Infallible hash browns and a spiced cheats chutney

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So me and Cheese are big time lovers of the potato as a breakfast food and are regularly disappointed by the lack of them on cafe menus around the Newtown area. Naturally this caused me to try time and time again to make my own but with limited success. Until one day at my mums we tried a Deborah Madison recipe which worked a treat. I have altered it to suit my personal taste, i.e. loads more salt than she suggested and more onion. Me and my boyfriend had these the other morning with a cheats chutney I made from some over-ripe tomatoes, not health food by any means but damn good!

Hash Browns

Ingredients
5 large potatoes
1/4 to 1/2 an onion, or a bunch of chives, or a couple of spring onions finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
oil (and butter if you like) for frying

Peel the potatoes cut them in half and bring to the boil in lightly salted water, boil until par-cooked, about 10 minutes or less, and then remove and set aside until cool enough to handle. Grate the potatoes coarsely (a food processor makes short work of this) and place in a large bowl, add the onions or chives and salt and pepper to taste. The mix can now be used but I find it best to make it up early as the time in the fridge helps to solidify it and makes it easier to work with. Heat some oil in a frying pan over medium high heat, you can use just a little but the more you use the crispier the end result will be. When oil is hot use your hands to scoop out balls of the mix, place these into the pan (about 4 at a time) and press to flatten, leave them until golden on the bottom and then carefully flip over when the second side is golden also they are ready to eat, serve them on their own, as breakfast with poached eggs and bacon, with salmon and horseradish sour cream, cheats chutney, or any other combos your heart desires. Yum!

Spiced Cheats Chutney
The reason I call this cheats is because it's not a chutney that you preserve basically because I really cannot be bothered fussing about and sterilising jars! I just use it on basically everything I eat for two days so it doesn't go bad and then it's gone!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 an onion, chopped
5 - 6 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vinegar (I used malt, but white vinegar or wine vinegar would be fine)
1/2 a star anise
1 bay leaf, fresh if possible
1 teaspoon each of cumin and coriander (ground)
a few stalks of fresh coriander, chopped

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add onion and cook gently until translucent. Add all other ingredients, except fresh coriander, and cook until slightly reduced, about 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from heat, fish out the whole spices (anise and bay) add coriander and enjoy!