Rediscovering tomato chutney

There is only so much tomato chutney that a household of two can eat, especially when there are so many other condiment options, such as curried zucchini relish or plum hot sauce.

Tomato chutney can seem a little plain and boring compared to those.

The only upside of having seemingly so much tomato chutney in the pantry is that it can be used to flavour lots of things, such as sausage rolls or pasta sauce.

If a bolognaise is on the menu at my place, you will expect to find sultanas in the sauce, as they are an essential part of a classic tomato chutney and may add an extra layer of, maybe unwanted, depth to dinner.

Tomato chutney recipe

This is a classic-tasting tomato chutney that would be served with anything you would want a condiment on: a sandwich, a meat pie, next to a piece of steak, eggs, or used to flavour a vegetarian or meat sauce.

For this recipe, we roughly chop the peeled and deseeded tomatoes into large chunks.

This is so there is still some texture of the tomatoes in the finished chutney.

Ingredients

2 kg of red tomatoes — peeled and chopped

2 brown onions — peeled and diced

2 cloves of garlic — peeled and chopped

660ml of vinegar

320 grams of sultanas

8 cloves

A small pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon of salt

400 grams of sugar

Method

Step one: Put all the ingredients, except the sugar, in a large saucepan.

Heat over medium heat, stirring until boiling.

Cook until the mixture thickens, about 90 minutes.

Step two: Remove from the heat.

Add the sugar, then return to the heat and stir until boiling.

Cook for a further 90 minutes until the mixture does not separate.

Stir frequently.

Step three: Bottle and seal in hot, sterilised jars

Cooking tomato chutney for this Jaci can cook column reminded me of a second reason I don’t preserve tomato chutney very often.

It takes a long time, and you can’t do anything else, as you are stuck in the kitchen watching the pot, making sure nothing sticks or burns.

Today, we almost cooked eight jars of tomato chutney.

Imagine how much enthusiasm and tomatoes there must have been for me to cook 100 jars.

I’ll see you in the kitchen next time, when we cook tomato and chilli jam, which will take a lot less time than today’s tomato chutney.

– Jaci

Do you have a favourite tomato or preserving recipe that Jaci can cook? Let her know by dropping her a line at jaci.hicken@mmg.com.au