Plum Chutney
Yet another riff on a Nigel Slater recipe, this time ‘A hot, sweet plum chutney’ from Tender Volume Two. His description is apt. I added an aniseed tinge because I thought it would taste good and swapped some raisins for prunes, as the cupboard was bare. I’ve tweaked the ingredients a little since the photo, as it was quite sweet and a little too liquid. Cooks down to around a litre, or three washed Bonne Maman jam jars.
- 750g Plums, halved and stoned – I had a mixture of greengages (Reines-Claudes from a French supermarket) and purple ones from my local Polish grocer. Any tasty plums will work, but the green colour was trumped by the purple in the chutney, so you’d have to go all green if that’s what you’re after.
- 350g Onions, large diced
- 65g Prunes, large diced
- 65g Raisins
- 200g Light Brown Sugar
- a dried Chilli, crushed – I have an enormous tin full of dried chillies from https://www.southdevonchillifarm.co.uk/, all well past their sell-by dates, but still packing a punch. I used one with the fetching name Ring of Fire.
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoons yellow Mustard seeds
- 2 Star Anise
- a Cinnamon stick
- 110ml Cider Vinegar
- 110ml Malt Vinegar
Bring everything to boil in a large pan, then turn down the heat and let simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. Spoon into sterilised jars (I think a hot dishwasher cycle is fine, but you may be more cautious) and seal.
Better after a few weeks left to mature in a dark cool place, eaten with similarly treated cheese or ham.
