Chutneys of India – Day 5 – Parsi Tomato Chutney

As the chutney makes its way up North, it moves from being an accompaniment to liven up rice, idli or dosa. It becomes a condiment, a dip, a preserve or a spread. It is no longer dominantly raw, but begins to be cooked and reduced. It also drops the coconut and dal dependence and acquires a sweet-spicy-sour note.

Top among this genre of chutneys is the Parsi tomato chutney made famous by Niloufer Ichaporia King. A dear friend in Mumbai introduced me to this delight. Its appeal is global. It is versatile since you can modify the ingredients to suit your preference.

Making it is a simple one step process. In a thick bottomed vessel add chopped tomatoes, sliced garlic, julienned ginger, red chillies coarsely pounded, candied orange, some raisins, a stick of cinnamon, few cloves, a little salt, a generous amount of sugar, and vinegar. Bring them to a boil and simmer. It thickens depending on how much tomato you began with. Stir intermittently. Beware of the splatter and keep it partly covered as it boils away. Finished like a thick jam. That’s it.

Slather it on bread and toast, roti and parata; serve it with meats; add it to salads; do what you wish but the taste is lip-smacking good. You can replace tomato with a juicy fruit like pear or peach, if you wish. But tomato with its complex taste notes scores best. There is no ideal measurement of the ingredients. You modify as you wish.

Mine has canned tomatoes from our last summer garden. I added jaggery so the end result is darker. I ate it with some pav during a break from yard work.