Tomato Relish

On the weekend a month or so ago, we did our annual family tomato relish cook up.

I'm struggling to remember where our tomato relish recipe came from now.  It certainly has a childhood memory about the flavour, but it isn't my mum's recipe, or even my nana's.  Perhaps it came from my other gran but no-one is sure.  All I know it that it is delicious and we have been making it for years and years.

It is pretty simple - a few herbs and spices and the usual suspects like onion and garlic, but gosh once you start making it, it is rather probable you will keep making it.   It also turns out that little fingers are very very good at peeling garlic - who would have known.

The little cherry tomatoes came from our garden and the rest were sourced for an absolute bargain at our local fruit shop and did the job nicely.

So now we are stocked up with jars and jars of tomato relish.  There was a bit of a story regarding the first batch, but I think I might keep it to myself to preserve my pride :)

Here is the recipe if you fancy making some.  This amount makes our yearly stash, but you can easily half the recipe if you just want to make a few jars for yourself and a few to give away.

Tomato Relish

3 kg skinned and chopped tomatoes
1.5 kg finely chopped onions
2 T salt
Vinegar to cover
1 kg sugar
2 t mustard powder
2 T curry powder
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1T cornflour to thicken

In a large bowl, sprinkle salt over the tomatoes and onions and stand for a few hours then drain off and discard liquid.  Tip tomato mix into large saucepan with enough vinegar to cover and bring to a boil.  Turn off heat and stir in the spices.  Boil until mixture starts to thicken, about an hour.

Mix the cornflour with a little water to make a smooth paste then add a little of the hot liquid from your saucepan until it reaches the consistency of thin cream.  Add to saucepan and stir for five minutes or so until thickened.

Bottle in sterilised jars.  Fills 8-10 medium jars.

xx