No fingers were harmed in the making of this chutney! However there was a little bit of eye smarting – there is probably a time to simmer vinegar for nearly 2 hours and it’s probably not the coldest December on record. Open a window – p’ haps not !
Anyway it’s made and it’s supposed to rest in a cool, dark cupboard for 2 months (life lessons from chutney). I’m not quite sure why as the tasting I had seemed good now. A little more heat than I’d intended, I didn’t have red Kashmiri chillies (whatever they may be) and used extra-hot ones from my local Sri Lankan supermarket. Grumbling about extra heat seems just plain wrong right now next time, I might just turn the thermostat down a little!
The recipe came from the Women’s Institute Book of Preserves so I felt in safe hands! I halved the quantities (to those below) which made 2 x 7oz jars.
- 1kg ripe plum tomatoes, cut into quarters, cores removed
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 dried red Kashmiri chillies
- Half an onion, roughly chopped
- 150g of golden caster sugar
- 500 ml of distilled white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of brown or black mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon of onion seeds
- 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
- salt to taste
Heat the oil in a heavy pan. Add the seeds and whole chillies. Leave for a couple of minutes; let the seeds pop. Add in the onion, sugar, vinegar and tomatoes. Bring slowly to the boil and stir to ensure the sugar has dissolved. Simmer for 1 hour and then using tongs pick out all the tomato skins.
(Having followed the recipe I’m not sure about the order of events here! Unless there’s a good reason not to, I’d skin the tomatoes before cooking them and save all that fishing about and vinegar vapour inhalation! And especiallyafter today, when I will never, not ever, complain about skinning a tomato again. Why? Have you ever tried skinning an almond? I did, following a Nigel Slater biscuit recipe, let’s just say if he was on my Christmas Card list he’s not now – and the biscuits remain unmade.)
But back to the chutney. After the skin extraction (which takes place after an hour) I then needed to keep the chutney simmering for another 40 minutes to get it to done. And done is when you drag a channel through the mixture, with a wooden spoon, so that the bottom of the pan is visible. If the channel fills immediately with liquid, the chutney is not ready. The chutney is ready when the channel does not fill and the mixture is very thick.
You then add salt to taste, remove the pan from the heat, leave to stand briefly and then pour the chutney into hot sterlised jars and seal. And then put in that cool, dark place for 2 months. So roll on February – for oh so many reasons !
