Spicy Tomato Relish

Tomato relish is one of my favourite condiments. It brings to life so many things. Great on sandwiches, burgers or  eggs n' toast. I love chili so i made a spicy one with some red jalapeno peppers on our tree. But if you don't like heat, just leave it out. Be careful also because different chilies have a relative heat ratio. My advice is to put in a little, try it and then add more.

This makes a whole pot full so bottle it in some sterilised jars and keep it for latter or give it to friends. It just keeps getting better and better with time as the flavours settle too. Mmmmmm... 

I've noted that most, if not all relish brands on the market have a heap of sugar in them. I'm trying to stay away from refined sugar so this uses the natural sugar in apples to sweeten, helped along with a table spoon or two of honey.

I also like to roughly puree my relish to give it an even consistency but if you like the bits omit this step. I would advise however to grate the apples instead of chop.

Have fun!

Love River

Ingredients

• 3 Green Apples
• 3 400g Cans of diced tomato (no added salt or sugar preferably organic)
• 3 Cloves of garlic
• 1 Tbs Mustard seed
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 2 Star anise
• 2 Red chilies
• 2 Bay leaves
• 2 Brown onions
• 2 Tbs Rice bran oil or other cooking oil
• 1/3 Cup Sherry vinegar
• 1 Tbs Cornflour 
• 2 Tbs honey (optional)

Method

1. Slice onions and cook on medium heat with the oil for 10 minutes until transparent 
2. Add sliced chilies, mustard seeds, star anise  and crushed garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes until flavours are aromatic
3. Chore and dice the apples
4. Add all remaining ingredients plus a cup of water and except the cornflour 
5. Season with salt and pepper
6. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook for an hour 
7. Remove the cinnamon, bay leaves and star anise and blend on pulse, so it is still a fairly course consistency 
8. Taste here. You may need to add some more salt, pepper or a little honey to sweeten depending on the original sweetness of your tomatoes 
9. Bring it back into the heat and add the cornflour which you first mix with a little boiling water to liquefy
10. Boil for 5 minutes to thicken
11. Cool and bottle!