15 August 2010

Chutney

What is the difference between Chutney and Relish?
According to the Cambridge Online Dictionary Chutney is a mixture containing fruit, spices, sugar and vinegar, eaten cold with especially meat or cheese. Relish is a type of sauce which is eaten with food to add flavour to it, e.g. tomato and onion relish.
Well looking at the definitions, chutney is definite a kind of relish.

Where does Chutney come from?
Chutney originates from India but traditionally it was sour, and as it has reached other cultures around the world, chutneys became sweeter. The term itself is an anglicized form of the Hindi word chatni.

This recipe is a close match to South Africa's Mrs H.S. Ball's Chutney.



Sun Dried Apricot

Ingredients:
238 g Sun Dried Apricot (you can use 850 g Sun Dried Peaches instead)
612 g Sun Dried Peaches
3 - 4 litres Brown Wine Vinegar
Need 1 to 2 litres for soaking and about 1.5 to 2 litres for mixing.
Use a bit of your own judgement here. You don’t want the end-product too runny or too thick.
Sun Dried PeachesIf you want thicker chutney, you will use less vinegar. And for more "runny" chutney you will use more vinegar.
500 g Minced Onions
75 g Cayenne Pepper
120 g Salt
2.5 kg White Sugar
75 g Chopped Chillies (Optional)





Method:
Soak the fruit in the vinegar for 12 to 24 hours.
Cook these fruit in the same vinegar until soft.
Drain.
Mill the fruit.
Add the sugar and onions and cook in a pot with the vinegar.
Add the cayenne pepper, salt.
Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon to prevent it from burning at the bottom of the pot.
Sterilise your bottles and spoon in the mixture.
To have hot chutney you just add the 75 g of chopped chillies.

Wallah, a good companion for many dishes. Enjoy!

No comments:

Post a Comment