Mother's Love Tomato Jam - Sweet Tomato Relish

One of the classic Nagercoil accompaniments to biriyani is the tomato jam.  For as long as I can remember, if amma made biriyani, then she also made this rich, red, tomato jam to go with it.  Its sweetness is deliciously satisfying especially if you feel the chillies in the biriyani are a bit too hot for you.

Amma used to make biriyani as her "special" dish whenever we had visitors from overseas.  Looking back, I can see that many of them would have lapped up the tomato jam with gratitude if they felt the biriyani was spicy.  Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I dedicate this luscious tomato jam to my beautiful and loving amma.

Funnily enough, tomato jam seems to have definite Nagercoil roots as I have not seen it being used in Kerala or in the rest of TamilNadu.

Ingredients:

4 small ripe tomatoes
5-6 cloves
1 piece of cinnamon
Sugar to taste
2 cups water

Method:

Wash tomatoes and place in a saucepan with 2 cups water, cloves and cinnamon.

Boil the water - and if you wish to peel off the skin of the tomato do it when the skin of the tomato starts to break and peel off.  I just leave it in the jam.

Keep boiling at low flame till the water reduces and the sauce starts to thicken.  At this stage, using your wooden spatula, break up the tomato and mash it well.  Add sugar to taste.

As the water reduces you will find that the jam starts to thicken and the tomato getting a rich red colour.  Test for sweetness and take off the flame.

The sauce turns red, thick and luscious - serve a generous spoonful with a plate of biriyani as a relish.