What do you do when you’ve grown too many tomatoes in your backyard?

There’s no way a wonderful problem like that would ever be my own doing. I have a black thumb, if that term even exists.

Back in my New York apartment, my roommate Mary had a glorious plant. Lovingly named Bert. [don’t even ask me what plant family it belonged to – I’m thwarted with black thumbs remember?] Placed on the kitchen window sill of our east side apartment, Bert grew to abundance under Mary’s care. And I played no part in it. I’d totter around the kitchen, trying to avoid direct contact with the plant for fear that it would wilt at my gaze, as had the basil and mint plants that I had eagerly bought home in the past from the farmer’s market. The one time Mary left for a week-long vacation, she had trustingly placed Bert in my custody, with the simple instruction to water him every day. Five days later, a happy email from a vacationing Mary:

how’s it going? I’m having a blast. How’s Bert?

huh? Bert? Bert who?….OMG. thaaaat Bert. ack. uh-ooooh…

Needless to say, my desperate attempts to revive Bert over the next two days left him dangerously teetering on the brink of survival until Mary’s return, until she could snatch the poor parched thing out of my hands and nurture it back to life. Thanks to Mary, Bert lived. And so did the mini-cacti that we had bought together when we moved in, which I remembered to water six months later in a random nostalgic moment that seized me as Mary and I were chit chatting on the couch. Turns out, diligent Mary had been watering the baby cacti every couple of days. Those scraped through too, no credit to yours truly.

Oh whatdya know, black thumbs do exist according to the urban dictionary. Definition #1 “A wannabe gardener who kills plants. Opposite of green thumb.” and definition #2 “Similar to green thumb, but further than plants. everything one touches turns to shit.” Yep, those describe me perfectly. Thank goodness someone’s coined a term for sorry souls like myself, who walk around like dementors delivering the kiss of doom to any poor seedling that hopes to sprout up on their window sills.

Turning off my morbid tap, let me introduce you to the person who I hold as highly as I did Mary when it comes to green thumbs. The lady who managed to grow not one, not two, but hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes right in her backyard. In Dubai. [The city where if you really want to flourish out in the open, you’d better be a camel or a cactus.] This desert tomato queen would be Linda, aka boozychef on twitter, and the wonderfully talented foodie blogger who unleashes her recipes along with her university bud, Nic, on a site cleverly called Ballpark It!

Linda had harvested so many tomatoes – frozen 200 already, given away 300, shoved some in olive oil and basil, transformed a batch into pasta sauce – that the big task ahead of her was how to preserve the rest of the gorgeous pulpy fruit that was spilling over into her kitchen.

When I heard her voice urgently call out over facebook for new preservation ideas because her tomato field in this godforsaken desert had been such a roaring success, I (a) nearly fell of my chair. Laying on the ground, I stared at my black thumbs – we would never see the face of such a problem. Ever. and (b) when I’d scrambled back into place, I put my fatal fingers to one of the few constructive things they do well – responding to facebook messages. I excitedly typed away, suggesting that how about Lin come on over with her gorgeous tomatoes and learn to make traditional Hyderabadi Tamatar ki Chutney (spiced tomato chutney) with mom? I mean, which person bursting at the seams with awesome homegrown tomatoes (or as Lin puts it, crack tomatoes) could refuse an offer like that? And that’s how our crack tomato chutney session with mom was planned.

This chutney is not just your ordinary pureed-tomatoes-dunked-in-a-bottle chutney. Ma simmers the tomatoes in oil until they’ve reduced down to a thick pulpy paste, along with a range of spices that are thrown in with such ballpark precision that I could see Lin and ma bonding over the totally irreplicable nature of the dish. With two experienced chefs wielding their magic over those fresh juicy tomatoes, I just stepped back, observed, photographed, and most notably, served as quality controller, popping a couple of those plump babies in my mouth every now and again to ensure that a bad one hadn’t snuck up on us.

And as always happens when I’m surrounded by the aromas of fresh veggies and coriander seeds and cumin and garlic dried red chillis and everything else that ma pulls out of her bottomless spice closet, I enter into a trance-like state, hopping around the pot, chattering, day-dreaming, whiling away time until a taste test is required. And sadly paying zero attention to what’s been thrown into the wok. SO if you need the recipe, do hit up the ballpark mistress on her website and snag the recipe off of her.

At home, we store this chutney in the fridge for over a month, even two months, taking it out every 15 days and reheating it to avoid spoilage. The excess oil helps preserve the chutney for longer, though we drain it off when it’s time to eat. Favorite mealtime ideas are to ladle it over rice South Indian-style, or throw it in a sandwich with cheese for a quick spiced tomato and cheese bite over lunch. Or dip anything dippable (aka finger) into it and just snack on it like a pickle. Or maybe get super creative and drizzle it on puff pastry with a few spicy Thai basil leaves and goat cheese, as inspired by Sandy’s creation on her blog Out and About in Dubai.

