How to Bring Out the Best in Your Last Tomatoes of Summer

When Roberts recently had a bag of ripe tomatoes in his car, the vehicle filled with the most reassuring scent, of not just the sweet fruit but the plant itself — a full-bodied perfume of the sticky vines, the floppy leaves. It’s a scent you can know only if you’ve ever grown your own tomatoes or if you make this curry, which is why Roberts recommends roasting some of the tomatoes still on their vine, as the Edenic fragrance lends so much character in the end. A mix-and-match of colors, sizes and varieties results in the prettiest painting, like hot-air balloons scattered across a mustard sky. Not unlike a Kerala-style egg curry, this sunglow variation is less a curry made of its main ingredient than a curry starring it. In the end, after the tomatoes finish roasting and the plush, golden coconut milk reaches its ideal texture — thicker than broth and looser than cream, Roberts says — the two can marry. Nestle the tomatoes into the curry and watch as they bob in their bath. Taste until you love it, as Roberts writes in his book in regard to seasoning: “It should be delicious, so take the time to make it so.”