Eggplant chutney
Spicy. Sweet. Sour. This is a balanced mouthful of flavour that draws on the richness of a well cooked eggplant. Perfect on top of a bowl of dhal or with a nice aged hard cheese. Also a very handy way to preserve a glut of eggplants if you happen to be fortunate enough to have one! I didn’t have much luck with standard varieties this year, however the finger eggplants have been prolific, and a white variety also did well.
Eggplant Chutney
Makes 7x 250ml jars
Ingredients
1kg eggplants - any variety - I used a mix of Bonita, finger eggplants and white eggplant.
40g sea salt
250ml peanut oil
40g fresh green chillies, 40g fresh ginger, 40g garlic - chopped in a food processor until uniform in size and no larger than a chilli seed in size
20g yellow mustard seed, 10g brown mustard seed, 10g coriander seed, 10g fenugreek seed - crush roughly in a mortar and pestle or in a spice blender
10g dried red chillies, cut or torn into rough 1-2cm pieces
20g ground coriander
15g ground sweet paprika
1 cup tamarind paste - you can buy tamarind paste, or make your own by soaking a 200g block of tamarind pulp in 1 cup boiling water. Allow to soak until water is cool enough to handle. Loosen the block with your fingers. Push through a sieve, collecting 1 cup of tamarind puree.
1 cup water (in addition to the tamarind paste)
500g sugar (300g white, 200g dark brown)
+ additional 15g sea salt to taste
Instructions
Dice the eggplant into 1cm cubes (there is no need to remove the skin), and place in a colander sitting on top a bowl. Sprinkle the diced eggplant with 40g salt and allow to drain for 1 hour.
Whilst eggplant is draining, prepare the spices and tamarind paste.
After an hour, take the eggplant in your hands, and squeeze out any excess liquid.
Place the peanut oil in a large preserving pan. Place the squeezed eggplant in the pan. Be mindful as the oil may spit. Cook on a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. The eggplant should become transparent.
Add the processed green chillies, ginger and garlic. Stir and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Add the crushed spices and the dried red chilli. Stir and cook for a further 2 minutes. The mix should now be smelling deliciously fragrant.
Finally, add the ground spice, tamarind paste, additional cup of water, and the sugar. Stir well to dissolve the sugar. Cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes on a gentle heat. The chutney should be thick and glossy.
Add an additional 1-2 tsp salt to taste.
Whilst hot, bottle into sterilised jars and seal.