With another batch of green tomatoes, its another opportunity to experiment. So we have gone for green tomato chutney proper. I have omitted the raisins, I can never get my head around their presence in chutneys. I don’t even understand why they are in coronation chicken! There are however also some additions, as we are experimenting.
Has quite a tart, crunchy flavour at the moment, with a background of coriander that keeps it quite bollywood. The cooking apples in question are bramleys, and I have used fresh root ginger rather than powder that would give it a zing. The zing in question, comes from Mango powder, and there is a burst of fresh mint as well.
Ma got handed three large courgettes in 24 hours. Plus we have a few green tomatoes. So with the home made garlic it serves that they can be used up.
The recipe is for garlicky Mediterranean chutney. But this is a modified version. Especially with the green tomatoes. Have also added fennel, aniseed, mustard seeds and paprika. Not sure about the red wine vinegar though. We shall how well this is road tested.
This afternoon I have got around to breaking in the newly acquired jam pan. The first round involved making red scotch bonnet and yellow sweet pepper jelly. This is recipe I have used before, namely the nigella chilli jelly one. Can be found in your nearest search engine!
The second round was having a go at making aubergine and mint chutney. The homegrown elements of this were onions, garlic and Mint. All popped into the maslin pan with vinegar, sugar, chillies, onion seed, cumin and coriander seeds as well as some mustard seeds. Even managed to get a steam burn from uncovering it! Will leave it cure for a bit before tasting. Whilst cooking it had a wonderful herby and focaccia like smell.
Last year, I made a version of Pam the jam’s courgette chutney. The fact that it is very Bollywood was a key point. Today, I have attempted another version, but varied still in adding red sweet pepper.
Home grown onions and garlic as well as a patty pan were used in this. The courgette was salted before hand.
Was simple enough to follow through. Does look a bit untidy though. I did note, that Thane Princes tip; of parting with a spoon and parting the sea to form a channel was a very good indicator to have in mind.
Have had limited Success with beetroot; can never get it to the huge wrecking ball size. These could been any of the bonel, cylindra or boltardy that were broadcast sown. Look reasonable enough.
Along side 2 red sweet peppers, there are lots of purple rainbow chills, some frauzauber and another chilli in there. Have been meaning to have another go at the nigella chilli jam. So this is just a different set of hot chillies. Has a slightly different colour, and a different kick too.
There are brambles to the side of Project Othello that have been chopped back a bit. There are not many folks on the site who pick them, but today I jointed another plot person to pick some. The plan was to make Aunty Lorraine’s blackberry jam:
So we found about a 1lb of blackberries . Braving the brambles and the thorns.
And the wrestled with the recipe. I don’t have a jam thermometer, so had to the saucer test where it actually set immediately.
As lovely as it is, some of it has set like concrete. Will have to try again!
I take no responsibility for this. Mama H harvested about four round beetroot. Sick of the sight of them in her kitchen; she has peeled and sliced them. Then placed them into a jam jar with pickling vinegar. No cooking, no nothing. Then told me not to eat them for a bit.
Having collected a handful of purple rainbow chillies, I wanted to do something with them. Whilst a single solitary one, made it into a courgette chutney ( http://www.rivercottage.net/users/Pam%20the%20Jam/blog/1281015134-courgette-aid-and-jam-fest/ ). I wanted to make further use of the rest. The chillies are small, berry like. And quite full of seeds. There are additional chillies in the wendy. I have been impatient, and harvested a few non green Nigels, as well as some green frauzauber, These are a lovely lime colour. I have yet to ascertain, whether this is a sweet or a spicy chilli. it went in regardless.
chilli harvest: frauzaber, a nigel, and unidentified one
There was some nervousness about this recipe. In particular, with the quantities. I didn’t want make too much of it, and how would I know if it had boiled properly to then set. The home grown chillies, were padded out with two large red chillies, and one and a half sweet red peppers. I did panic abit, with the boiling, and the mixture was boiling for 15, rather than 10 minutes. Wobbled beautifully, whilst cooling. There was the flecking floating too, of the chopped up chillies. Definitely in the wobble and the flecking.
The verdict. It tastes lovely! Consistency wasn’t bad. Depending on how much you have, it either wobbles like jelly, or splodges like jam. The flavour is a lot like a sweet chilli sauce, just with a different texture. Goes lovely with the dipping crisps, we know that for a fact. It is also wonderfully more-ish.
horticultural 'obbit 