AQ McElrath’s Mango Chutney
Oct 8th, 2009 by Capsun
Note: This is part of my (supposedly) Weekly AQ Wisdom special series. To see other posts in the series, click on the Best Bets tab at the top of any page here and scroll down to the “AQ McElrath” section. Material for this post was taken from information available at her Celebration of Life in February. “
As promised last week, here’s AQ’s chutney recipe. It appears in as close form to the original given to me – including typos and an aversion of capitalization. If you’ve been lucky enough to have it, you’ll be glad to finally have the recipe. I’ve only had it a couple times, but I know it was great, at least the way AQ made it. If you’re going to attempt this recipe, I sure hope you have a big pot!
MANGO CHUTNEY
(To be made with tender, loving care, diligence & devotion; the only extra-curricula activities permitted during cooking process is reading or listening to music.)
50 mangoes (use only common or Chinese mango, the latter when green, as even the half ripe can be too string)
peel mangoes and slice to the seed; soak with hawaiian salt (about a cup and a half) overnight, turning several times before you go to sleep. the next morning, the day of the cooking, rinse off well and drain in colanders (four if you have them) in equal parts.
1/2 cup chopped fresh ginger (see if you can get the young ginger, as this is much easier to chop than the old stringy nodes)
2 large onions chopped (maui onions are best if you can get them)
24 or so garlic cloves chopped (i do this by gee & by gosh, depend – on how you feel about garlic)
1 box seeded raisins (contains 15 oz.)
1 box currants (contains 12 oz, or perhaps 11 – i prefer the dark currants, although you can use the light type; in any event grab what you can as currants are not especially easy to find in the markets)
8 oz. box preserved (candied-crystallized) ginger (you can get this by wandering around the stores in chinatown) sliced or chopped
7 to eight pounds brown sugar (the amount you use depends on how sweet you want your chutney)
two to three quarts of cider vinegar (the amount you use depends on how rapidly the concoction begins to thicken)
1/4 to 1/2 chopped chili peppers (the amount you use depends on how how wyou want the chutney; i use the seeds as well as they give the hotness, otherwise what a damned job to separate seeds from pods!)
1 & 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 & 1/2 tsp cloves
1 & 1/2 tsp ginger
3 tsp allspice
1 can 6-oz slivered almonds (you can use more, if you like ‘em)
*****
bring vinegar, sugar and spices (nutmeg, cloves, ginger, allspice) to a quick boil, then let simmer for 1/2 to 1 hour.
add fresh & preserved ginger, garlic, onions, raisins, & currants; bring to boil and let simmer for half hour.
during this process, watch like a hawk; if you let the brew boil over, you’ve got one hell of a job cleaning up.
Mango Chutney
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add half of the mangoes, bring to boil, then let simmer to 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring all the time (i don’t mean you should stand over the pot, but about every five or so minutes, give the brew a thoro swish to keep from burning and to make sure that all the mango gets pretty well boiled down to form the thick part of the product.
then add the rest of the mangoes and almonds, bring to boil, then let simmer for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. the concoction is finished when the mango slices become translucent. stirl all the time so that you work in the second batch of mangoes with the almonds; also so that it won’t burn.
about the last 15 minutes before he chutney is done, sterilize your jars (which you have washed and prepared during the earlier process) and start melting your parafin (under slow fire in a can from which you took the almonds, bent so that you have a lip).
pour chutney to about half inch of top; seal with about 1/8 inch of parafin; let cool, then pour in another 1/8 to 1/4 inch, rolling hot parafin so that you get a complete seal.
the job of pouring in can be messy, especially if you don’t have wide mouthed jars, so keep clean sponges available to whipe of chutney that may spill over sides.
have fun; if you go thru this experience, you’ll turn out the world’s best chutney and save me the trouble of supplying you with it.
Mahalo!
***
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