Tomato Chutney

When I saw this recipe in die Zeit Magazin, I had to try it at once! I just happened to have all the ingredients at home, except for coriander seeds, but as usual, I was too lazy to go shopping just to get some seeds, so I tried it without them - and it worked perfectly! I guess the trick here is to use premium quality fresh tomatoes - those hard, orange-coloured lame excuses for tomatoes one gets in the winter just won’t do - and let the chutney simmer over a long time so it really gets caramel-like.

I’m not very big fan of too spicy stuff so instead of one entire chili I used some crushed peperoncino, maybe ⅓ tsp, and it was just perfect for my taste. When I first tasted this chutney, it felt a bit too spicy, but once it had cooled down, it had lost some of the edge and was just the way I like it.

This chutney is a great match for different kinds of cheeses, my favourite being soft chèvre. Feel free to try it with anything else you like - I got so addicted to it I was tempted to try in my morning oatmeal as well!

Ingredients

• 250 g onions, preferably red


• 500 g tomatoes


• 5 garlic cloves


• 1 red chili pepper


• 1–2 cm piece of ginger


• 1 Tbsp coriander seeds


• 75 ml apple cider vinegar


• 100 g brown sugar


• Salt and pepper to taste (oops, I forgot these, as they were last on the list and it seems I didn’t read it until the end, then; but it worked well even without!

Peel and chop tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic, and chili, place all ingredients in a heavy pan and cook over a low heat for at least 40 minutes. Pour into clean jars - and that's it!