Green Chilli and Pear Chutney

This is rather hot so it’s not for the faint hearted. If you want it milder then remove the seeds from the chillies.

 

4 cups of cooked pears
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup minced onion [approx 2 large onions ]
1/2 cup of minced green chilli
6 cloves of garlic [minced ]
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ginger
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 cup of vinegar
1 1/2 cups of sugar
Peel core and chop the pears and cook with the lemon juice until soft. Blend using a barmix to get them smooth.
Peel and chop 2 onions and put in a food processor with 6 – 8 green chillies and the peeled garlic. If you want a milder version remove the seeds.
Add these to the pan with the pears and cook for 10 mins along with the salt, ginger and tomato puree.
Use a barmix to ensure that everything is smooth and well blended.

Add the vinegar and sugar and cook for a further 20 mins.

Pour into steralised jars and seal.

 

Once opened refridgerate.

This is similar to the chilli plum sauce but with more of a bite and a fresher taste from the green chillies.

It’s good as a chutney but is also good to put on chicken or pork before cooking.

 

Tomato Chutney with a hint of chilli.

As there are plenty of fresh tomatoes available I decided to make a tomato chutney. This is quite a light version, it keeps the flavour and the colour but as it’s not too heavy on the sugar or vinegar it won’t keep indefinitely unlike some other versions of tomato chutney.

 

Yields about 12 x 200 g jars.

 

 

1 cup of roasted cherry tomatoes [ see below ]

6 cups skinned chopped tomatoes blended
1 cup unsweetened apple puree
1 cup of chopped sultanas
1 1/2 cups diced red onions
1 cup of standard brown onions, blended with
6 cloves of garlic
1 tbs ginger puree
1 green chilli deseeded

1 Tbsp paprika
3 Tbsp tomato puree
1 Tbsp onion powder [optional]
2 Tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Lemon juice

1 cup skinned chopped tomatoes left in pieces
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes tomatoes

2 cups of white granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups of white or white wine vinegar
For the roasted cherry tomatoes
halve the tomatoes and place in a baking dish with

a drizzle of olive oil
a sprinkle of salt
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp oregano

you want enough tomatoes to make a cup full when cooked so this will probably mean you need 2 cups uncooked. This can be done in advance.
Prepping the tomatoes
Cut a cross into the bottom of each tomato and plunge into boiling water for a minute to loosen the skin. Remove all the skins and roughly chop.

Place in a pan and use a stick blender to puree the tomatoes – place on a low heat and allow the moisture to cook off. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn

Chop the red onions and sultanas and add to the pan while this is cooking.

Cut up the brown onions, peel the garlic and deseed and chop the chilli and put in a processor and blend until finely chopped. Add to the pan.

Add the salt, ginger, paprika, tomato puree, apple puree, lemon juice, onion powder and roasted cherry tomatoes.

Continue to cook down until the mixture is quite thick, you will need to keep an eye on this so it doesn’t burn and as it thickens you will need to keep stirring.

Add the halved cherry tomatoes and cook for a further 5 mins.

Place clean jars and lids in the oven on a moderate heat to steralise. It’s a good idea to have these in two separate roasting pans – keeping the jars in the pan makes clearing up any spills a lot easier and having the lids separate means you can pick them out easier.

Add the sugar and vinegar and increase the heat to a good simmer – add the chopped tomatoes at this point and cook for about 20 -25 mins keeping stirring and adjusting the heat so it doesn’t burn.

Pour into the jars, wipe the rims and seal and allow to cool.

Note – if you think the chutney is too sloppy you can drain off some of the liquid by taking some of the mix out and running through a fine sieve – this tomato liquid can be used to make a tomato chilli sauce.

Once opened this is best kept in the fridge.

Yields about 10 / 12 x 200g jars – although I used whatever jars I had on hand.

Chilli Plum Sauce

With autumn starting and the offer of free fruit it seemed the perfect time to start with making preserves.
1 kg fresh plums, pitted and halved.
This may produce more than you need – any extra can be frozen or you can increase the quantities of everything else proportionately to make a larger batch. I used victoria plums from a friend’s tree.

4 or 5 small jars, washed and dried. I reused the sort of jars you get mustard and mint sauce etc in and got 4 jars yield but this can vary a bit depending on how long you cook things for.

4 cups cooked plums
1 small onion
4 peeled garlic cloves
2 green chillis
1 cup white sugar
1 cup vinegar

2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Cut the plums in half and remove the stones. Place in a pan with a little water – no more than 1/2 a cup – and cook until soft. Use a stick blender to process until smooth. Continue to cook to reduce the water content. You will need to keep an eye on this so it doesn’t burn.

Peel the garlic and onion and chop roughly. Cut up 2 green chillis – if you want a milder version of this remove the seeds. Place all of this in a food processer and blend until finely minced.

Add the onion mix to the pan along with 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of vinegar and the spices and seasonings. Again if you want a milder version omit or reduce the chilli flakes.

Cook for 20 mins and keep stirring – you want this to be simmering and if you don’t keep stirring it may burn.

Meanwhile place the jars and lids in a roasting dish and place in a medium oven – the jars and lids must be absolutely dry as if they are wet you can end up with the sauce spattering when you pour it in.

When you are ready take the jars out of the oven [ i find leaving them in the roasting tin helps with drips and spillages clean up. Remove the lids from the tin though.

Turn off the heat under the sauce and use a ladle or small jug to fill the jars. Wipe any spillages from the rims of the jars

When they are filled using a couple of folded tea towels screw the lids on tightly and leave to cool.

Once opened you should store this in the fridge.

Makes a great dipping sauce and works well as a glaze for chicken or pork.