Apple chutney x2

I have almost given up blogging, it's been so long since I posted anything. Yesterday, I almost gave up cooking, having experienced several culinary disasters:

1. Over-set chutney. Yes, let me just say that again: over-set chutney. How on earth did that happen? I have never, ever over-set chutney before in my life. And, according to Google, neither has anyone who has ever published anything on the web. But the apple, chilli and ginger batch I made on 1st October has over-set, bearing an striking reseblance to jam.

2. Over-set crab apple jelly. Crab apple jelly seems like more faff than its worth. Cleaning, boiling, straining then cooking. Never again. Jams are not for me. I am sticking to chutney from now on (which I will NOT over-set again).


3. Mutton curry without the mutton. I left the mutton in the fridge instead of the freezer for too long and had to throw it out (it went to the foxes, not the bin). But by this time I'd made the curry sauce, so I ended up with a sauce-only curry sauce

On a more positive note, here's a chutney recipe that does appear to have worked. The apples for this one were courtesy of Tanya's friend Diana. 

Apple chutney #2 ingredients

• 2kg peeled and cored apples, cut into smallish chunks
• 5 medium onions, roughly chopped
• 1 litre cider vinegar
• 500g sultanas
• 1kg soft brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 1 chilli, chopped finely
• 1 double thumb-sized piece root ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1 tablespoon allspice berries
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Juice 1/2 lemon

How to make apple chutney

1. Put everything in a preserving pan, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. 
2. Continue to cook until thick, but not too thick.
3. Turn off the heat and leave to cool down a little.
4. Pot into warm sterilized jars.
5. Label before you forget what it is.

Apple chutney #3 ingredients

• 2.5Kg apples
• 7 onions (just under 1kg)
• 800g raisins
• Approx 1.25 litres malt vinegar
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon hot paprika
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds 

Make the chutney as for Apple chutney #2 

Lime pickle

Limes, marinading

Lime pickle ingredients

 

I'm getting a little bored with chutney and so am branching out into pickles. To be honest, I'm not sure what constitutes a chutney versus a pickle and would probably call this lime pickle a relish, since it doesn't contain any sugar. It is a very tangy version of the stuff you get in jars to have with poppadoms, but equally as oily. It was delicious served as a dip for cocktail sausages. 

• 12 limes
• 2 medium-hot green chillies
• 1 heaped tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
• salt
• 500 ml white wine vinegar
• 250 ml sunflower oil
• 3 lemongrass stalks
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes + seeds

 How to make lime pickle

1. Slice the limes thickly into a large bowl.
2. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons coarse salt.
3. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave overnight.
4. The next day rinse the limes under cold water and drain. 
5. Chop the chili, garlic, ginger and lemongrass finely.
6. Heat the oil in a in a large heavy-based saucepan.
7. Add the chopped vegetables and the chili powder and mustard seeds.
8. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring. 
9. Add the limes and the vinegar and bring to the boil.
10. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, uncovered.
11. Spoon the hot pickle into hot sterilized jars and seal.
12. Leave for at least 1 week before using.
13. Store in the fridge once opened. 

 

Plum chutney

Polish fruit picker (Stasio)

Yesterday Barnaby and Stasio helped Ollie harvest the cherry plums from our tree and so today is chutney making day. This year we have a bumper crop, so I'm quadrupling the recipe. I'm also mixing and matching several recipes as I want to include plums, cooking apples, Spanish onions and raisins. This means that, according to one recipe, I have accidentally added double the amount of sugar I need, although, according to another recipe, I should be OK. I am also slightly dubious about the amount of vinegar I am supposed to use, so have reduced this. I may end up with burnt, sour toffee. Ollie asked what I'd do if it turned out wrong. My response was that Kerry will eat it anyway.

