Tomato Relish

Is this relish or chutney? Whatever you’re having yourself! I love relish but it is expensive to buy a really good one so I thought it can’t be that hard to make my own. I spent quite a long time researching this one to make sure that I got the flavour I was looking for. I had all the ingredients already in my kitchen so that was a good start.. Most of the recipes I came across online had apples in them but none of the jars of relish in the shops that I like had them listed in the ingredients, so I left them out. I’m glad I did, this is a really rich, intense flavoured relish.

The last batch I made lasted us four or five months. It makes approx. a litre of relish. You can use it immediately but it does taste better if left to mature a bit. I store it in a cold dry place but once opened keep it in the fridge.

Ingredients:

115ml red wine vinegar
115ml white wine vinegar
300g sugar
1 tsp mustard seeds
200g onions finely chopped
700g tinned plum tomatoes
300g tinned chopped tomatoes
2 tsp salt
100g sultanas
1tsp all spice
1 tsp black pepper

Method:

Use a large heavy bottomed saucepan as you will be cooking this slowly for a long time and a proper saucepan will help prevent burning. I use a cast iron casserole dish. Put the vinegars, sugar and mustard seeds into the saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring the whole time.
Once the sugar has dissolved, add in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil again.
Then reduce to a simmer and leave to simmer for 90mins to 2 hours. Make sure to stir occasionally to prevent the relish sticking.
Reduce until it has thickened significantly. You can use the relish as it is which will be quite chunky. I like to take a potato masher to it to blend it a bit so that it is a bit thicker, less lumpy.

The relish when it starts to boil, after 2 hours simmering, and after blending with the masher.

Once cooled, taste to see if it needs any extra seasoning.
Spoon the relish into sterilised jars and store in a cool dry place. Jars can be easily sterilised by just washing thoroughly in warm soapy water and drying them out in an oven at 180C for 5 mins. Make sure you don’t put your hands into the jars afterwards.