Photo: kightp / Flickr

Green chutney goes well with bread, cheese and cold meats, which makes it perfect for picnics. You could also serve it with hot curry dishes. What’s more, you don’t have to wait for your tomatoes to ripen to make a green tomato chutney.  This recipe requires a preparation time of half an hour and a cooking time of two hours. Maturation time is one and a half months but the wait will be worth it as you’ll have a few jars of green tomato chutney to indulge in.

Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients for 500 ml of green tomato chutney: 1.80 kg of chopped green tomatoes, 750 grams of chopped onions, 500 grams of cored and chopped cooking apples, 600 ml of vinegar, 7 or 8 red chillies, 25 grams of dried ginger, 250 grams of seedless raisins, 2 level teaspoons of salt and 500 grams of sugar.

Tie the ginger and chillies in a muslin bag, bruise the contents and set the bag aside. You will also need two to four clean glass jars with airtight plastic lids (or plastic coated lids), depending on the volume of the individual bottles.

Method

Place half of the vinegar into a heavy based saucepan. Add the onions, apples and tomatoes and stir. Bring the mixture to a boil and then allow it to simmer for half an hour on a medium heat.

When the ingredients are soft, add the muslin bag to the pan, together with the raisins. Cook for an hour or so, stirring the ingredients every now and then until the mixture thickens.

Add the rest of the vinegar to the pot as well as the sugar and the salt. Stir the mixture until the sugar has dissolved. Press the bag with a wooden spoon occasionally while you continue to stir and thicken the chutney.

Finish and store

Remove the spice bag from the chutney and lay out your glass jars. Spoon the chutney into the jars while it is hot. Fill to within 1.5 cm from the top. Cover the jars with airtight plastic lids and not metal lids.

Store the sealed jars in a dry, dark, cool place for 6 weeks.

Tags: homemade, recipes