Homemade Mango Chutney

We had a week away at my brother's place just after Christmas. It was a real change of scene. A six hour drive through the country to a fairly remote mountain top where he lives at a major astronomical observatory. We explored the place and some of the local sights, played with my small niece and nephew and did a lot of amazing eating! He is a great cook with a real passion for asian flavours and sauces. He inspired us with how much he makes from scratch and preserves in jars to stockpile. There's always something marinading, curing or pickling and a project on the way (a smoking box at the moment).
I'm sure you'll hear more from this adventure!


So,  energised from this trip we went to the produce markets on the weekend and went a little wild! Lots of fruit & veg, lots of plans!!

I tried to choose things we genuinely use a lot of that would save us time or money by stockpiling. We eat a lot of Mango Chutney. With all our curries, pappadums, vegie burgers, as a snack with greek yoghurt and naan bread and importantly, Eva likes it in school sandwiches - but she is fussy so we compared several recipes and jars of ones she likes, tasted spices and came up with our own recipe. And it's great - and importantly Eva thinks so too!

Eva's Mango Chutney.

Ingredients
1.8kg diced ripe mango flesh (this was about 12-14 mangoes)
600ml white wine vinegar
600g white sugar
30g grated fresh ginger
1 Tbspn salt
1 tspn brown mustard seeds
1 tspn curry powder
1 tspn mixed spice
1/2 tspn ground clove

Method
Place all ingredients into a large heavy based pan.
Bring to boil then turn down to a simmer.
Simmer for about 1.5hr until darkened and thickened and tasty.
You can cool a tiny amount in a small dish in the freezer if you want to check for thickness as you do for jams.

Makes about 2 litres - 6 good sized jars.


Nicola


PS Mia has written about a Strawberry and Rhubarb Jam she made on the same day at her blog - The little blue bicycle - if you'd like to read more ...