Home Made Mango Chutney

Totally worth it, it is soooo delicious!  It is also such a nice cold-wet-weekend-afternoon sort of job...

2.25lb/1kg ripe mangoes (sometimes they get sold off cheap if they are a bit over-ripe, this is perfect for chutney, otherwise you might need to leave them a week or so snuggling up with some bananas to get them to ripen)

1 large cooking apple, peeled and grated

1 onion, finely sliced

1 red chilli (big or small, depending on how hot you take your chutney!), finely sliced

3 large cloves garlic, crushed

thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, grated

2tsp nigella/black onion seed

0.5 tsp each of the following: 

coriander seed

tsp cumin seed

cardamom seeds

turmeric

0.25 tsp each of the following:

ground cloves

ground cinnamon

350 ml distilled (white) malt vinegar

0.5tsp salt

1lb/450g granulated sugar

First cut up the mangoes and place the flesh in a bowl with the apple.  I started off fiddling about with knives and cutting nice cubes and things, but actually it was a lot easier to just scrape the flesh from the skin using my fingers.

Find a very large saucepan!  Fry the onions in a large glug of oil until soft and golden, then add the garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, measure out the spices.

Turn up the heat slightly, add the spices and fry for a few minutes, stirring constantly.

Add the apple and mango and simmer for 25 minutes.

Add the salt, sugar and vinegar and simmer a further 25 minutes until the whole lot is pulpy and thick.  Stir regularly towards the end of the cooking time to prevent it sticking and burning on the bottom.

Place in hot sterilised jars and leave for 4 weeks before enjoying at every opportunity!  (I may or may not have got impatient and started scoffing after 2 weeks and it was extremely delicious even then, so the waiting isn't too important!)