Tomato, Aubergine and Chilli Chutney Recipe

I am a bit of a sucker for chutneys. The idea of a white crusty roll filled with chedder cheese and home made chutney fills me with deep joy. But chutneys, good chutneys, can be very expensive to buy, however, they are actually incredibly cheap to make, they just take time.

Below is my recipe for tomato, aubergine and chilli chutney, all three of which we have grown in our garden this year. These are the last of our crop so I wanted to put them to good use, our neighbour donated some extra tomatoes too! (Thank you!)

Ingredients

• 900g tomatoes
• 2 large aubergines
• 700g onions
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 small red chillis
• 350g white granulated sugar
• 300ml white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds (slightly crush to release flavour)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 3 whole cloves (slightly crush to release flavour)
• 3 cardamom pods (slightly crush to release flavour)
• 1 teaspoon of chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground mixed spice (use less or more to taste, start with 1/2 teaspoon and see how you like it)

Method

1. Peel and chop all the veg and garlic.  No need to de-skin or de-seed, why waste the best bits? 😉
2. Now this is the easy bit.  Add EVERYTHING to one large pan (heavy bottomed one is best, would be perfect for a cauldron!) and bring it to the boil.
3. Add a lid (or cover with foil or a plate etc), bring down the heat and let it simmer for an hour.
4. After an hour give it a good stir, whilst still on the heat and then leave to simmer for another hour without the lid.  Keep stirring every 10 minutes or so.
5. After 2 hours, you need to start checking as to when it is ready as the timing of this really depend on how ripe your veg were in the first place, so what you are looking for is a thick chunky saucy (chutney) consistency.  The way to test this is to make a line in the bottom of the pan of chutney mix with your spoon.  The line should remain visible for a good few seconds before the chutney mix covers it again, if this is what you see, your chutney is ready.   If  your mix is still too watery then bring back to a high boil and keep stirring, once it has thickened, then try the spoon line test again.  It can take as little as 2 hours or as much as 3 hours to get to this stage so don’t panic if it takes a while.
6. Once the chutney is thick then leave to cool.
7. Once cooled, pour into sterilised jars and seal by adding the the filled jars (with lids on) into a large pan of boiling water and boil for 30 minutes, this will seal the jars and the push button centre of the lids will no longer be able to be pushed down, when you are at this stage you know they are sealed.

Leave for one month before eating in a cool dark place.  Once open, keep in the fridge and use within 6 months.

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