Talking about basil…has someone watered my basil plant on the kitchen window? Mom?…

Author: InaFryingPan

With a family legacy of ingenious cooks, a nutritionist and chef-extraordinaire mother, and a father who introduced me to steak and caviar when I could barely reach the table, I had no choice but to acquire a keen awareness of food during my childhood years in Dubai. But it was only after I found myself on a college campus in Philadelphia – far away from home, too cheap as a student to spend on anything other than pizza, and with dorm rooms that had little rat-holes of kitchens if they even had them at all – when I developed a heightened appreciation of food. An appreciation of food that I once ate every night at the dinner table in Dubai, but that was now an entire ocean away. I lusted for the culinary treasures that lay outside the stale walls of my college dining hall, hijacked friends’ kitchens to try my hand at something, anything , remotely edible, and greedily raided different websites in search of highly-rated restaurants. With my move to New York to work for a consulting firm that secretly harbored self-professed foodies, my appreciation transformed into a passion, an addicition. I felt like everyone around me in New York was talking about food: where to get the best cupcakes, pizza slices, banh mi, kati rolls, pho, fried chicken, and every other food item out there that is just a plain old dish in some part of the world, but that’s become hyped to unforeseen proportions in New York. What fuelled my addiction over time was travel to different cities, both for work and play, which gave me unfettered access to the culinary havens of not only New York, but also of DC, Virginia, Chicago, Houston, Vegas, Austin, Seattle and even a little city called Bentonville (Arkansas!). After 9 years away from home, I’ve finally taken the leap to come back to Dubai – with not just an awareness, but genuine appreciation and passionate addiction for what I’d taken for granted as a child. Mom, I’m back to reclaim my seat at your dinner table, and to rediscover this city with its ever-expanding menu of international flavors.

16 thoughts on “What do you do when you’ve grown too many tomatoes in your backyard?

  1. Sally says:

    Arva – I needed to read a post like this from you at the end of this day. It made me smile. Kudos to you, boozychef and your Mum.

    Reply
  2. Sukaina says:

    Woman…..I love love the way you write. You had me in stitches throughout this post. I think you need to organise a FiA event at your place with Mommy Chef so we can see what wonders your Mom can prepare! Chutney looks awesome and those tomato shots….what can I say. I need a macro lens.

    Reply
  3. CompleteFoodie says:

    The pictures really do make the entire thing come alive, great shots!

    As for the tomatooos, they do look lovely esp considering they’re home grown.. Great job Lin!

    Reply
  4. AnajsFood4Thought says:

    Hilarious post, Arva! Very entertaining. I am picking my self up from under the desk now where I fell while laughing…Bert…….Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    1. InaFryingPan says:

      @Sally – That’s so sweet of you Sally, I’m glad it ended your day on a smiling note. I mostly cry at my ineptitude, but if it makes the world smile, then it’s not without reason! :)

      @Sukaina – you know, I love the idea of Mommy Chef doing an event. But she’s so secretive about her recipes. Though she can be bribed…I will work on that.
      and yes, MACRO lens is the way to go! Though to be honest, I think I used my 50mm for some of these shots…don’t remember exactly.

      @CompleteFoodie – Thanks! I know right, how gorgeous are those tomatoes?! Lin should open a full-fledged farm and sell them, she’d make a killing. I know at least 2 people (mommy and I) who would line up to buy them.

      @AnajsFood4Thought – hehehehe…no falling off chairs, that’s only reserved for jokers like myself! always here to entertain ;)

  5. Lin says:

    Love your post. Thanks for the dedication. Will be making it soon enough a small batch though. Thanks so much to u & mummy frying pan for the inspiration. Husband totally loves it, by proxy its a big hit ;) . Next on the menu has to be 2 kgs of Parsley :P & Dill :) . I must say the Chutney is just intoxicating just like the crack tomatoes :)

    To everyone else, thanks for your support. Maybe next year if we get a good yield tomato party :)

    Reply
  6. Rajani@eatwritethink says:

    loved this post arva… that bottle looks amaaazing!! wow i am so jealous of anyone who can grow tomatoes in Dubai… or anything for that matter. superb read…

    Reply
    1. InaFryingPan says:

      @Out and About – Always welcome, good eats deserve a mention!

      @Farida – YAY! That’s HUGE, thank you sista!

      @Lin – I’m so relieved that hubby liked it, it’s met the toughest of standards! You’re one talented woman…we’ll all be eagerly awaiting that tomato party next year ;)

      @Rajani – Thank you! I’m all envy at Lin’s homemade farm too…though if she’s figured out how to do it, I’m starting to wonder why no one’s doing this on a large scale in the city?

  7. Rana says:

    Hello There,

    My name is Rana and i work with Impact Porter Novelli, we are Braun HouseHold PR agency. We have been working with the UAE food bloggers in the past couple of months. I really love your blog,the receipes, the photography! AWESOME!

    I was looking for your email address but didn’t find it around!
    Would love to see if your interested to hear about our plans and events, you might want to be part of that.

    Email me so i can brief you :)

    Regards,
    Rana

    Reply
  8. saleem says:

    What can I say have been eating that tomatoes chutney since I was a kid and it keeps getting better every time – from my mom and now to your mom and may same will be passed to you girls – wonderful write up, keep it going.

    Reply
    1. InaFryingPan says:

      @Rana – Thanks for the note, will get in touch. Though as a friendly disclaimer, I typically never do product reviews, PR, etc. unless it was something I was planning to cover anyway.

      @Kitchen Butterfly – Thank you! Checked out your blog too, and coming from a photographer like yourself, your positive words mean a lot!

      @saleem – aw thank you daddy. Though I was relatively useless in the kitchen and didn’t even grasp the recipe. Well, I hope Farida has learned how to make it because I will be getting my chutney supply from her if ever needed! ;)

      @chefandsteward – me too, LONG LIVE TOMATO SEASON AND THE FOLKS THAT MAKE THE MOST OF IT! (and those that share with black thumbed souls like myself)

  9. zahabiah says:

    pics and text are really well executed, arva…makes me look at tomatoes from a new angle..so appetizing…we make hyderabadi achari tomato chutney every other day at home..will remember ur post each time i make it now…

    Reply

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