Mango Chutney

India restaurants are known for their skimpy offerings of Mango Chutney. I always feel guilty asking my waiter for more of this cool and sweetly picked Middle Eastern condiment. But when you like spicy curries, then jam preserves-like Mango Chutney is needed to cool you down between hot bites. Well, now with The 99 Cent Chef latest recipe go ahead and bring your own! (Or at least get it out for at-home leftovers or orders to go.)

My Mango Chutney is spiced with easy-to-get cumin and cinnamon. Sauteed onion gives it a bit more volume, and sugar with vinegar provide the pickling ingredients.

Living in California, I always find mangoes on sale, and onions are cheap at any grocery store. You could get an expensive curry powder or just go with what I use, cheap ground cumin. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, cumin provides 75 percent of a typical curry powder mix. You can add cinnamon if you have it -- apple pies are not the only cooked fruit that benefits from this eatable ground tree bark.

The 99 Cent Chef Mango Chutney is not only for India entrees, you could use it for any favorite spicy dish. Pull it out for an entree that is served with rice, like my Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry, or Sweet and Sour Pork (click on the names to see my blog recipes.)

Ingredients

• 1-2 mangoes - remove peel and seed. About 1 to 1 1/2 cups of flesh.
• 1 onion - any type, chopped.
• 1/4 cup sugar  - or favorite sweetener, like honey.
• 1/4 cup vinegar - white, apple, or rice.
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin - or your favorite curry powder.
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon - optional
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil - for sauteing onions.
• Salt to taste

Directions
Add 1 tablespoon oil to a pot over a medium heat. Roughly chop one onion. Add it to the pot. Stir occasional. Cook until onion is soft, about 5-10 minutes.

Peel and seed mango. I even scrape, with a spoon, any flesh left on the peels and seed. Slice into large chunks (about 1 to 2 inch squares.) Add mango to cooked onion.

Add vinegar, sugar, cumin, cinnamon (optional) and a pinch of salt. Mix well.

 

Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook 15 minutes. Stir every once in a while.

Uncover and cook until liquid reduced by almost half - about another 10 minutes. If you like a bit of liquid in your chutney, then just reduce cooking time.

When done allow to cool, then keep Mango Chutney in the refrigerator until ready to use. It will thicken to a jam consistency as it cools down.

Hindsight

Mangoes are expensive, so I did a minimal recipe. If you are using 2 large mangoes, you can add another onion, but I would not add any more spices or sugar and vinegar. For 3 or more mangoes and onions, I would try about a 1/4 teaspoon more of spices, and a regular teaspoon of sugar and vinegar with each mango and onion you add.

Most recipes load up with sugar, but this recipe uses half the normal amount -- you could even add less, mangoes are plenty sweet by themselves. A lot of sugar and vinegar is used for pickling and preserving, but don't worry this Mango Chutney won't last long!