Sunday 15 February 2015

Mango Chutney

I love mangos. They're quite my favourite fruit. I love fresh mango, mango yoghurt, mango bath bombs and the smell of my mango handcream is just divine. Walking through the market on wednesday my eye was caught by large box of beautifully blushing mangos and for only £2.  Now a bargain's not a bargain if I only eat one mango and leave the rest to go mouldy in the fruit basket. Inspired by the Indian lunch I had just eaten, I decided I'd try a batch of home made mango chutney.

I struggled to find a recipe I liked.  They either called for a specific number of mangos and I wasn't sure if my enormous mangos were the same size as theirs or they called for a score of expensive ingredients that I'd have to go out and buy.  In the end I found a generic chutney recipe here and threw in whatever I had in the larder that I felt would work.

This is my mango chutney recipe. I'm waiting for it to mature before I let the family pass judgement but I'm secretly really pleased with how it turned out.

4lb fruit comprising 3lb chopped mango and 1lb cooking apples
3 onions chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 lemon thinly sliced and halved
7 cardamom pods crushed
black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
Piece of fresh ginger chopped finely about 2 tbsp
4 small dried chilli peppers from last year's crop, crushed.

11/2 pints vinegar, this is what I had in my cupboard -
1/2 pint white distilled malt vinegar
1/4 pint brown malt vinegar
3/4 pint white wine vinegar

2lb sugar
1/2 teaspoon saffron soaked in a tiny amount of hot water and and teaspoon powdered cumin waiting to be stirred in right at the very end.

I put everything on the list up to the sugar in the pan and let it simmer for about 20 minutes until the fruit was soft. Then I added the sugar and bought it up to a gently rolling boil for another hour until it had thickened and I could make a trail with my wooden spoon. I then spooned it into glass jars rescued from the recycling, dishwashed and heated up in the oven.

I foolishly let it catch on the bottom of the pan whilst I had picked up my crochet instead of stirring. It's perhaps a little more golden brown that it should ideally be but I couldn't taste it. In the spirit of St Valentine's day the jars just had to have tiny crochet entwined hearts for a label.

There is something very satisfying about having a row of homemade preserves on the shelf waiting for the family or friends to come visit for a curry night.

Sylvia
x

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