If you have been reading along for a while, you know that our family has lived all around the world, in a variety of great places. This nomadic lifestyle introduced us to vegetables, fruit, spices and other ingredients that we grew to love and adopted into our family meals, but when we moved on, sometimes those items weren’t available in the next place and we had to do without. Mourning the loss not just a little.
With the advent of catalog shopping, the world got a little bit smaller. When I posted my recipe for potato curry, I went on about Madhur Jaffery’s Spice Kitchen cookbook, and how I came to own curry spices again in Brazil, so I won’t tell the story again here. But I will show you a photo of the little containers those spices came in because I remembered to take a photo this summer. Empty now, and a little bit rusty, they live on the small shelves over my sink in Houston and their bright colors make me happy, even when I’m washing dishes.
Anyway, this tomato chutney recipe is adapted from that same well-worn, food-bespattered book. It makes a great gift for neighbors and relatives but I always have a couple of jars on hand for personal consumption.
Spicy Sweet Tomato Chutney
Tomato chutney dresses up a plain grilled chicken breast or pork chops like nothing else can, with a hit of sour, sweet and spicy. But most importantly, it preserves a bumper tomato crop for enjoyment year round.Ingredients
12 cloves garlic, peeled
1 piece fresh ginger, about 4 inches long, 2 oz or 60g
3 cups or 710ml red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons mustard oil or extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
12 fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon kalonji
4 lbs or 1.8 kg fresh ripe tomatoes (2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes can be substituted)
3 cups or 600g sugar
3 teaspoons salt
1/2 – 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (according to your personal preference – I use at least a teaspoon)
Method
Measure your spices out so that they are ready for adding to the pot in a hurry.
Cut the brown ends off of your garlic and peel and coarsely chop your ginger.
Put the garlic, ginger and 1/2 cup of the vinegar into the container of an electric blender and blend at high speed until smooth.
Halve the fresh tomatoes and cut out the hard cores.
 |
| Pretty summer tomatoes from the UAE. Yes, farms do grow things in the desert. |
Heat the oil in a 4-quart, heavy-bottomed pot with non-metallic finish, over medium high heat. When hot, add the mustards seeds. As soon as they start to pop – this takes just a few seconds – add the fenugreek, cumin, fennel and kalonji.
Stir once quickly and add the paste from the blender. Stir paste for one minute then add the tomatoes (and juice from the can, if using,) the rest of the vinegar, the sugar, salt and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil.
If such things matter to you, feel free to pick the skins out of the pot with tongs as they become detached from the tomatoes. Some can be rather thick so I do pick them out when I have that type of tomato. Otherwise, I leave them in.
Lower heat a bit and cook, uncovered, over medium heat at first and then, as the chutney thickens, on increasingly lower heat for about 1½ - 2 hours or until chutney becomes thick.
Stir occasionally at first and more frequently as it thickens.
Pour chutney into sterilized jars while still boiling hot, putting a metal teaspoon in each jar to keep it from cracking.
Remove the teaspoon and screw the lids on tightly and turn jars upside down until they are cooled.
When the jars are cool, you can turn them upright and the vacuum seal will pop in, keeping the chutney fresh for months in a cool dry cupboard. If the seal doesn't pop back in, store the jars in the refrigerator.
If you are giving it as a gift, by all means, make and print a pretty label.
Enjoy!
Want to continue to enjoy the season’s bounty all year long? Have a look at the wonderful Preserving the Harvest recipes we have for you today.
Cool Condiments
- Chow Chow Relish from Magnolia Days
- Homemade Hot Dog Relish from Juanita’s Cocina
Fabulous Fruits
- Apricot Ginger Jam from Happy Baking Days
- Banana Jam from Killer Bunnies, Inc
- Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream from Gotta Get Baked
- Blueberry Lemon Basil Jam from Daily Dish Recipes
- Candied Watermelon Rind from What Smells So Good?
- Fig and Strawberry Jam from Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
- Mixed Berry Rhubarb Jam from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Mulberry Jam from Curious Cuisiniere
- Quick Peacharine Chutney from Shockingly Delicious
- Pineapple Upside Down Cake Freezer Jam from Cookin’ Mimi
Other Outstanding Recipes
- Fireweed Jelly from The Foodie Army Wife
- Flavoured Butters from Small Wallet, Big Appetite
- Gravlax from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Corn Cob Jelly from Blueberries and Blessings
- Deep South Dilly Beans from Eat, Move, Shine
- Fermented (Sour) Pickles from Growing Up Gabel
- Fire Roasted Salsa from Peanut Butter and Peppers
- Hot and Spicy Giardiniera from The Messy Baker
- Hot Italian Giardiniera from Healthy. Delicious.
- Jalapeños en Escabeche (Pickled Jalapeños) from La Cocina de Leslie
- Oi Kimchi (Korean Cucumber Kimchi) from Kimchi MOM
- Refrigerator Dill Pickles from Country Girl in the Village
- Spicy Sweet Tomato Chutney from Food Lust People Love
- Traditional Escabeche (Pickle) from Basic N Delicious
