Sweet Tomato Chutney

"From 'An Invitation to Indian Cooking' by Madhur Jaffrey. This is one of Madhur Jaffrey's favorite sweet chutneys, she always spoons out a small bowl for all her dinner parties. It goes with almost all foods and is very popular. Store, bottled, in the refrigerator. It keeps for months."
 
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photo by Susie D photo by Susie D
photo by Susie D
Ready In:
2hrs 5mins
Ingredients:
9
Yields:
2 1/2 cups
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ingredients

  • 1 head garlic, peeled,coarsely chopped
  • 1 piece fresh ginger, about 2 inches long,1 inch thick and 1 inch wide,peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 1 12 cups red wine vinegar
  • 1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes (or 2 lbs fresh tomatoes if they taste like a tomato should)
  • 1 12 cups sugar
  • 1 12 teaspoons salt
  • 18 - 12 teaspoon cayenne pepper (personal preference)
  • 2 tablespoons golden raisins
  • 2 tablespoons blanched slivered almonds
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directions

  • Put the chopped garlic, ginger and 1/2 cup of the vinegar into the container of an electric blender and blend at high speed until smooth.
  • In a 4-quart, heavy-bottomed pot with non-metallic finish, place the tomatoes and juice from the can, the rest of the vinegar, the sugar, salt and cayenne pepper (or, if you prefer, add the cayenne at the end, a little at a time, stirring and tasting as you do so).
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Add puree from blender.
  • Lower heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until chutney becomes thick.
  • (A film should cling to a spoon dipped in it.) Stir occasionally at first, and more frequently later as it thickens.
  • You may need to lower the heat as the liquid diminishes.
  • You should end up with 2 1/2 cups of chutney, and it should be atleast as thick as honey after it cools.
  • If the canned tomatoes you used have a lot of liquid in them, a longer cooking time may be required, resulting in a little less chutney.
  • Add the almonds and the raisins.
  • Simmer, stirring, another 5 minutes.
  • Turn heat off and allow to cool.
  • Bottle.
  • Keep refrigerated.

Questions & Replies

  1. Hi, I have been using this recipe since the book first came out (the seventies!). It is my go-to chutney for canning for gifts. I was wondering if anyone out there has a fool-proof ratio for creating it in bulk? I have doubled it and that works fine. I would like to quadruple it. My experience has been that it all depends on the tomatoes (I use canned) and the amount of water. Any suggestions?
     
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Reviews

  1. Excellent recipe! I left out almonds and used coarse black pepper rather than cayenne but oh what a lovely flavour this makes. I am going to make a few more batches and try adding some to my home made sausages.
     
  2. This was one of my first recipes that I used as a professional caterer. It never ceases to please & amaze guests.
     
  3. I have been making this recipe since around 1977 or so when my aunt gave me Madhu's book ! I make a lot of it all the time ... I adore it and so does my family and friends. Good with curries .. and with cheeses and meats ... <br/><br/>Last year I had an inspiration, and instead of using canned CHOPPED tomatoes, I used a can of chopped pineapple and made it up as normal. It was different but exceptionally good !!!
     
  4. So how's this for a recommendation? ...I entered this chutney in the Lindsay, ON Exhibition ( Fall Fair) this past week, in the relish class ( open category) and it won second prize! Lovely chutney. I used brown instead of white sugar to give it a richer flavour.
     
  5. Fantastic Chutney....This is like a life sentence this one..if you start making it you can't stop. It is a well known one on the UK food sites and I make it all the time now. I often add some chopped sun dried tomatoes to it in the last few mins of cooking, rather than the raisins or almonds. Very well worth trying... a terrific recipe.The great thing is that it doesn't need to be stored before using unlike a lot of chutneys.
     
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Tweaks

  1. I have been making this recipe since around 1977 or so when my aunt gave me Madhu's book ! I make a lot of it all the time ... I adore it and so does my family and friends. Good with curries .. and with cheeses and meats ... <br/><br/>Last year I had an inspiration, and instead of using canned CHOPPED tomatoes, I used a can of chopped pineapple and made it up as normal. It was different but exceptionally good !!!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<style>body { background: url("http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3512121819_f2f1aaf050.jpg?v=0"); background-repeat: repeat-y; }</style> OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages! I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure. So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call. What did I do wrong? Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths. I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time. That's all for now.
 
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