Apricot, pear and apple chilli chutney
Christmas is THE time for chutney. Quite apart from the turkey leftovers, there’s all that ham, and tons of lovely cheese - a tangy chutney accompaniment is a must.
This chutney is loosely based on the cranberry and apple chutney in Nigella Christmas, but inspired by my very clever friend Katie, from Feeding Boys, who made a lovely autumnal pear chutney, I decided to pop in some pears and dried apricots as well. Oh, and because I love a bit of spice, I’ve added a fresh red chilli too. Leave it out if you’re not keen, or maybe deseed and just add the flesh.
A few tips:
- Make sure you cut the apples and pears into quite small pieces. My apples were frozen and I hadn’t chopped them that small, so quite a few large chunks remained. Not the end of the world, admittedly, but a bit annoying.
- If you don’t like something, substitute something else. Like cranberries? Then just do half the amount of sultanas and do the other 125g in cranberries. Don’t like dried apricots? Add some different dried fruit.
- No pears? Try quinces… or even veg - courgettes or butternut squash work well.
- Feel free to double up if you’re making presents or whatever. This recipe makes about a litre of chutney and filled two and a bit small kilners.
You will need:
1 large onion, chopped
350g apples, peeled and chopped into small chunks
250g pears, peeled and chopped into small chunks
150g dried apricots, chopped into small dice
250g sultanas
350ml bottle of cider vinegar
1 red chilli, chopped very finely
200g brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
Bung everything into a big saucepan and stir while you bring it to the boil (see what I mean about the apple pieces?):
Once it’s boiled, turn it down to a simmer and allow to cook for 45 minutes until thick and golden brown, stirring occasionally.
Pour into sterilised jars. Click here for a link to my buddy Mammy’s excellent advice on sterilising jars.
And as this chutney makes a perfect thrifty Christmas pressie, I’ve added it to Violet Posy’s wonderful Thrifty Christmas blog. Pop over to get more thrifty inspiration and craft ideas.
Great recipe!! Just tried it. Added 100 ml of red wine that’s been sat in the fridge for over a year waiting to be added to some sort of stew…you may say, it’s matured. Definitely added some Xmas spirit ))) to this wonderful chutney. Thanks for the recipe!!! Going to share it with my cooking buddies )))
Hi there
Glad you liked the recipe and wow I’m impressed you managed to keep ANY sort of wine for over a year 🙂 Thanks so much for your feedback - delighted x
Hi!! Will definitely check more of yr recipes now that I’ve found your blog
Really missing pickles and chutneys as they just don’t do them here. Funny that considering they have every other blooming condiment known to man. Anyway, might give this a go … when I can find time. Ugh. x
Nom nom! definitely on for that recipe. Can you freeze apples? I didn’t know that, pray tell how do you do that
Definitely! My Dad had a massive glut of apples so I peeled, cored and chopped them, then just bunged the in the freezer in bags. I’ve been using them in pies and crumbles from frozen since then 🙂
Can apples can be frozen? Hell yeah! OH is sick of apple pie, & crumble cos that’s all I know what to do with the bagged frozen apple taking up a whole drawer in my freezer all of which came from the one tree in my garden!
I recently came across (in my mums womans or my weekly magazine) a recipe for mincemeat and apple thingy (a bit like a strudle) which I will give a go when I remember to buy some filo pastry!
I would happily accept some more apple based recipes to try out - nothing too complicated mind you as I am a kind of throw it together and bung it in the oven type of gal 😉
What a fabulous blog! I just chance upon it, and have been sat here addicted for the last four hours, and got nothing at all done! Am off to buy some ingredients now to make a start on these recipes. Thank you for sharing!
Hey Andrea - how nice of you! Thanks so much. Let me know if you make anything and how you get on x
That looks scrumdiddlyyum! Life is empty without chutney in it 😉
It so is! And thanks for the inspiration xx
Ohh yum! Made Kirsties Home Made Home one last year, wasn’t perfect. This one looks great tho, love the addition of the pear. Will defo be trying 😉 xxx
I love it with the pear. Goes really nicely with nice strong Cheddar too - hope you give it a go, lovely 🙂
YUM - I’m going to try that and yes, what a good idea for presents x
I think it’s a great pressie - especially in these nice Kilner jars x