TOMATO CHILI JAM

Tomato Chili Jam

If ketchup put on $300 Japanese cult-brand jeans, this is what it would taste like: global, hip, sexy. This formula — infinitely adaptable, good with cheese, with fish, with spring rolls, as a chutney, as a sambal — began with the New Zealand chef Peter Gordon and was adapted by Darina Allen, the Irish cooking teacher. It appears in her book “Forgotten Skills of Cooking,” the first book anyone interested in craft cooking should read.

INGREDIENTS

• 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, diced (look for best quality)
• 3 to 6 fresh red chili peppers
• 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
• Fresh ginger, a 3-inch piece, peeled and chopped
• ¼ cup fish sauce
• ½ cup vinegar (like rice, wine or cider)
• 1 cup sugar

PREPARATION

1. Open the can of tomatoes and drain the liquid into a food processor or blender. Reserve the tomatoes.
2. Slice 3 to 6 fresh red chili peppers (depending on their heat) and add to the blender or processor with garlic, ginger and fish sauce. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour into a pan, add the diced tomatoes and vinegar and sugar. Simmer until thick and syrupy, about an hour. Natural pectin in the tomatoes gives the sauce its jammy consistency.
4. When cool, transfer to containers or jars, and keep refrigerated.