Tomato Chutney

This recipe was a very happy accident.  I was making Caribbean Grouper for dinner and needed something sweet to balance the rest of the meal.  I also needed to use up a few ripe tomatoes to keep them from going bad.  I opened the vegetable drawer and found an onion, bell peppers, and a few jalapeños.  I started chopping and cooking.  This chutney was the result.

My husband does not like tomatoes.  However, he asked me to make more chutney.  It is sweet but not cloyingly so.  It is also really spicy, but in a very pleasant way.  I served it with the grouper, but it would be wonderful on chicken or stirred into rice.

Servings: 2 cups

Hardware:  Measuring spoons and cups, cutting board and knives, a large heavy bottomed skillet, and a wooden spoon
Time:  Prep: 15 minutes, Cook: 1 hour

Ingredients: 

• 1 ½ pounds tomato (4 cups)
• 1 large bell pepper  (1 cup-I actually used 3 baby bell peppers.*)
• 1 medium Spanish onion (1 cup)
• 2 jalapeños
• 2 teaspoons fresh cilantro
• ¼ cup honey
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1. Roughly chop all the vegetables.  You can remove the seeds from the peppers if you want less heat or leave them in if you want more.  Mince the cilantro.
2. Heat the pan on medium high.  Add the vegetables and allow them to come to a boil.  The tomatoes will release a great deal of liquid.  That is okay.  Boil for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Boil the chutney until it changes from bright red to a dark red.  This should take about 30-40 minutes.  Stir often enough to keep the food from sticking.
4. Turn the heat down to simmer.  Continue to cook until most of the liquid is absorbed and the consistency becomes jam-like. 
5. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.  You can serve this warm, room temperature, or cold.  It will keep for a week or so in the fridge.

*Unless you know that you are going to use an entire bell pepper, baby bells are the way to go.  Using baby bells allows you to cut up only the amount of pepper you need.  If you cut a large bell pepper in half, the other half gets slimy fast.  Using baby bells also allows you to easily add a lot of color to your dish.  Instead of just one large green pepper, I used a baby green pepper, a baby yellow pepper, and an orange baby.  Finally, baby bells are not as strong as full grown bells-they taste better and make you less burby. They can be found in bags near large bell peppers in the produce section of your grocer’s.