Making a chutney today, it is sweet and sour, salty, and hot. It can be used on burgers, hot dogs, and even as an ingredient in meatloaf. You can serve it with roasted meats, use it as a condiment on sandwiches, especially strong cheese, it is amazing, period. The possibilities are endless.
Parsi Tomato Chutney3 pounds (1.5kg) ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped (or pitted, chopped plums or peaches, or peeled, cored and diced apples, pears, quinces, etc.)
1/2 cup finely-julienned peeled ginger (about one 2.5-inch/6-cm-long piece)
1/2 cup thinly sliced garlic (about one large head)
1 1/2 cups (375ml) cane, malt or cider vinegar
1/2 to 1 cup (75-150g) raisins (optional)
2 cups (400g) turbinado/raw sugar, or half-light brown and half white
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons cayenne pepper or hot ground chile (or to taste)
1 small cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt
grated peel of 1 organic orange (optional)
First, open a few windows (you’ll soon see why). Place all the ingredients except the orange peel (start with the smaller amounts given) in a heavy nonreactive pot and bring to a boil, stirring so everything gets well combined. Lower the heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the chutney reaches the consistency of a soft jam. This will probably take at least 2 hours; you can speed things up by increasing the heat, but then you’ll need to remember to stir much more frequently. Particularly once it starts getting thick it can burn in a flash.
Adjust the balance of sugar, salt, and vinegar while the chutney is still warm. Add the orange peel if you want it. Add more cayenne if you’d like it hotter. Preferably let it sit out for a day to let the flavors meld and then check the seasonings again. As Niloufer explains it, you want a taste of this chutney to “light up your mouth”; I like to think of it as a wrestling match between sweet, sour, salty, and hot.
To bottle for shelf-storage, bring the chutney back to a rolling boil for 2 minutes, then proceed with your favorite canning method. Otherwise, it will keep a good few weeks in the fridge (particularly if you’ve used the full amount of cayenne!).
https://travelerslunchbox.com/2010/10/26/a-chutney-for-all-seasons/All the ingredients assembled and ready for the cooking.
Cooking as I write this, two hours and we shall see.