Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Tomato Chutney
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Scald the tomatoes in boiling water, then remove the skin and seeds.
Set aside the pulp and squeeze the debris through a coarse cloth.
Make the chutney
Boil the pulp in the juice until thick.
Add salt, sugar, garlic, chillies, and ginger.
Continue boiling until stiff, stirring with a wooden spoon.
Melt ghee or butter in another pan.
Fry the sliced onion until well fried.
Add the thick mixture to the fried onion.
Simmer, stirring occasionally, until grease rises to the surface.
Bottle
Cool and fill into chutney bottles or jars.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,076 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,402 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the bulk of the chutney and its juice, which is reduced to a thick pulp.
- Ghee or butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and helping the chutney turn glossy as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the sharp tomato and chillies.
- Onion
- Fried in fat until browned, adding savoury depth and body to the chutney.
- Chillies
- Provide heat and pungency that sharpen the chutney's flavour.
The step that matters
Boil the pulp until stiff. Tomato pulp holds a lot of water, and it must reduce until thick so the chutney sets rather than runs. Stirring with a wooden spoon prevents sticking and scorching on the base of the pan as the sugars concentrate.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, garlic, clove, ginger, ghee, onion):
- Broccolifits better
- Carrotfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, garlic, clove, ginger, ghee, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More tomato chutney recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Tomato Bisque61 recipes
Cream Tomato Soup28 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.