Choice Chutney

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Posted on April 24, 2024

I recently encountered a new ‘problem’. Here in central Victoria the weather had definitely turned quite cool. Summer is well and truly behind us and I was left with an abundance of green tomatoes. This never happened in Queensland as tomatoes literally ripened all the year round.

It was time to remove the tomato bushes so that we could reuse the garden bed so I harvested the tomatoes and found that I could use them to make chutney.

The first step was to wash them thoroughly.

I then sliced the tomatoes and layered them with the diced onion and sprinkled with salt. Then I covered the bowls and left them to stand overnight.

This morning it was time to make the chutney.

GREEN TOMATO CHUTNEY

Ingredients

2.5kg green tomatoes, sliced
500g onions, finely diced
1 tablespoon salt
500g sultanas
500g sugar
500g apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1100ml vinegar, I used half white vinegar and half apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
30g ground allspice
30g ground cloves

Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot/preserving pan. Simmer gently for about 3 hours. I used a stick blender sparingly to mash the tomatoes a bit more. I kept the pot covered for about 2 hours and then removed the lid for the final hour.

The mixture should be rich, thick and caramel coloured.

Spoon into hot, sterilised jars. This recipe yielded 12 jars so the pantry will be well-stocked.

Make Your Own Condiments – Part 2

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Posted on November 23, 2011

As promised, here is the recipe for another sauce you can easily make. This is an excellent replica of the specialty product which is marketed as balsamic glaze, balsamic syrup or ‘aged’ balsamic. I cannot take the credit for the recipe as it was posted by Mimi on Simple Savings.

Here is the recipe:

BALSAMIC SYRUP

500ml balsamic vinegar
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup port

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer gently until required consistency is reached (approximately 30 minutes). Watch carefully and stir regularly to ensure it does not catch or burn.

Cool and pour into small jars or bottles. This makes an excellent gift and a list of uses could be attached.

Here are a couple of serving suggestions.

A small quantity in a tiny dish with good-quality olive oil makes a perfect dipping sauce.

Mix with orange juice for a marinade for chicken.

Drizzle over your favourite salad.

It is a great addition to the festive menu and I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

Make Your Own Condiments

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Posted on November 20, 2011

We all know how much cheaper it is to prepare a meal at home rather than eating out, however, you can take it a step further by making your own sauces and spices. I have previously posted my recipe for Worcestershire sauce (see the link under ‘Recipes’ on the right-hand side of the blog).

Curry powder is a perfect example of something you can make up yourself. You probably have curry paste in the refrigerator (maybe even a couple of different types) but this powder mix is great for any recipe where it calls for a teaspoon or so of curry powder. It is also perfect to have made up rather than trying to make a curry with 1/2 teaspoon of this and that. I originally made this as a time-saving measure because I found it so fiddly to have to measure out small quantities of lots of spices whenever I went to make a curry.

CURRY POWDER

35 g cumin (powdered)
35 g coriander (powdered)
20 g tumeric (powdered)
20 g cardamom (powdered)
15 g chilli (powdered)
1 cinnamon stick
12 cloves
5 g yellow mustard seeds
10 g black peppercorns

Place the cinnamon, cloves, mustard seeds and peppercorns in a spice grinder and grind until powdered. Combine all ingredients and store in a dry glass jar.

Use according to taste.

I buy all of my spices from Simply Good at Morayfield. They are in bulk containers so I take my own paper bags and then decant them into my jars when I get home. This helps to eliminate any packaging.