Food Monday ~ Roasted tomato, apple and onion chutney

Chutney needs time and patience and is not for the five minute cook. Stick with it and the rewards can last for weeks or months. Chutney works well with cheese, salads, and cold meats, or as I do: I use it to line my bread in a sandwich.

We made this chutney in three stages, so I have broken up the ingredients & method for each part.

Roasted tomato, apple and onion chutney

Stage 1

1 kg tomatoes.
4-5 cloves of garlic * (optional)
Fresh thyme
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

Cut the tomatoes in half end-to-end, and place cut side up on a baking tray. Slice 4-5 cloves of garlic, if using, and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Strip several sprigs of fresh thyme, and sprinkle the leaves over the tomatoes. Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil over all of the tomatoes.
Place in the oven at 200°F for about 50-60 minutes.

Stage 2

3 large onions, chopped
225g Sultanas
30mls dark brown sugar
30mls balsamic vinegar
extra-virgin olive oil

Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil in a frying pan over a low heat and gently soften the onions for 10 minutes. Raise the heat to medium and add in the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar, stir well and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, add the sultanas and cook for five more minutes.

Stage 3

1 kg Bramley cooking (tart) apples, peeled, cored and chopped to large dice
450 ml water.
150g caster sugar

Place apples and water in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and cook 25 minutes, or until apples are tender, stirring occasionally. Add more water as necessary to keep the apples simmering. Reduce heat, add the sugar and dissolve over low heat.

Stage 4

Add the roasted tomatoes, & onion and all their juices plus all the remaining ingredients.

10mls dessertspoons salt
550ml white wine vinegar
5ml mixed spice
5ml Peppercorns
Inch of root ginger, grated **
Good dash of white wine (optional)

Stir well. Bring the mixture to the boil. Reduce heat to a strong simmer for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until reduced to a thick chutney. Seal chutney in sterile containers until serving.

* My sister is not a fan of garlic, so we omitted it.
**We had no root ginger, so we added ½ a teaspoon dry ginger &1 tablespoon stem Ginger syrup.

I will make it again, changing the spices with my mood on the day.

18 thoughts on “Food Monday ~ Roasted tomato, apple and onion chutney

  1. Barbara

    Lol, I can see Nana’s input here! A good dash of white wine 🙂 she sneaked it into everything 🙂
    Peter is going through tonnes of lime and mango pickle these days, maybe I should have a go at making him some, we have loads and loads of apples at the moment, far too many to eat! He brings them home from work. Also we have our own chilli plant, it’s producing lots of great really hot chillies, they make your ears hot and when I eat one I cam breathe through my nose for a few minutes.

    Unfortunately I am very sensitive, and if I eat too many chillies I get blisters on my tongue!!

    Reply
    1. Grannymar

      For a woman who abhorred the taste of alcohol, Nana added it to soups, stews and any other dish she could think of! 😆

      Moderation dear girl. Moderation when it comes to chillies!

      Ramana is the one to ask for a mango chutney recipe, he lives on them when they are in season.

      Reply
        1. Rummuser

          Mango chutneys that I make will be hot too, but you can do them without chillies and use black peppercorn instead. Here is one version which will be sour and sweet, but you can add coarsely ground black pepper corn to jazz it up a bit.
          Amba 1 Cup (16 tbs), grated Raw Mango
          Sugar 3 Cup (48 tbs)
          Cardamom powder 1⁄2 Teaspoon
          Saffron 1⁄2 Teaspoon
          Water 2 1⁄2 Cup (40 tbs)

          MAKING
          1)In a heavy bottomed pan add sugar in water and cook for 5-7minutes.
          2)Add chopped raw mango in it and keep stirring it well till it becomes thick like honey.
          3)Once cold add cardamom powder and saffron.

          Reply
          1. Barbara

            Sounds wonderful 🙂 we grow our own hot chilies so don’t mind making it hot, they are one of the only things that help me to breathe at all. While eating chilies I can breathe, but then about an hour later I can’t again

            Thanks for the recipe! Will try it soon 🙂

            Reply
  2. Padmini Natarajan

    We make this kind of a chutney with raw mango! In Gujerath they sun dry the mango sugar till it turns gooey. Thanks for the recipe–we don’t get cooking apples here–we do get green ones that are sweet.

    Reply
    1. Grannymar

      Padmini, I found you in the bin again, I have clue why that keeps happening. My sister says she made a second batch at the weekend and used a tart apple and the remainder sweet apples. She says it worked well.

      Reply
  3. Three Well Beings

    What an excellent recipe! I would love to have someone make some for me! LOL! No, this would be something I could do with a friend. I probably wouldn’t have the patience by myself, but teamwork in the kitchen is fun. I can taste this on a turkey sandwich!

    Reply
  4. nrhatch

    The only chutney I’ve ever made is a breeze ~ pineapple, raisins, vinegar, brown sugar, and a few spices. And it’s delicious with curries.

    Hope you enjoy every bit of yours!

    Reply

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