Tomato chutney
Tomato chutney, bottled, ready to seal.
This is the end of summer, the height of the tomato season. My local greengrocer sells big boxes of roma tomatoes so people can make sauce, passata, or bottled tomatoes. Not a box for me, just a few kilos for tomato chutney. The recipe I have made for years originates in a book by David and Rose called Jams, Pickles and Chutneys. It was first published by Macmillan in 1975, and it’s been on my shelves even since I bought it. There are lots of good recipes in it, including the tomato chutney, which I have slightly modified.
Ingredients
2.5 kg ripe roma tomatoes, 3 onions, 1 or 2 red capsicums, 2 large cloves garlic, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons paprika (not smoked), 1 very finely chopped chili, 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds (crushed), 250g raw caster sugar, 600ml white wine vinegar.
Peel the tomatoes in the usual way (slash the skin, into boiling water for a minute) and chop them - not too roughly, but not finely. Put them in a preserving pan with the chopped red capsicum, the chopped onions, the finely chopped chili and finely chopped garlic. Add a little vinegar and cook gently until the tomatoes have melted down. If you have a stick blender, give the tomatoes a whirl or two. The idea is to have half-puree them. (Don’t worry if you don’t have a stick blender, just spend a bit of time crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pan.)
Then add the salt, sugar, mustard seeds, paprika and sugar. (I use raw caster sugar, but white sugar is fine.) Stir well until the sugar dissolves, and add the vinegar. Cook gently until it is thick enough. It might need a very little more vinegar.
Put into sterilised jars. You could use sealing paper, or, as I do, allow the chutney to cool and then seal with sealing wax. Use jars with plastic lids, if possible. Even through the sealing wax, in time the acidity might eat away at a metal lid. Allow a couple of months before eating it. This keeps well for a couple of years, particularly if wax sealed.
It is delicious with cheddar, great in sandwiches with cold meat, very good alongside any cold meat, and with grilled tuna.