Cook and Drink

It’s the time of the year to benefit from summer fruit, such as peaches, watermelon, raspberries, nectarines, strawberries and of course apricots. With a bit of patience (and sugar, lemon and perhaps nutmeg) you can turn apricots into a delicious jam. But why not make apricot chutney? Great to enjoy with grilled lamb chops or something nice, simple and vegetarian, for instance with rice, lentils and cilantro.
Chutney is a balance of sweet (fresh fruit, onion, garlic, cinnamon), sour (vinegar), bitter (the skin of the apricot or tomato), spiciness (ginger, red chilli, garlic) and depth (cardamom, nutmeg, cumin). Too much sugar will only disturb the balance. Chutney needs to integrate, much more than jam or marmalade. So cook it for an hour or so and leave it in a jar for at least a week before using it.

What You Need

• 1 kilo stoned Apricots (meaning 1,25 kilo of Apricots)
• 2 Shallots
• Olive Oil
• 4 gloves Garlic
• 1 Red Chilli
• 100 ml Vinegar
• 100 ml Water
• 100 grams of Sugar
• Fresh Ginger
• Spices such as
  • Cardamom
  • Mustard Seed
  • Coriander (Cilantro)
  • Cinnamon
  • Nutmeg
  • Cumin
  • Clove

What You Do

Stone and quarter the apricots. Cut the shallots in 4 and slice (not too thin). Slice the fresh garlic. Same with the seeded red chilli. Cut let’s say 5 cm of ginger in small bits. Start by glazing the shallots for 10 minutes in olive oil, making sure they will enhance the sweetness of the chutney. Then add all other ingredients to the pan, mix, add the grated ginger, the spices of your choice, mix and bring slowly to a simmer. We used vinegar and water given the acidity of our apricots. If your apricots are really sweet and ripe use 200 ml of vinegar. Spice-wise we prefer using cardamom, cinnamon, and a touch of cumin and nutmeg. Leave to simmer for at least one hour. Stir occasionally but gently. After an hour increase the heat and transfer to very, very clean glass jars. Close the jars, leave them to cool a bit, then put in cold water and later on transfer to the refrigerator.