Peter is an inveterate collector of newspaper clippings - in fact he is an inveterate collector of almost anything of interest - and he arrived last visit with a page from the W(h)anganui C(h)ronicle from last December, featuring "home-made" recipes suitable for gifts; and in amongst the coconut ice and the apricot and orange balls and such was a recipe called "Indian Chutney", which, if you know anything at all about Indian food, gives absolutely no clue at all as to what you are going to get.
I was curious to give it a whirl, though, as nearly all the chutney recipes I have seen come much closer to either ketchup or salsa than they do to the wonderful flavours you get from the expensive jars in Indian groceries. Where I have found recipes they seem to this kiwi male to require skill and expertise I simply haven't got.
My first response to this one as I cleaned the pot from the first batch was "What a bloody waste of time!". The dominant taste was that nasty bitterness that citrus pith contributes when not tightly managed. I put three jars in the cupboard and the fourth, not quite full, in the fridge, and it sat there for several weeks.
Eventually my grandmother's living voice in my ear saying "Waste not, want not, dear!" led my grudging hand to the jar in the fridge to accompany the remainder of a cold roast.
Transformation! The citrus taste of the lemon skin, and the acid in the vinegar and lemon juice, and the salt and the garlic and ginger had all had time to work some kind of magic and the flavour was alive and wonderful and exactly what went with cold roast meat. Not sure how "Indian" it is, mind.
Well, you wouldn't drink home brew the same day you bottled it, would you?
Since then, it has become a side dish for bread and cheese, for baba ghanoush, and hummus and counting. I am about to make the next batch. (I think, if I recollect correctly, that the original Worcestershire Sauce commercial batch was considered a failure and dumped in a storehouse where it sat for a few years until somebody by chance thought to sample it again. The special secret recipe they'd obtained originally said nothing about maturing the product.)
Today, it's all about "past use-by date". As I get closer to three score years and ten there seems to be more and more wisdom in the concept of maturation, and the virtues accruing therefrom. Which reminds me.... I still have a bottle of Hardy's Ale in the cupboard, the last of several given me for my 60th birthday. Hmmm.
Anyway, here's the recipe. Have a play.
You will need:
500g lemon approx, sliced finely as for marmalade
4 cups water
Several (to taste) hot chillies (I used about three smallish manzanos, seeds included, chopped finely
1.5 cups of sugar
1 generous tablespoon grated root ginger
1 tablespoon grated garlic or garlic paste or chopped garlic
1/2 cup sultanas
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons mustard seeds, black or yellow. I prefer black, as they seem to have a little more visual presence.
3/4 cup white vinegar
Method
Soak the sliced lemon overnight in the water in a ceramic or glass or plastic container.
Next day, place in a generous saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes until the lemon skin is tender.
Add everything else and boil, stirring fairly constantly to avoid sticking, for 40-50 minutes until it begins to thicken appreciably.
Pour into hot, sterilised jars and seal. I place the clean and dry jars into a microwave for 5-8 minutes depending on how many jars, and boil the lids for 5 minutes in a pot on the stove. Make sure the lids still have their plastic linings intact and have no bare metal parts exposed to the chutney.
Leave for several weeks.
