Making chutney is one of the culinary tricks I have always wanted to know. But since making my own chutney, the idea has moved away from using bought fruits and produce to using my own produce. Fruits grow abundantly, like my Cape gooseberry, but since the squirrels and birds have found my stash, I have never really gotten a good harvest. But two other produce grow abundantly in my garden: Spekboom and Purslane.
The idea of making a chutney from them was thus a no-brainer.
You might not get these ingredients, but the recipe is a general one you can use! Just swop out the purslane and spekboom for any fruit or produce and you are good to go. So without further ado, please follow along with how I make a spekboom and purslane chutney!
Ingredients
For this recipe, you will need some specialty ingredients, but you can find them or just swap them out for anything else. You will need:
Method
Cut Everything Up
Essentially, the recipe is based on having 100 grams of fruit or produce, 30 grams of water, 30 grams of sugar, and 30 grams of vinegar.
But first, chop everything up.
Lightly Brown the Onions
Lightly brown the onions, ginger, and garlic. Do not brown it too much. The aroma is amazing and fills the kitchen with nostalgia.
Weigh the Fruits and Sugars
If you have 100 grams of fruit, you essentially use 30 grams of sugar, 30 grams of water, and 30 grams of vinegar.
Boil Until Thick
You will then proceed to boil this mixture until it thickens. You will need to boil it for about 10 to 30 minutes, depending on how much moisture your produce has.
Something interesting happens when you boil purslane. It becomes rather gooey. But you do not find this texture at the end. Here is a short video to illustrate:
For those having boiled chutney or sugar, you will know when the chutney is ready. The bubbles change consistency:
When you draw a line with a spoon in the chutney and it takes some time to flow back, you know the chutney is ready:
Wait: Chill
Now you need to wait. Before it completely cools down, transfer it to a heat-safe dish. It is important to get it out of the pot before it cools down too much. It will become very sticky.
Spread some on a board
Whilst waiting for it to cool down, spread some on a board to see if the consistency is right or to your liking. It will cool down quickly and thicken up quickly.
When it fully cooled down, the texture is interesting to say the least. It is different than your normal chutney because of the purslane's thickening power. See the video below:
Enjoy Your Chutney
Now you can enjoy your own homemade chutney. I think the spekboom and purslane give it an intense flavor, but a good one. It is obviously a chutney and your base ingredients will influence the taste. But this variant is much healthier, I would reckon, because of the spekboom and purslane.
I normally place a good helping of these homemade chutneys on some local dishes like bobotie and yellow rice:
But you can also enjoy it on some freshly baked bread:
This is really an awesome recipe I think! But the proof is in the pudding as they say. I hope @zakludick will try this recipe, as he has some nice purslane growing in his garden! And if someone can make this and test it, I might know if my own recipe is good or not!
In any case, I really hope you try this recipe.
All of the images are my own, taken with my iPhone. The recipe is also my own creation, something I have worked on for many years now. Happy cooking, and stay safe!