Last summer and autumn was my time for chutneys of all kind of fruit (apricots, peach, plum, apples – you name it).
I adapted the following recipe from Madhur Jaffrey’s book of Currys (published in 1996, ISBN 978-0563387947), a highly informative book on the history of curry.
Quitten Lemon Chutney
Result: 1 Liter
Ingredients
1 untreated lemon
salt
5 cm ginger
2 cloves of garlic
350 ml cider vinegar (or 2/3 cider and 1/3 white balsamico)
4 quinces
1 TS vegetable oil (such as peanut oil or corn oil)
½ tsp Kalonji (black cumin)
1 TS Cayenne pepper (or 1 fresh chili)
½ tsp. Fennel seed
325 g sugar
Found the loveliest quinces
Method
Cut whole lemon in 5 mm pieces and put in a glass jar. sprinkle 1 tsp. salt over it and shake well (do not forget to put on lid before!).
Leave 2 – 3 days at a sunny window and shake daily (it also works on less sunny days).
Put ginger, garlic and 120 ml vinegar in food processor and puree.
Put the rest of the vinedar in a non-metalic bowl.
Peel fruit, remove core and cut in 6 – 8 pieces, then cut those in 3 mm pieces. Immediately place them in vinegar bowl to avoid discolouring.
Heat oil and shortly fry kalonji seeds, add garlic-ginger paste, mix well and then add all the other ingredients.
Bring to a boil and let it gently simmer for 20 minutes.
Sterilise in steamer (how to will follow) or do it the old way in hot water.
Comments 2
Author
Somebody asked me: what do I eat it with? What a sensible question, it goes well with Indian food, but you can also eat it with pot au feu or try some cheese (Gruyère, Pecorino, you name it) with it.
Do the lemons need to remain in the jar in the sunny window after completing the recipe?