This should be the first thing anyone learns to cook because, with it, you can magically transform any meal into something fit for a royal palate. I make this when the farmers market is bursting with red treasures. But supermarket tomatoes are fine, too -- especially if your aim is just to make a very spicy condiment to pep up other foods.
Core and dice 3 pounds of tomatoes. Then assemble these ingredients for the cooking:
2 teaspoons each cumin seeds and black mustard seeds
9 dried red chilies (or as few as 3)
2 dozen curry leaves
2 tablespoons of sunflower or safflower oil
1 small can of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of sambhar spice powder
2 teaspoons of salt (or to taste)
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds with the red chilies, and cook until the mustard seeds start to burst and pop. Carefully drop in the curry leaves with the lid or splatter screen to cover. Once everything settles down, add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, sambhar spice powder, and salt. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes, turning down the heat if necessary. Stir and smash tomato pieces with the back of the spoon against the sides of the pan occasionally. It should reduce to a pleasantly thick consistency. I like to label jars “lava chutney” because I make mine so spicy. “Gore of vanquished demons” would be a fine name for it, too, if you’re making it around Halloween. Or “heart/soul/pulse” if for Valentine’s Day, and simply “fire” for a summer barbeque. No label can perfectly capture how this chutney takes you across the threshold of tomato-ness into a paradise tended by celestial cultivation.