"So, when are you gonna make chutney again?

This past weekend I had the biggest urge to make preserves. Perhaps it was the fact that I recently saw Jamie make the most perfect strawberry jam which he served over some warm rice pudding. It looked really enticing and all of a sudden the three little glass jars sitting under my work table started calling to me. I debated whether to make some jam, after all, there's such beautiful fruit available at the moment which would serve that purpose quite well. And then I remembered how much Hans has been asking, "So, when are you gonna make chutney again?". You see, the man never had chutney as good as mine, well, as good as Nigella's I should say. Last Christmas I made Nigella's Christmas Chutney and those three jars were gone in no time. We had chutney with everything imaginable: omelettes, sandwiches, salads and of course, with curries. The decision was made, I was going to make some chutney!

This time though, I thought I'd make the Spiced Apple Chutney in How To Be A Domestic Goddess. The recipe seemed simple enough and with the exception of the cider vinegar, I had all the ingredients at home. After coming home with two bottles of vinegar too many, I got busy and not much later the most gorgeous appley-soury-sweet smells started to permeate the house. I guess making preserves is in a way like baking for me or like making risotto. I totally get absorbed into what I am doing and the reward and feeling of accomplishment once it's all done is huge.

The end results were nothing less than perfect...a flavor explosion on the tongue! The next day I had some for lunch on half a cornbread-thyme muffin, topped with some brie and a good dollop of this brilliant stuff! Yum!

Here's the recipe:

500g apples
1 medium onion
2 red chili peppers
250g brown sugar
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp sea salt
black pepper (I used some ground four season pepper mix)
1 rounded tbsps grated ginger
1 tsp turmeric
3.5 ml cider vinegar

Sterilize your jars! I use Nigella's method and wash them out well with hot water and then let them dry in a 140C oven.

Peel and rougly chop the apples. Finely chop the onion. De- seed the chili peppers and chop finely. Put all ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil. Let mixture cook gently for 30-40 minutes until thickened. (I let mine cook for an extra 15 minutes...after realizing towards the end of the cooking time that I had forgotten the sugar!). Pour into hot, sterilized jars.