Tomato Chutney (a.k.a Tomato Relish)

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to find a particularly healthy tomato vine growing in the middle of my vegetable garden. In the past, I have found that self-sown plants tend to be the strongest and most hardy. With the huge amount of rain South East Queensland has experienced in the last few months, it is no wonder the vine took off with as much enthusiasm as it did, providing us with more tomatoes than we knew how to handle.

Tomatoes growing ripe on the vine.

When the tomatoes ripened on the vine, all at once, we knew we had to do something with them, and fast. What better way to take advantage of these crimson treasure chests than to turn them into a batch of tomato chutney. Below is the recipe that I used.



Ingredients:

• 3kg tomatoes
• 4 onions, diced
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 500g sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 1/2 cups vinegar
• 4 apples, peeled, cored and diced
• 1 cup sultanas

Method:

• Dice tomatoes and place into a large cooking pot. Mix in salt and let sit for at least two hours. Then drain the liquid from the tomatoes.
• Add all other ingredients to the tomatoes. Bring to the boil.
• Allow to simmer until the mixture thickens (at least a few hours) stirring regularly.
• Bottle mixture while still hot.

NOTE: Once cooled, the mixture can be placed into zip lock bags and frozen.

Brisbane City Views

A panorama view of the University of Queensland's Forgan Smith Building, St Lucia, Queensland.
Brisbane City by Night, taken from the Mount Coot-Tha lookout.

Another picturesque view of the city, also taken from Mount Coot-Tha.