19 March 2010

Nanna's Relish

I have a sprawling, single, tomato plant (that was all I got planted before my surgery) - it's a low-acid orange tomato, and the bush has taken over half the vegie patch! There have been kilos of tomatoes, and the inevitable need for tomato chutney!

I haven't made this recipe before - but it's been in the family for a very long time. It's my grandmother's recipe, and my absolute favourite. It brings back many memories! The name 'Nariel' is from my great-grandfather's property. It has a great spicy flavour - from curry and mustard - and is wonderful with cold meats, cheese sandwiches, and many other things!

Nanna Jean's 'Nariel' Tomato Relish

• 2.5 kg ripe tomatoes - skinned (oops, I missed that bit!).
Chop the tomatoes, put in a large bowl and sprinkle liberally with salt. Cover, stand overnight.

• 1 kg onions - sliced.
Place in a bowl, sprinkle liberally with salt. Cover, stand overnight.

The next day, drain off the liquid from both tomatoes and onions. Combine them in a large pan, press down, and just cover with best quality vinegar (I used cider vinegar). Bring to the boil.

Add 750g sugar.

Next, make the spice paste!

• 3 Tbspn mustard powder
• 2 Tbspn curry powder
• 1/2 handful of salt (a fairly random measurement!)
• 1 large cup plain flour
• More cider vinegar (~ 1/2 cup)


Gradually mix the dry ingredients with the extra vinegar to make a paste.

Add the spice flour paste to the saucepan, mix well. Simmer together for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to avoid the mixture sticking to the base.

Bottle in hot jars, seal while hot.

I found it took a lot longer than 2 hours to cook to a reasonable thickness. You can thicken it further by mixing in either a mixture of flour and vinegar, or cornstarch and water.

If you're using a gas stove, use a heat diffuser to keep the heat as minimal as possible.

7 comments:

  1. Mouth watering. Great recipe - looks so lovely in the jars. I like her unique name for it...

    Have a delicious weekend, Jejune!

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  2. That sounds yummy. Now you've given me an excuse to plant tomatoes (like just eating them off the bush isn't reason enough)

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  3. I can attest to the fact that this relish rocks. I expected something mouth-searingly hot or maybe uber sour, but it was piquant and delightful! YUM!

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  4. Like (3000). Nothing beats homemade condiments. Adding your Nanna's recipe to my "must do" file.

    I thought we had a family tomato relish recipe as well. Imagine my horror when I disovered it was the stock standard printed for years on the Ezy Sauce bottle! Still good, though. :)

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  5. I don't know what it might have to do with your Nanna's relish, but nariel (or nariyal) means "coconut" in Hindi.

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  6. Thanks Alwen - I had dug up that translation as well ... it doesn't immediately seem to make sense, with regard to chutney (apart from chutney being an Indian condiment), does it? I might ask my mum if she knows anything about the name ...

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  7. Yum! I will have to make this.

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