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Sweet Tomato Chutney
Makes 2 1/2 cups
I make this chutney with canned tomatoes. You could, if you like, use fresh tomatoes when they are in season and really tasty. To peel them, you will need to drop them in boiling vinegar. When the skin crinkles, life them out and peel. Then proceed with the recipe. When cooked, this chutney is sweet and sour, thick and garlicky.
1 whole head of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
A piece of fresh ginger, about 2 inches long, 1 inch thick, and 1 inch wide, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups wine vinegar
1-pound 12-ounce can whole tomatoes (or 2 pounds fresh tomatoes prepared as suggested above)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/8–1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons golden raisins
2 tablespoons blanched slivered almonds
Put the chopped garlic, ginger, and 1/2 cup of the vinegar into the container of an electric blender and blend at high speed until smooth. In a 4-quart heavy-bottomed pot with nonmetallic finish, place the tomatoes and juice from the can, the rest of the vinegar, the sugar, salt, and cayenne pepper (or, if you prefer, add the cayenne at the end, a little at a time, stirring and tasting as you do so). Bring to a boil. Add purée from the blender. Lower heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until chutney becomes thick. (A film should cling to a spoon dipped in it.) Stir occasionally at first, and more frequently later as it thickens. You may need to lower the heat as the liquid diminishes. You should end up with about 2 1/2 cups of chutney, and it should be at least as thick as honey after it cools. If the canned tomatoes you use have a lot of liquid in them, a longer cooking time may be required, resulting in a little less chutney.
Add the almonds and raisins. Simmer, stirring, another 5 minutes. Turn heat off and allow to cool. Bottle. Keep refriderated.
To serve: Since this is one of my favorite sweet chutneys, I always spoon out a small bowl of it for all my dinner parties. It goes with almost all foods and is very popular. Store, bottled, in the refrigerator. It keeps for months.
