Category: chutney

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The Pickling Chronicles

The season for preserving is well underway here on the croft. One day I’m going to get my big girl pants on and try the scary-to-me proper pressure canning/water bath method, but for now I rely on the preserving properties of vinegar and sugar to keep my preserves shelf safe.

I started off a month or so ago with tomato kasundi, an Indian spiced tomato chutney which has become our favourite with a cheeseboard. Sadly only a few jars remain as I gave some away to fellow addicts and we’ve eaten a few already. I need to make more before Christmas to ensure that we don’t run out for Boxing Day.

Next I made green tomato and apple chutney using the unripened tomatoes from the polycrub. I haven’t tried one from this batch yet.

Then I made red pepper relish. I’m haunted by memories of a red pepper relish that I used to make in France many years ago which was absolutely delicious. But I can’t find or remember the recipe. This years attempt is a Delia recipe which looks good, so I have high hopes.

Then I decided I needed more pickle as we still had lots of tomatoes, so I roasted up the remaining cherry tomatoes with garlic and rosemary and made a different tomato chutney using a River cottage recipe.

But simmer it as I may the damned thing just wouldn’t thicken. After three hours I gave up and retired for the evening, coming back to it for a second boiling the next day. Eventually it reduced down sufficiently to put into jars, but by this time it was a very dark, gloopy brown so lord only knows whether it will taste any good when I eventually get brave enough to open a jar..

It may have eaten its way out of the jars on its own by Christmas ..

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Chutnification

Last year a local friend made and gave us a jar of something called tomato kasundi. I’d never heard of it before. It’s a spicy, hot tomato chutney, rich with tumeric, mustard, ginger, nigella seeds, and chillies. I thought it was absolutely delicious and I badgered her for the recipe.

Assembling my weapons

I had been hoping to wait for the house kitchen to be operational before I tried anything like making chutney again. It’s a messy business with lots of mincing, grinding spices and chopping, and the caravan doesn’t really lend itself easily to anything needing cooking space.

But we had tomatoes, onions and chillies to use, and I was keen not to waste them.

Underway

Off I went. An hour into the process and I’d peeled, cored and chopped apples, onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger and was almost ready to start cooking.

The cooking process is simplicity itself – just throw into a pan and simmer for an hour. The caravan very quickly smelled like a vinegar factory and I hurriedly opened as many windows as possible before I choked us both to death.

Sterilising the jars in the tiny oven was fun, but just possible.

Eight jars filled

The chutney’s now ladled into jars, and once fully cooled I’ll label them up and put them away for a few weeks for the flavours to mellow. If they make it through the taste test at that point some may become Christmas presents to local friends who I know are up for a bit of spice in their lives.

The recipe is here for anyone who would like to try making it https://tastecooking.com/recipes/tomato-kasundi/