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

1. 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.

2. Whilst eggplant is draining, prepare the spices and tamarind paste.

3. After an hour, take the eggplant in your hands, and squeeze out any excess liquid.

4. 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.

5. Add the processed green chillies, ginger and garlic. Stir and cook for a further 3 minutes.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Add an additional 1-2 tsp salt to taste.

9. Whilst hot, bottle into sterilised jars and seal.