Richly Spiced Plum Chutney

I opted for a chutney with the second half of my donated plums, having made a Spiced Plum Jam the BBC Good Food’s recipe took my fancy.  And for once, I pretty much followed it to the letter apart from not having any mustard seeds.

Richly spiced plum chutney
Ingredients
1kg plums, halved, stoned and finely chopped
3 onions, finely chopped 100g dried cranberries or raisins, roughly chopped with an oiled knife
1 tbsp finely grated ginger
1 tbsp black mustard seed
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp chilli flakes
400ml red wine vinegar
500g light muscovado sugar

Method
1. Put all the ingredients, except the sugar, into a large pan and stir well. Bring slowly to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 mins, until the plums are tender.

2. Stir in the sugar plus 2 tsp salt and keep stirring until it has dissolved. Boil the chutney for 20-30 mins, uncovered, stirring occasionally to prevent it catching on the bottom, until it is thick and pulpy.

3. Pot into sterilised jars (see Know-how, below), seal, label and store for at least 2 weeks before eating. Will keep for up to 6 months in a cool dark place.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry
Instagram: sunhillmakesbakes

Tomato Chutney

A chance discovery of some 600g punnets of tomatoes reduced to 50p a punnet in my local Co-op and I am now the proud owner of some tomato chutney for the first time ever.

My base recipe came from the BBC Good Food website.  It says use ripe tomatoes but I don’t see why you couldn’t use green ones if you have loads.

1kg ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

750g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped

375g light muscovado sugar (I just used white granulated)

250g onions, chopped

250g raisins

1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped (I didn’t use any as I don’t like it in chutney)

2 tsp salt

½ tsp ground ginger

350ml cider vinegar (I used pickling vinegar)

Place all the ingredients into a large heavy based saucepan.  Bring to the boil and boil gently for 45-50 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the chutney has thickened.  Seal into sterilised jars.  This doesn’t say how long to leave it to mature before using but most chutneys are 2-3 months to let the harshness of the vinegar mellow.

I dutifully followed the recipe and peeled and chopped the tomatoes and apples.  Next time, however, I think I’ll just core the apple and place the tomatoes, apples, and onions in the food processor.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry
Instagram: sunhillmakesbakes

Finished off the last of last year’s Damson Brandy last night to clear out the kilner jar to start this year’s Blackberry Brandy.

The process, roughly based on the recipe for Sloe Gin in my mum’s Food for Free book by Richard Mabey, is 1 cheap 75cl bottle of brandy, 500g of berries, 250g of sugar.  Leave to stew for a month or so then get sampling.

Last year’s brandy soaked damsons will be pitted, pureed, and frozen in ice cube trays to be added to vanilla ice cream as the mood takes me.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Spiced Plum Jam

Joining a Facebook conversation about the amount of fruit falling unused on the pavements around our town, I ended up with 5lbs of free plums on my doorstep last week. I made Spiced Plum Chutney with half, and was so taken with the flavour I decided to make a sweet spiced jam with the other half.
tesco.com has a very simple recipe and the jam has a lovely autumny/wintery spice taste to it.

900g stoned and chopped plums
900g granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp butter (to clarify)

Place a saucer in the freezer.

Put the stoned and chopped plums in a wide stainless steel pan or preserving pan with 150ml water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the fruit is soft.  As I had frozen my plums, they were soft enough to skip this step.

Wash and sterilise your jars and lids as soon as the jam goes on.  I reuse the ‘pop up’ style lids as these help seal the jam and allow you to keep it in a dark place for 1+ years. Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse well and drain.  Place the jars in a cold oven, let it heat up to 140C and then leave for 10 minutes at this heat or until your ready to pot up.  Place the lids in a pan with boiling water and boil for 10 minutes to sterilise.

Add the sugar and stir over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved.  Stir in the cinnamon and ginger and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil rapidly for 10 minutes without stirring.  With a spoon, pour a little onto the chilled saucer.  After a few seconds push the jam with your finger.  If it wrinkles, it is ready.  If not, return to the boil for another 5 minutes and test again, stirring from time to time.  It took about 20 minutes when I made this jam this afternoon, and I did have to stir it to stop it catching on the bottom of the pan especially towards the end of cooking.

When ready remove from the heat.  Stir in the butter which should make any scum ‘vanish’.  Take your jars out of the oven and fill right to the brim.  Seal immediately with your sterilised lids and leave to cool.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry