Cranberry Chutney

a bowl of chutney in snow on our terrace

I have been using cranberries since a long time now and liked them right from the beginning. But, these were always packed dried cranberries. Cranberries don't grow in Germany, though I had once heard of a pilot project to grow them in Mecklenburg Vorpommern once. Don't know what happened of it. I was surprised when I saw fresh cranberries at REWE for the first time this time, where I went to after a long time and just couldn't resist buying them. Although, who knows, maybe I never noticed them before I got to see such lovely dishes being made with them on different blogs.

When I bought these fresh cranberries I wanted to make a nice tart with it like here at Doghill Kitchen. But somehow none of us was in a mood to eat anything sweet after having gorged on all those Christmas cakes and cookies for so long, so I dropped the idea. Instead, I decided to make a chutney, after having seen others make some too.
Cranberry and Fig Chutney (Relish)

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories Ingredients: 250 g cranberries, cut into halves or quartered 2 inch piece ginger, grated 150 g dried figs, chopped 1 small red onion, finely chopped 2 tbsp fennel seeds, coarsely ground 1/8 tsp red chilli powder (use more or less to taste) 1/4 tsp black salt, ground - optional 1/4 tsp salt 1 star anise, to be taken out once the chutney is ready 200 g jelly sugar 2:1* (use quantity to taste) 1/2 tsp roasted ground cumin Method: Mix everything together and set aside for about half an hour or longer cook it up stirring in between reduce heat and keep cooking on medium low heat so that it keeps throwing bubbles continue cooking for about 30 minutes, stirring in between In the mean time prepare two 250 ml (boiled-) jars to be used for storing the chutney, if required Fill the glasses with it and close lids tightly. Once cooled down, store in the refrigerator *NOTE: Jelly sugar contains pectin in addition to regular table sugar. I used up my last and already opened packet of jelly sugar for this, but you can also replace it with regular sugar. One may require to cook it for longer, though. Depending on its use you can reduce the amount of sugar to half. For example, if using as a side to poultry, you could use regular table sugar and half the amount. One of the many ways I am enjoying eating this flavourful chutney is like this: Rye bread with Camembert cheese and cranberry chutney I loved this chutney. It is the best of all the chutneys I have made in the last few months so far. I liked the combination of dried figs and fresh cranberries a lot. Even though I did have some small doubts about if it will turn out good, but the end results made this chutney to be a perfect one. I think the the proportions of the two fruits and all the spices are also very good in this chutney. Talking about spices, one of the distinct flavours in the chutney apart from that of ginger is that of fennel seeds which impart a lovely aroma and which makes it so delicious in my opinion. That reminds me of my childhood days when I loved munching on fennel seeds. Fennel seeds are also one of the few spices I always liked as a child. Maybe it also had to do something with the fact that my mom only very rarely bought toffees, chocolates or lollipops and stuff like that for us. So, maybe we got enough chances to enjoy chewing on fennel seeds instead. :D We also discovered something, very fascinating for us then, that after chewing fennel seeds the water on drinking tasted so delicious. Delicious is the best word that I can think of for it. It tasted so very sweet. It was almost like doing an experiment and enjoying it. The reason, I think, why the water tasted sweet afterwards was the essential oils present in fennel seeds. So, do you also have such similar memories with fennel seeds?

I just realised that Ivy is hosting an event for which this recipe is just the right thing. The event has also got a very interesting name this time and a very interesting theme too. Off it goes to the event started by Sunita of Sunita’s World and being hosted by Ivy of Kopiaste:

Think Spice...Think Twice : Mastic gum or Fennel seeds



Another event I got to know of and to which I would like to send this entry of my very original bread-not-exactly-sandwich is to Bay Leaf's Bread Mania event.

Other Cranberry chutneys:
Crannbery pickle at Anudivya's A little bit more
Cranberry Chutney at Andrea's Recipes
Cranberry Apple Chutney at Jai and Bee's Jugalbandi
Pear Cranberry Chutney at Meeta's WFLH

A quickfix Coconut Chutney or Dip, and the dietary mineral Calcium

Need makes you inventive. I think there exist a couple of sayings on this too. So, yesterday I made Cheelas (North Indian savoury pancakes) -a spontaneous idea again! So, I required a real quick fix chutney to accompany it. I had the sweet varieties in stock in the fridge, but I wanted something spicy and salty. Sunny boy didn't really require it, it was more meant for me and hubby. I made it at the very last moment infact. I basically opened the fridge and saw these preserved chillis and just got going, tasted it and was totally surprised with the wonderful taste. The cheela recipes will follow soon- a gluten free version. *grin* :)

Here is the Coconut Chutney:

Ingredients:
1 cup dessicated coconut
150 g plain yoghurt (5 oz or a little more than 1/2 cup)
3 red or green chillies / hot peppers preserved in brine or vinegar* ( reduce amount to taste)
salt to taste
1 pinch sugar
1 tbsp chopped coriander or fresh mint (opional)- I didn't have then handy

Method:
Puree eveyrthing in a deep bowl with a hand stick blender for a few minutes. Serve in a bowl!

*Optinally: add some vinegar to chopped fresh chillies and grind with the coconut.

We were both tremendously pleased and missed nothing after eating it along with our wonderfully tasting cheelas.

Calcium
An unrelated topic to this post is some information I have collected in these posts at Healthy and Tasty on dietary calcium:
How much calcium does a child need?
What affects calcium absorption?
I'm posting these here to have a link to them here at this blog as well.

Jams, Chutneys and another Award !!

I have been talking about posting the recipes of my jams and chutneys I have been making since long. And finally I have managed to put them down from my diary to my "cyber-cookbook" here!

For the recipes, please go here.

These were the different ways I enjoyed eating my chutneys and jams...

MANGO PINEAPPLE GINGER CHUTNEY
...on a slice of bread,

...with buckwheat-potao pakodas,

TOMATO APPLE ONION CHUTNEY (RELISH)


with my delicious zucchini bread, both made fresh at that moment........eternal bliss till the last bite!
We have been enjoying them with all kinds of things. It was a wonderful decision to make this chutney, whose inspiration came from a Dr. Oetker booklet on jams and relishes. But, I made mine with a lot more Indian spices.

MANGO PINEAPPLE RASPBERRY JAM
Heaven on toast.... The best jam I have made so far! Rishab loves it too, but he loves the simple strawberry jam I made for him (picture not shown) as much too!

FIGS GINGER CHUTNEY
Turned out to be much spicier than I expected. Even though I am enjoying eating it, I would reduce or maybe even leave out fresh ginger net time (next year!), as the taste of figs is getting hidden behind that of ginger. I can imagine my father telling me that it has turned out perfect, but next time I might try adding more cinammon and cloves instead and maybe also ground green cardamoms (for recipe - see link on top).

Here are a few pictures to show the steps :
Wash, peel, chop and / or puree (or both) the fruits....
add citric acid (or lemon juice) and sugar/gelly sugar to it, mix and let stand for a while...
Cook for 15 to 20 minutes. and bottle them in cooked jars or botttels.
Turn them up side down....
for about 5-10 minutes or even sometimes 15-20 minutes, before turning them back. Helps create a vaccum!
Let it cool down.
Keep in a cool, dark and dry place or at best in the refrigerator.
Use within a few months. I have kept my jams in the fridge for up to a year and they tasted excellent even at the end of the year. Chutneys, I have made them for the first time and being not so sweet, I'm not sure if they will all stay good for so long too. Maybe it would depend on the ingredients.
Important Note: Do not tighten the bottles again after they have cooled down!!

While making such preserves, one has to keep in mind that they should contain enough of the fruit acids, like citric acids or others. There are fruits which have low amounts of it. berries like red currents are usually sour enough that they do not neccesarily require any addition of citric acid, for example. On the other hand, mango, pineapple, pears, peaches and such similar fruits require addition of citric acid or any fruit acid (ascorbic acid - vitamin C , but it gets damaged by heat!).
Sugar is a natural preservative, but since too high amounts are not healthy, a good sterile working method while preparing them is a good idea. Cook the preserves for long enough, if you plan to keep them for long. Amounts which are to be used up fast (within weeks) don't need too many precautions.

And now about something special which made me feel sooooooo very happy! Dear Ivy of Kopiaste awarded me with this :
This is my second award now. Now, need I tell you, why I am happy? I guess not! And I must say that I am as happy to get it as I was the first time.
I would soon forward it to others, once I have come down from cloud 9 ! :)

South Indian chutneys

So that I don't have to search for these tried and tested recipes in my books, I am putting down these here:

Cococnut-Groundnut chutney

Ingridients:
1/4 cup (40 g) groundnuts, roasted and skinned
1 cup (90 g) coconut, grated
and 2 tbsp water
( or
1/2 cup dessicated coconut, grated
soaked in 1 cup water)
1/3 cup yoghurt, beaten
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1-3 green chillies (for only a taste jst add a pinch of red chilli)

Tempering:
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp split skinned black gram
6 small curry leaves
1 pinch hing (asafoetida)

a handfull of coriander leaves (cilantro), washed and chopped

Method:

• Grind together the ingredients for the chutney with a hand blender. Add salt to taste.

• Het oil in a small pan, let mustard and urad dal splutter, add curry leaves, switch off heat, add hing, stir and add to the chutney along with chopped cilantro
  
• Serve to Indian foods, more typically idlis and dosas. Can be used along with Indian style bread sandwitches with Indian spiced veggys, Pattys or even pakoras just like green chutney.
  

Gun Powder

This is one of the different varieties of dry powders or Podis, as they are called in the south, served with idli, dosa or simply rice. The good thing about it is that it can be made in advance and stored in airtight glass containers for months. Whenever you require it just add a little bit of any oil or even ghee to it to bind the powder. Mix with rice, idlis and dosas, and serve. I have even tried it with toasted bread and potatoes subzi. I discovered this powder in India as a teenager through my mothers South Indian friends and I just love it!
That you can also add peanut to the powder is new to me, which I found in one recipe once. And I think that gives a good flavour too. There are very many different sorts of Podis with lots of variations. Like in some, you also add black pepper or coriander seeds or fresh curry leaves.


This is how I make it:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Urad daal, skinned
1/2 cup channa (chickpea) daal
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup peanuts (optional)
3 dried red chillies, or to taste
1 big pinch hing (asafoetida)
1 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
oil as per requirement

Other optional additions:
1 tbsp coconut, dessicated
1 tbsp curry leaves, roasted on medium heat
1/2 inch piece jagery,
(or 1 tsp sugar)


Method:

• Roast separately the daals, sesame and peanuts, red chillies, corry leaves one after the other on medium heat until you smell the flavour and let them cool down on a plate
• Grind everything together in a coffee mill or any dry grinder
• Once cooled down completely on a large plate store in an airtight glass jar
  
• Before serving, add a few teaspoons of podi in a small bowl or katori and add about a teaspoon of oil to bind the powder and serve with idlis, dosas, rice etc.
  

Another Gun powder link