Slow Cooker Tomato Chutney

Every summer amidst the abundance of fresh ripe tomatoes I dream big dreams. I always want to make new and exciting dishes.....and I always* end up with bruschetta. Why? Because bruschetta with roma tomatoes and basil from your garden is the bomb diggity. Plus it is quick to make and I usually can't stand the temptation of sweet, juicy, tangy, mouth watering tomatoes on the counter long enough to do anything else with them. So this recipe was a success on several levels. I broke my bruschetta habit (go me). It was fantastically tasty. And I now know that I can make chutney in a crock pot!

Mine was a little more watery than the jarred stuff, but I've changed the recipe to adjust for that. Depending on how juicy your tomatoes are you may have the same problem, if it bothers you the chutney can always be thickened in a pan on the stove top. This works great as an appetizer with toasted pita chips, over rice, as a pizza sauce, or on grilled cheese. Pictured served over chickpeas, with pita wedges, and cilantro for garnish.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds of tomatoes (I used six)
Oil to coat pan
2 small onions
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tbs minced ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin
cayenne to taste
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tbs if sugar (more to taste depending on the sweetness of your tomatoes)

Chop off the end bits (or stems, whatever) of your tomatoes and place them cut side down in the crock pot.

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Wash peel and dice the onions and throw them in the pan. Cook for about three minutes.

Add the garlic, ginger, and salt. Cook for two minutes more taking care not to burn the garlic.

Add the rest of the spices and cook two minutes more.

Take the pan off of the heat and stir in the vinegar, sugar, and raisins.

Dump the whole mess into your crock pot over the tomatoes.


Cook on low until the tomatoes start to cook down. They will kind of crack, and wrinkle.
Like this. Beautiful eh? Turn off your crock pot now.

The next step is a matter of taste....or texture rather.

Pull the tomatoes out and let them cool. At this point you can either puree these bad boys, mash them, or some combination of the two. I did half and half.

Add the mutilated tomatoes back to the pot and stir them in.

Enjoy!

*Ok.....I'm lying, not always. But darn near every time.


Update: Taking the lid off for the last hour of cooking will reduce the watery issue! Remember though, if you use a less juicy variety of tomato (roma etc) you may not have to.