Monday 13 April 2015

Cilantro Tomato Chutney

While our family strives to keep our sugar consumption on the low side, we do enjoy things that are sweet  - in moderation.  With tomatoes being competitively priced right now in WA, I decided to venture into sweet chutney-making for a small amount to dose on my burgers or to enjoy with my Shepherd's Pie.  Chutney is great as a condiment on burgers; with ham or turkey; spread on an egg'n bacon rolls; or even served with your favourite Indian take-away.

My chutney project started in the morning as the recipe requires a bit of time for the onions and tomatoes to release a bit of liquid.  Then as I had a number of other kitchen chores to do, I just set my bowl aside and came back to it after lunch.  It is school holidays this week so the kids and I were laying low and I was getting some extra cooking done as the pantry was empty of just about everything.

I don't really have the room for large batches of condiments so this amount is just right for our fridge and won't last long enough to worry about it going off.  Give this chutney a try as I am sure it won't disappoint.



  • 1 kilogram of tomatoes, medium dice
  • 3 medium sized onions, small dice or finely sliced
  • 3 Bird's-eye chilli peppers, finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups of natural cane sugar
  • 1 tsp. Madras curry powder
  • 1 1/2 tsps. mustard powder
  • 1 1/3 cups of apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. natural sea salt


Chop tomatoes and onions and toss with sea salt in a medium-sized bowl.  Set the mixture aside for a few hours or overnight in fridge to allow the tomatoes and onions to release a bit of liquid.

Drain the salty liquid from the mixture; add the chilli, garlic, sugar, and spices to the tomatoes and onions in a medium-sized pot. Cook gently on medium heat for about 8 minutes and then add the apple cider vinegar.  Stir to combine.  You can now leave you chutney chunky or blend about 1/3 of the mixture and leave the rest chunky.  I used a stick blender directly in the pot and blender for a few seconds to get the texture I wanted.

Now bring the mixture to a gentle simmer and reduce until about 1/3 of the original amount or to a desired thickness.  Be careful not to let your chutney burn as it is sweet and it is thickening so as it is reduced it might have a tendency to stick to the pot.  Stir often! Just before removing thickened mixture from heat, add chopped cilantro and stir well.

Ladle into hot sterilized jars.  Hot water can the chutney for long term storage or store in fridge.  This recipe makes about 4 cups.  It should keep for a month or two in the fridge if the jars are properly sterilized.  The chutney will thicken a bit more in the fridge.

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