#119 Copy Cat Tomato and Apple Chutney

One of my foodie readers once asked if I had made my own chutneys. After some deep thought I realized that I have been buying store bought dates and mango chutneys lately, and these are loaded with preservatives. Then I tested out a chutney at home to give it a try. While I may have made many a fresh mint, coconut, cranberry or peanut chutney and ventured into the ocassional Indian pickle making.  I had given up on all of the Indian pickles since the girls moved away from home. So after visiting this readers lovely blog, I decided to start up some chutney making and the first attempt was his recipe for Tomato Apple Chutney. When I read the recipe,  I didn't think I would make it this far--for lack of  patience in chopping so many apples, onions and tomatoes.  If you know me well enough you should see why I took a shortcut, cutting the recipe in half so I could cut down on the chopping:) On one hand, I cut down the sugar to about 1/3 rd of the amount mentioned in the original recipe so that I could use it with Dosa... another healthy chutney with dosas especially if you have young children!!

Anyway, I hope this looks half as good as yours Charles Thanks for sharing the recipe....
I love the fact that it does not use any fancy ingredients and even though the chopping is cumbersome, it is real easy to make. I think the bottling tips & techniques the cook has described are absolutely wonderful for those of us who are challenged in the art of preserving (I am completely dependant on my refrigerator for preserving chutneys) and by sterlizing the bottle chutneys will stay fresh for longer periods of time.
The chutney looks really scrumptious and finger-licking good. Check it out at
http://fiveeurofood.com/index.php/2010/11/apple-and-tomato-chutney/
I made a another small change---I added dijon mustard instead of the seeds and ginger paste instead of powder--- only because those two were readily available in my pantry. The end product was pretty darn tasty!!

Ingredients:
3  Apples
3  Tomatoes
1 good sized onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
2 cups water
2 cups red wine vinegar
1/2 cup  sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ginger paste

Method:

1. Chop the apples and keep aside. Chop the Tomatoes, Onions and garlic and keep aside.

2. In a deep pot, add the water and apples and cook until half done.

3. Add the tomatoes, onion and garlic and red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, cayenne pepper.

4. Cook for about an hour until the vegetables are well cooked and reduced down.

5. Add ginger paste, dijon mustard and curry powder. Mix well.

6. Cook for another 15 mins. cool and preserve in jars.