This light and vibrant vegan tomato chutney is inspired by the spicy cuisine of Western India. The flavor is sweet and sour with a pleasant chilli kick. It's a great accompaniment to all sorts of foods and a fantastic way to use tomatoes when in season! Beautifully refreshing for a hot summer’s day and quite comforting with warm foods in winter.
Yes, it's another recipe for tomato chutney. Our tomato plants are still producing about a kilogram of tomatoes daily. So I've been looking for all sorts of great ways to enjoy them! "More vegetables = more healthy" - is my mantra.
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Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver |
Mr Oliver's tomato and garlic chutney was no exception to his cilantro/dhania fetish. A copious amount of cilantro/dhania was stirred in at the end of this recipe too. That presented a bit of a problem because during the steamy Monsoon season any tender, leafy green herb like coriander usually bolts or rots. But this week I harvested the first little scrawny bit of post-Monsoon cilantro/dhania which you see in the photo above! I hurriedly whipped this recipe up with tomatoes from our garden. I left out the sugar from the original recipe as my Kashmiri clan likes their tomatoes on the sour side. I also added a little cumin and used Kashmiri mirch for the chili powder for extra flavor.
My Indian husband declared this the best tomato chutney yet!
So there you have it. Authenticity be darned- this is good stuff! I you'd like less heat in your chutney try using a smoky paprika, for more heat use cayenne/degi mirch. In place of the sugar I've also tried tamarind paste which augments the sweet and sour notes of the tomatoes beautifully. Anyway you choose to make this twice cooked garlicky blend of tomatoes and cilantro/dhania it's delicious!
8 garlic/lahsun cloves, peeled
8 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp Kashmiri mirch (or 1/2 tsp cayenne plus 1/2 tsp paprika powder)
1 tsp salt
3/4 C water
2 TBS cooking oil
pinch of asafoetida/hing (optional)
1 tsp black mustard seeds/rai
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera (optional)
1½ teaspoons granulated sugar or 1 teaspoon tamarind paste (optional)
1/3 C fresh coriander/dhania leaves, finely chopped
Here's what to do:
1) Put garlic cloves, tomatoes, one teaspoon salt, Kashmiri mirch, and 3/4 C water in a pan. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool.
2) When cooled transfer the contents of the pan to a blender and blend the mixture to a paste.
5) Stir the chopped cilantro/dhania and sugar (if using) into fried mixture and mix well. Leave the chutney to cool a little before serving. This chutney will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Helpful hints:
I often leave out the asafoetida/hing as I find it really isn't noticeable competing with 8 cloves of garlic.