Tuesday, 28 May 2013

My subtly spiced and sumptuous rhubarb chutney

I absolutely love pickles and chutneys yet - apart from my wonderful tomato-chili jam - I've never made any myself. But last week I visited my friend Sue (the most prolific and sucessful veg (and plant) grower I know - Masterchef's "veg guru" Gregg Wallace would surely "dive right in" and stuff big ham-sized handfuls of her PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI - which I've NEVER seen in Belgium before - into his greedy gob...) and I left with (amongst other lovely vegs and plants) a big bag of rhubarb. So after looking through loads of chutney recipes I finally devised my very first own batch - which I'm extremely pleased with (AND it can be eaten straightaway):

Surely this hipster rhubarb should be on Instagram?

1kg rhubarb, trimmed and chopped (in the food processor)
350g (4 medium) onions, chopped (in the food processor) - red ones are nice for colour
3 cloves of garlic
400g light brown sugar
500ml cider (or white/red wine, or apple) vinegar
150g raisins
1 tbsp each of (ground or whole) cardamon, coriander, black pepper, cloves, cinammon, mustard, ginger and tumeric
zest of 1 orange

Put all ingredients into a large heavy-bottomed pan. Stir well and bring to the boil. Turn the heat right down to a mere simmer and let cook for 2 hours, checking and stirring frequently. Divide the hot chutney among sterilised jars, seal and set aside to cool. 

Notes:
You do need to check - and stir - the mixture frequently as it can easily catch on the bottom of the pan.
You can of course use other dried fruit instead of the raisins - I topped up the amount with a few dates.
There is no need to sterilise your jars - just put them (on their own) through the highest temperature wash of your dishwasher and let them dry completely.
You will get approx. 3 x 500ml jars of chutney.
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5 comments:

  1. sue merli28 May 2013 at 10:13

    sounds deish! As the rhubarb grower, I shall be making quite a few jars of this! Can I simmer in the oven to avoid my fierce hob? Also could I freeze?

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  2. Gigi28 May 2013 at 11:50

    Brilliant idea - I usually do everything in the oven (on a low 150/160° for another 30 mns/1 hour or so) that requires simmering on the hob ie stews/casseroles - and that will get around the "sticking at the bottom" - Eureka! And yes you can freeze the chopped fresh rhubarb but not the cooked mixture...

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  3. Stephen Honey31 May 2013 at 01:36

    Sounds great - I am going to give this a try. We have a couple of large rhubarb plants at the bottom of the garden and still plenty left over after making the usual pie, crumble etc.

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    Replies
    1. Gigi1 June 2013 at 04:38

      Great - let me know how it "went down"! But I urge you to also give my tomato-chili jam a go - even (almost) better I think! And Sue (above) told me she used it as a coating for duck breasts done in the oven which is another brilliant way to use it!

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  4. Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry9 May 2014 at 13:14

    Thanks for pooping my my blog earlier. I was actually thinking about adding whole coriander seeds to my chutney. and now that I have seen your I might just about do that.

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