Thursday, December 19, 2013

How do you solve a problem like a chutney?

(Rewriting this due to user error. The first version was really good, honest.)

Bit of a strange one today, in that it's not really a recipe for food - at least, it's not a main dish. Or a starter. Or a dessert. More of a condiment. And not one that we ever figured out what to do with. More on that later though.



There's a lot going on here from a flavour standpoint, and the sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that some of it is rather exotic: curry leaves, dried chilies, dried coconut, tamarind. And carrots. Should be interesting.



First up, the all important spice toast. In with the curry leaves, chilies, coriander, mustard seeds, cumin, and a good pinch of salt. You'll be aromatic in no time.



Then we throw in the onion and garlic to sweat down, before mixing in the tamarind and coconut. Intriguing smells are issuing from the pan, and we've really no idea where this is going.



Next we add the carrot - an awful lot of carrot, mind - and things start to get a little fishy. The next instruction is "Bring to the boil." Que? What exactly am I supposed to be boiling? Keep in mind that the only liquid in this recipe is 4-6 tablespoons of tamarind paste, along with whatever water the onion has released, all of which has been thrown in a pan with a lot of dessicated ingredients. Runneth over my cup does not.



Once my mixture has "boiled," it gets to "simmer" for a few minutes. Fortunately at this point I'm granted leave to add a few tablespoons of water "if necessary." It's necessary.



And this, well, this is our end result. Spicy chutney, he calls it. We've already established that Gordon's label of spicy should be taken with a grain of salt, and this is no exception. It is flavorful, certainly, it's by no means offensive - but what to do with it? Unfortunately we never figured that out, and I'm sorry to report that we found it a few weeks ago in the back of our fridge, growing a healthy crop of mould. Not what you would call a ringing endorsement.

No comments:

Post a Comment