The Wheeling Gourmet by Nicolas Steenhout

Recipe

This chutney is a great accompaniement with pork, or roast chicken, or just served with a good strong cheese and fresh bread.

Ingredients

• 400g Granny Smith apples
• 400g Cucumber
• 150g Onion
• 20ml Vegetable oil
• 100g Currants
• 100g Demerara sugar
• 500ml Malt vinegar
• 40 pods Cardamom
• 6 pods Star Anise

I used Granny Smith apples because they cook well, don't brown quickly, and are a bit tart. You could use other apples as well, though it would influence taste & texture, although not significantly. If you don't have Demerara sugar, plain white sugar should do the trick. And if you can't get your hands on whole Star Anise or whole Cardamom, using the pre-ground stuff should also give satisfying results.

Preparation

1. Peel and core the apples. Cut them in small pieces, no bigger than 1cm on a side.
2. Cut the cucumber in half, lengthwise, and remove the seeds with a spoon. I prefer to leave the skin, but you may peel the cucumber first.
3. Cut the cucumber in pieces of similar size to the apples.
4. Peel and chop the onion in small pieces.
5. Sweat ( Cook over low heat with a little oil or butter until tender.) [?] the onion in a large pot with the vegetable oil.
6. Add the sugar and the currants, mix well.
7. Add the apples, cucumber and vinegar, mix well.
8. Bring the vinegar to a boil.
9. While the vinegar is heating up, put the star anise and cardamom in a coffee grinder to grind them finely. Please note, use a grinder dedicated to spices, not one that has been used for coffee!!!
10. Strain the spices into the pot. Straining will ensure the cardamom chaff and anise unground bits aren't going in the chutney.
11. When the vinegar reaches boil, control the temperature and leave it on a strong simmer.
12. Stir frequently until the vinegar is reduced ( To boil down a liquid.) [?] nearly to dry.
13. Remove from heat.
14. Prepare your canning jars. Please see canning jar preparation for instructions.
15. Melt some pure parafin wax.
16. Distribute the chutney into the jars, until almost filled to the top.
17. Clean up the sides inside the jar.
18. Cut a few lengths of string, and tie them into a loop.
19. Pour the melted parafin wax on top of the chutney to fill the jars.
20. Before the wax has set, place one loop of string half in the wax, half out. This will help you remove the wax when you are opening the chutney jar for the first time. I use blue string so it is easy to identify if a bit of it falls into the cooking.
21. When the wax has set completely, put the lids on your jars and refrigerate to cool rapidly.
22. You can keep the chutney in the pantry afterwards.
23. Wait at least two weeks before getting into the chutney!

The hardest part of this recipe is to wait until the chutney has matured, about two or three weeks!

Photos

Cutting the cucumber into small pieces.

Using the flat of the chef's knife to scoop diced apples.

Sweating the onion until they are transluscent on low heat.

Right after I've added the currants and the sugar to the onions.

Now the apples, cucumbers and vinegar have been added to the pot and mixed.

About to grind the whole star anise and cardamom.

The spices, freshly ground.

Straining the star anise and the cardamom over the pot.

The chaff and bits of shell left after straining the spices.

Cooking the whole lot, reducing the vinegar.

The vinegar is nearly all reduced, the chutney is ready!

The chutney in the preserving jars.

Parafin wax poured over the chutney, with a loop of string inserted before the wax sets, so it is easy to remove the wax later on. Blue string because "there is no blue food", so if you drop the string in the dish, you can easily find it.

The chutney, in a nice presentation dish.

Vidéo

Cutting onions

View all videos by the Wheeling Gourmet on YouTube

One Response to “Apple and Cucumber Chutney”

1. 

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   Comment by: ip camera - December 23rd, 2010 @ 8:00

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