and mash the tomatoes, and by now, the consistency will be thin, and it’s normal.

Check for salt and spice and, if required, adjust accordingly. If the relish is spicy, add salt and jaggery to balance it. For us, the spice measure, as mentioned above, was perfect.
Now partially cover the Instant Pot with its lid or any other lid and let it simmer in saute mode for 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in between for every 5 to 7 minutes.

Turn off the Instant Pot after 25 minutes and let it cool for an hour. As the relish cools, it thickens, and here is mine after complete cooling.

And don’t worry about relish getting stuck to the bottom of the pan. Look below. It comes out clean.

Now store it in an air-tight bottle and refrigerate. It stays wells for 10 to 15 days.

Pressure Cooker Method-

You can make this recipe in a stove-top pressure cooker as well. In a pressure pan or cooker, add oil and when the oil hot add the mustard seeds and hing. Let it splutter and add the onion, mint leaves, and curry leaves. Saute for 5 to 7 minutes, then add the tomatoes, red chili powder, salt, jaggery, and water. Pressure cook for two whistles and let the pressure subside. Then mix and mash the tomatoes and onion. Check for the seasoning and let it simmer over medium heat till it thickens to a semi-solid stage.

Recipe Notes-

While this dish is vegan, it is not gluten-free. A generous pinch of asafoetida enhances the flavor of this dish. So I would not skip that, and you can always opt for gluten-free asafoetida.
I have added a lot of mustard seeds. It’s an excellent natural preservative. If you don’t like the bite, you can reduce the amount and add mustard powder instead.
Adjust the salt, red chili powder, and jaggery according to your preference and also according to the sourness of the tomatoes. Jaggery is optional. You can keep the relish completely spicy if you like to.
I did not add any tamarind, but if your tomatoes are not sour, you can add a ½ to tsp of tamarind paste. If you like spicy and sour relish, feel free to add ½ tsp of tamarind paste.
I like the subtle flavor of mint, so I always mint leaves. But that’s completely optional. Skip curry leaves if you can’t find it.
You can add cilantro also.

Other Easy Vegetarian Instant Pot Recipes-

If love tomatoes like me, then do check out my tomato chutney, tomato rice, tomoto gojju recipes too.