Caramelised onion and apple chutney
My neighbours have a beautiful old apple tree and I am very lucky that they share a large quantity of the crop each year. Oscar loves apples, so long as they are peeled, so we get through quite a few eating them as they come. But there are an awful lot that sometimes its hard to use them all without them spoiling.
Chutney is my go-to recipe for a plethora of any kind of garden harvest (check out my tomato and chilli recipe if you’ve got a good tomato haul), and this one brings home grown onions and a few apples together in a delicious chutney that you can eat straight away, or store, or even gift in nice jars. It doesn’t use a huge number of apples, but you could easily double the recipe to use up more, or check out my recipe for apple sauce too.
You can easily reuse jars from pasta sauces, or pesto - I recommend using smaller jars if possible, the chutney goes further and no one eats it in huge quantities or too frequently so it’s just a better size to go for. The amount of onion you start with seems a lot but by slowly caramelising them they reduce drastically in volume. From this chutney recipe I filled 3 x 0.25l screw top preserving Kilner jars I got on Amazon - double the quantities if you want to fill all six jars.
This chutney is made entirely on the hob, in a deep or wide pan. You need to keep a close eye on it as it cooks, and keep it moving, so it’s a bit more labour intensive than the slow cooker recipe I posted last time but totally worth the time and effort.
INGREDIENTS
50g unsalted butter
2 big white onions (peeled and sliced finely)
2 small red onions (peeled and sliced finely
3 large apples (peeled, cored, diced into small chunks)
1tbs ginger paste
1 lemon (juice only)
200g granulated sugar
120ml cider vinegar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp mild curry powder
1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
METHOD
Melt the butter in a wide pan, over a medium heat add the onions and stir until the volume has diminished and the onions are soft and caramelised (light brown in colour). This may take up to 20 minutes.
Remove the onions from the pan and save them in a dish nearby. In the pan add the apple, sugar, ginger, vinegar, and lemon juice, and simmer over the medium heat for a few minutes until sugar has melted and the apples are evenly coated.
Add the onions back to the pan, and add the cinnamon, curry power and dijon mustard, stirring to combine.
Remaining over a medium - low heat, uncovered, keep stiring and cooking the mixture until it thickens and turns a more golden brown. You should be able to run your spoon through the mixture and it stay parted for a few seconds.
In sterilised jars (use them fresh from the dishwasher as it finishes a cycle), carefully spoon the hot chutney mixture into the jars and seal. Leave for a few hours to cool completely and then store in a cool dark cupboard for 1 month before eating/serving. Completely sealed the chutney can last 6 months+.
