You will need.........
2.5kg green tomatoes, finely chopped,
500g onions, finely chopped,
4 tsp / 30g salt,
1L malt vinegar,
500g cooking apples, finely chopped,
500g sultanas, roughly chopped,
500g muscovado sugar, (or soft light brown sugar)
1 garlic clove, peeled, finely chopped, or crushed,
25mm (1 inch) piece fresh root ginger, peeled, finely grated,
1 red chilli, finely chopped,
3 tsp / 20g ground pepper.
(I include an extra garlic and more ginger root!)
The amounts needed will vary according to taste
and how many you are cooking for. Experiment!!!
Method:
Finely chop your onions and washed green tomatoes, cutting out any bad bits. Add to a large bowl (a plastic bucket would be ideal for this stage) and stir. Add the 4 teaspoons of salt, stir again and then cover with food wrap or a large plate and leave overnight.
The next day place the litre of vinegar into quite a large pan, or wok. Add the 500g of sugar and stir over a medium heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil.
Roughly chop the sultanas then add to the simmering vinegar and sugar. Add the chopped apples.
Bring the whole lot to a gentle boil.
Remove the cover from the tomatoes and onions that you've left overnight. Drain well but do not rinse. Rinsing will add more water and the goal of leaving overnight with salt was to remove as much water as possible without pulping them. Add to the pan and stir in well. Add the 3 teaspoons / 15g white pepper. Bring to a gentle boil.
Stir in the garlic, chilli, ginger and boil gently for 1.5 to 2 hours until thick and golden. The goal of this cooking time is to reduce the liquid down so the chutney is thick and to soften the tomatoes and onions until they take on the sugar and turn brown.
All you're doing for the next 1 - 2 hours is stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat if the mixture starts to boil too vigorously. As it nears the end stir more often to avoid sticking or catching at the bottom of the pan. Get your jars ready now, same as for making jam!
When your chutney has reduced by almost half and is thick and golden brown, it is almost ready. Boil it a little longer, I'm almost certain you'll be as impatient as I am and need to leave it just a tiny bit longer. I found a good gauge of it being thick enough was when I could drag my wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan and see the bottom for a little while after it had passed. When that happens, it's ready.
Bottle it up the same as for jam.
"Mmmmmmmmm!" Awesome!!
This makes quite a lot of chutney so you may want to halve all the ingredients!