Hubble bubble

Plum chutney ingredients

• 4kg plums, de-stoned
• 1.4 kg cooking apples
• 1.1kg Spanish onions
• 1.4kg raisins
• 1.4kg soft brown sugar
• 1.25 litres cider vinegar

Chutney spice mix ingredients

2 cinnamon sticks
6 dried red chillies

6 teaspoons allspice berries

2 teaspoons cloves

6 teaspoons coriander seeds

4 teaspoons black peppercorns

How to make plum chutney

1. As you de-stone the plums, chop them roughly.
   This is an extremely tedious job that takes forever. I have tried leaving the stones in and removing after the chutney is cooked, but, on balance, I think de-stoning before cooking is quicker. At least you can do this while you sit in front of the TV.
2. Put the stoned plums in a very large preserving pan. 
3. Peel, core and chop the apples and add to the pan. Don't worry if they go brown before they get in the pan as everything will turn to a brown mush as it cooks anyway.
4. Peel and roughly chop the onions and add to the pan.
5. Add the dried chilies and cinnamon sticks to the pan.
6. Place the rest of the spices in a piece of muslin and tie together. Add this to the pan.
7. Bring everything to the boil, stirring occasionally to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
8. Reduce to a gentle simmer, and cook till thick, stirring regularly to prevent burning. 
9. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN STIRRING! The chutney will be very hot and have a tendency to bubble. It’s actually a bit like stirring a cauldron. I usually reduce the temperature right down before giving it a stir to avoid getting splashed with the boiling goo.
10. Once the chutney is thick, leave it to cool and pot into sterilized jars while still warm, remembering to fish out the cinnamon sticks and dried chilies.
    Sterilizing jars is easy - if you have a dishwasher then just put them through a cycle and leave in the dishwasher till dry. If you don't, like me, just wash in very hot soapy water, rinse in hot water and then place upside down in a cold oven. Switch it on and heat to 100 degrees, then switch off. Leave the jars in the oven till you are ready to use them. Wash lids in hot soapy water, rinse, and leave on a rack to dry.

Toil and trouble

The chutney should take about 3 or 4 hours to reach the right consistency. However, I started cooking mine at about 1pm today and it is still not ready at 6.30pm. In fact, I don't think it has reduced at all in the last hour. Maybe it was a mistake to add that extra 250ml vinegar halfway through. I think I need to increase the temperature or I will be up all night. 



I still have 2 large bowls of stoned fruit to use up and another bowl yet to be stoned. I think the jam I intend to make will have to wait for tomorrow night. I found a recipe which involves sprinkling the sugar over the plums and leaving overnight. I have no idea what this is supposed to do but think I will give it a go.

Potting chutney is a sticky business that takes longer than you think. Invariably some dribbles down the site of the jars which need wiping clean before labelling and storing. Leave the chutney for at least a month, longer if possible, before eating. I actually don't give out unmature chutney anymore as some people don't wait till its ready before they eat it (you know who you are).

Rhubarb chutney

I went up North for the first half of the Jubilee weekend to see my family, and came back with a big bag of rhubarb someone from my mum’s school gives her every week. She already has a freezer full of the stuff and is getting pretty sick of it so asked if I had any ideas of what to use it for. I took some off her hands to make into chutney.

Rhubarb

Having trawled recipe sites for about an hour I’ve decided to come up with my own version of rhubarb chutney.

I’ve never made rhubarb chutney before but imagine it will be just to my taste, since I love the tartness of this fruit in a crumble. Some pieces look beautiful – like sweeties – but stripping off the vivid pinky-red string leaves most of them looking pale green and uninteresting. An hour or so in the chutney pan does even more damage – the result is a brown mush that looks completely unappetising. Despite this I have great hopes for this chutney, but will have to wait at least a month to find out if I’m right.

Rhubarb chutney

Rhubarb chutney ingredients

• 1.15kg rhubarb
• 500g raisins
• 3 medium onions
• 500ml cider vinegar
• 450g soft brown sugar (I ran out and used about 75g demerara sugar with the rest soft brown
• This much ginger (butter for comparison)

Ginger, about the length of a packet of butter

OK, if you insist, it was about 25g

• 5 cloves
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns

How to make rhubarb chutney

  

1. Chop the rhubarb into short pieces 

 

2. Roughly chop the onions

3. Put everything in a very large pan - preferably a preserving pan
4. Bring to the boil then simmer for about 3 hours, till the chutney is thick
5. Turn off the heat and allow the chutney to cool slightly
5. Pot into sterilized jars while still warm