Recipe for Plum and Raisin Chutney

If you are a parent who is trying to get a picky teen to eat nutritious food, you will probably agree that training lions (or lionesses!) is probably an easier task. Talking about one specific teenager that I have the privilege of calling my daughter: her tastes seem to change more frequently than the wind changes it’s direction. One day all she wants to eat are apples and then suddenly they fall out of flavor and then its pears for another week… last month’s favourite were Plums. I found some imported ones at my local vendor’s and picked up a few, and Picky Teen demanded more. I thanked my stars that she was getting her dose of Vitamin C etc from them and went and got another half kg, and then suddenly Picky Teen decided they were not so great.. “Tasted weird” and were “too brown”, close to the seed.

I was therefore left with a lot of plums that I didn’t know what to do with. I happily ate a few, and then thought perhaps I could put the free Sunday afternoon to use and experiment a bit with the last 3 that were threatening to go bad if not used up immediately. What came to mind was a plum chutney, but for a change I decided to not Google for recipes and try and put together one, from scratch. Besides the plums, I had some other ingredients that don’t get used much and have been lying in the fridge for a while: Raisins and Dried Cranberries. These also have fallen out of favour with Picky Teen and I had been wracking my brain about how to sneak them into something that can pass muster.

So here’s what the Mommy Witch stirred up in her cauldron last weekend.

Plum and Raisin Chutney:

Ingredients :

Large sized plums: 3
Raisins: mixed any size, shape, colour but seedless: 1/4th Cup
Dried Cranberries (optional): 1 Tbsp. Get it here.
Ghee / Butter : 1 Tsp
Star Anise : 1
Large Cardamom Pod: 1
Cinnamon Stick : 1 Medium sized stick
Ginger (grated): ¼ Tsp (optional: skip if you don’t like the flavour)
Brown sugar: 1 Tbsp (I used Pro Nature Organic Brown sugar. Get it here.
Tamarind paste ¾ to 1 Tsp, depending on how sour the plums were and how sour you like your chutney. (I used ¾ Tsp of La Faire Tamarind Puree. Get it here.
Chilli Flakes : ¾ Tsp. Get it here.
Water: 1 cup
Salt : ¼ Tsp

Method: (Check out the step by step video below)

1. Chop the Plums into small pieces

2. Wash the raisins and cranberries and soak them in water for 10 minutes

3. Heat a Non-stick pan and add the butter / ghee to it.

4. Drop the Star Anise, cardamom pod and cinnamon stick into the pan, and let the aroma get released.

5. Drain and gently squeeze the raisins and cranberries and drop them into the pan stir for a bit.

6. Add the chopped plums.

7. Add the water

8. Add the salt and the brown sugar; Stir.

9. Let the sugar dissolve and the mixture cook and thicken. Add a bit more water if you feel it has dried up before the raisins and plums have softened.

10. Add the grated ginger and chilli flakes.

11. Lastly add the tamarind paste.

12. Once the raisins and cranberries look nice and plump and the plums are well cooked, take the pan off the gas. Let cool and transfer to a bowl or bottle.

13. Refrigerate if not being used immediately.

Note:

I had used the imported variety of plums. If using the local Indian ones (always good to eat local!) Use 5 of them as they are smaller and skip the tamarind paste as these would be far sourer than the imported variety.

You can add some freshly ground black pepper for added punch!

The Chutney goes well with methi or any other theplas and even plain parathas, or masala puris.  We even had it with Pita Chips and it was yum! If you are wondering if Picky Teen deigned to have the chutney.. Whew!! It did pass muster.. but then one never knows when the mood might change, so for now I shall celebrate the win!