Chutney

One day last month in Cape Town, our new friends Ree and Francois, took us to eat at a restaurant for lunch. They did not have ketchup there. They had chutney..Mrs. Balls to be exact. I tried it and I loved it. As far as I know, you cannot buy it here around here in Florida. My standard answer to that is I will make it myself. After researching many recipes I finally found one that had converted the original recipe from grams to cups.Thank you so much...I could kiss you...smooch, smooch. This is the recipe I started with and added to as I went along.

2.7 C dried peaches 

1 C dried apricots

.8 gallons of malt vinegar

11 C of white sugar

2 1/5 C of minced onions 

2 tsp of salt 

1/4 t of cayenne pepper 

1/4 tsp each of tumeric,chili powder, fresh ginger, cayenne pepper and nutmeg.

·        

       Soak your dried fruit in 3-4 cups of vinegar overnight. 

·        The next day,  cook the fruit and vinegar (same from the soak before) together until soft.  

·      

            Drain the fruit (reserving the vinegar) and put the fruit through a mill or food processor.  Process it to the consistency you'd like the fruit to be in the final product. I wanted it to be chunky, so that's what I chopped it to!    

·       Cook your onions until almost clear, and add them (and the sugar) to your vinegar.  Also, add in your fruit at this stage. 

·         You may need to add more vinegar.  I added another bottle of malt vinegar. I was trying to make it like what I remembered Mrs. Balls to be. 

·        Add your spices and cook for an additional one to two hours.  Make sure you stir it occasionally to avoid burning.

·        When you have the color and consistency ready to be bottled (bring the chutney back up to a boil.

·        Place the chutney in your hot, clean jars, leaving 1/2" of head space.

·        Process the jars for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath to help seal the self-sealing vacuum lids.  I made about 3 quart size mason jars. Cool  jars on a clean towel for a couple of days and then refrigerate.

I had a little left over that I did not can. I put it in a small jar and used it later. We made hamburgers and oh my goodness was the chutney sublime on them. I also made homemade fries that were baked in the oven. I served that with my famous chipotle mayo. My friend Claudia gave me earlier in the day some redneck caviar. Never had that before. I will be posting that also soon.