Chutney

Recipe: The bread stealer?

Makes   approx 600g

Preparation time   30 minutes

Cooking time   less than 1 hour

Ingredients   500g tomato/ 250g onion/ 100g apple/ 30g raisin/ 1 red chilli pepper/ 2 garlic cloves/ 2cm ginger/ 40ml apple vinegar/ ½ tsp salt/ 120g brown sugar/ 1 tbsp olive oil/ 1 tbsp mixed curry powder(Ottogi) or dried spices as below

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Dried spices: ½ tsp cumin seeds/  ½ tsp paprika/  ½ tsp turmeric powder/ 3 cardamom pods

If you gently crush cumin seeds and cardamom it has a better flavour. When finished cooking remove the cardamom seeds

Measuring terminology: tbsp=tablespoon (15ml)/ tsp=teaspoon (5ml)

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1    Chop the tomato, onion, apple and ginger then slice the garlic and red chilli pepper. (you can do this as much as you like. If you have a food processor then tip everything in and chop it finely, but enough to give it some texture.)

2    Tip all the ingredients into a large heavy-based pan and then bring it to the boil over medium heat, stirring frequently, then reduce the heat to simmer for about 1 hour until thick.

3    Transfer the chutney into 2 sterilised jars while still hot. Seal the jars and leave to cool, then add labels. The chutney will be best eaten when the flavours have melded and mellowed so it is better to wait a few days but it is not necessary.

(For sterilising instructions, please refer to my previous raspberry jam recipe)

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Chutney used in melted cheese bagel, plain snacks and savory cream tea

I changed this recipe a little to suit my taste. When you make this recipe it is easy to change the quantity of ingredients or use different fruit or vegetables. If you don’t like spicy food it’s OK to skip the red chilli pepper, and If you like a spicy taste add a  good grind of black pepper.

When I made chutney this time, fresh red chilli pepper was out of stock in my pantry so I used half a spoon of chilli flakes instead. Chilli flakes are sold in the UK and are coarse red chilli pepper powder including chilli seeds. If you don’t have Ottogi curry powder you can use any curry mix block from the supermarket. A square piece about 1.5 cm is enough.

Chilli flakes/ Curry mix block/ My ultimate spice box

However instead of mixed curry powder (Ottogi) if you use the dried spices, you will experience a b~i~g difference in flavour. How can I explain this? It has a gorgeous, unique and exotic flavour. If you keep a collection of spices in your kitchen it is very useful to your cooking. I’m not good at cooking but I buy and keep some spices because I feel that adding just a little bit of spice to a simple 3-minute curry turns it into something much grander. (Maybe you can buy some dried spices from an international supermarket?)

I usually plant tomatoes every year so when picking season comes I make a lot of chutney, like a factory, because I cannot stop the fruit and vegetables growing. If you sterilise the jar well, there will be no problem to store the chutney for a few months and into the winter, even if you do not add a lot of sugar.

Cheese with chutney on a cracker is delicious and very good for adding depth to plain crispy snacks. If you have only chutney, it doesn't matter, you don’t need much else to make a delicious meal. Of course if you like alcoholic drinks I don’t need to say any more. Place cheese with chutney on a Cham cracker from the cupboard and it is game over. Wine or coffee, both pair well with chutney. If you have a bagel in your freezer saved as emergency food, I recommend melted cheese with chutney on a bagel. If you have some basil or fresh tomato slices, add them as well - it's very good. (I bought one pot of basil from the supermarket and found 10 individual plants when I repotted it. Thanks to that basil pot I don’t need to be worried about buying anymore basil.)

I like a savoury cream tea as I wrote in my last article 'Tea time'. It is not necessary to prepare savoury cheese scones, you can go for ordinary scones, cheese, chutney and a cup of black tea.

When I prepare the ingredients, I use a knife because I don’t have a food processor. I cut the tomatoes into quarters and put them into the pan because the tomatoes break down easily when boiled, anyway. After cooking, I remove the tomato skins and they are eaten separately because not everybody likes tomato skins. Then I  put the chutney into jars.

Be careful! Do not leave your pan unattended while making chutney, even if the cooking time is long - it is the same as cooking jam. If you leave your pan unattended, you may meet with the saddest dishwashing experience in the world. I can’t count the number of times I have burnt my saucepan whilst making chutney. If you don’t want to encounter dishwashing hell, please stay patient and watch the pot.

Reference for the chopping size, at the start of cooking

A note about my saucepan. I didn’t buy any newlywed homeware when I got married. I was not interested in kitchen items and I was moving to the UK anyway. My sister gave me a few cups and this saucepan because she was getting rid of them (she didn’t want to use them anymore and was keen for them to go), so when I moved, that’s about all I brought with me. The saucepan is very good even though I have burnt and washed it hard. I don’t need to care for it and use it without worry because it is not a nonstick pan. I haven't bought any new pans since, so I still regularly use this one when I cook ramyun, jam and chutney. I have become quite attached to this saucepan.

When I was cooking with my mother-in-law at Christmas she said to me, ‘You need a new saucepan, don't you?’ but I thought to myself that I don’t have any problems with this saucepan. However, my mother-in-law seems to be taking pity on me and has given me various kitchenware items for my birthday. Since our conversation, my mother-in-law has been growing my kitchen inventory, this was not part of the plan! ^^

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Western-style chutney is known to have originated in British India. The British travelled to many different countries and saw versions of chutney which they tried to recreate, from places like Southern Asia, the Caribbean and parts of Africa too.

There are many different names, ways to eat it and recipes that I can’t count for chutney. In the countries where chutney has its origins, the common ingredients are always salt, spices, herbs, vegetables and fruits. The stand-out character of British chutney is the addition of vinegar and sugar to the recipe in place of salt. I usually use apple cider vinegar here in the UK. Chutney must have been a very valuable way to keep and use nutritious ingredients through the winter back when greenhouses and fridges weren’t common.

I recommend chutney to vegetarians and vegans. There are many ways you can use chutney, for instance sandwiches, canapes, pasta and in a savoury cream tea.

Even if you make the chutney with unripe green tomatoes it is not a problem.

Green tomato Chutney recie refer to:  https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/recipe/green-tomato-chutney

Green Tomato Chutney Recipe | Waitrose & Partners

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