Zesty Onion and Tomato Relish

If you have been following Vegan Dad on Facebook you know that I grew cayenne peppers in my garden this year. I'm not sure why, exactly . . . for fun, I guess. I have always had bad luck with peppers but this summer's hot weather has yielded a fine crop of bright red and super hot peppers. The problem is what to do with them since I shy away from really hot foods because of the kids (though there was that time I went on a ques to make the hottest jerk sauce on earth . . . .). So cayenne recipe number one is this zesty relish. It is quick and easy to make and you can decide how hot to make it by leaving the seeds in the pepper or adding more than one.

INGREDIENTS
Makes about 2 cups
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 15 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered (if larger)
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cayenne pepper, seeded and minced (or leave seeds in for more zest!)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- fresh ground black pepper

METHOD
1. Heat oil in a saucepan over med to med-hi heat. Add onions and saute for about 5 min, until soft and translucent but not browned. Add brown sugar and stir. Bring to bubbling and cook for 3 mins, stirring regularly.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to bubbling over med-hi to high heat. Cook for about 10 mins, stirring regularly, until most of the liquid had evaporated. If the relish is still too runny you can drain it in a fine mesh sieve.

So what did I do with the relish? Luckily, I had some awesome tomatoes and basil ready to be eaten. I seasoned some tofu slices with salt and pepper and fried them a bit on each side in a bit of oil. Then, on a freshly made kaiser roll, I slathered on some pesto (Isa's recipe from VWAV, but made with toasted sunflower seeds because I was out of walnuts), the tofu, some slices of beefsteak tomato, and a large dose of relish. Dee. lish. us.

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