What better way to re-live holiday memories and transport yourself to India for an evening than to enjoy a curry served with your own delicious mango chutney. 2 mangoes, peeled and chopped (I used frozen mango) 3 apples, peeled and chopped 2 onions, peeled and chopped 1 red capsicum, chopped (I used frozen capsicum) 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup vinegar 1/4 cup chopped ginger 1 tbsp lemon juice 2 tsp curry powder 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp … [Read more...]
Green Tomato Chutney
This recipe is a great way to use the green tomatoes that are invariably still left on your plants when you want to remove them to plant the winter vegetables. Or, as was the case for me this year, wanting to tidy up the garden before I went on my latest travels. You can scale the recipe up or down depending on how many tomatoes you have. The original recipe started with 5lbs (2 1/4 kg) - I have scaled it down to 1 kg of tomatoes, which gave me 10 of the 190ml jars I regularly use. 1 kg … [Read more...]
Zucchini Relish
Summer is time for growing zucchinis or courgettes and if, like me, you have ended up with more of them than you (and your friends) can eat now then making relish so that you can enjoy them later is a good thing to do. 4 cups finely chopped zucchini (courgette) 1 cup finely chopped onion 1 large red, yellow or orange capsicum (sweet pepper)* 1/2 cup finely chopped celery 2 tbsp pickling salt 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 1/4 cups vinegar (white or cider) 1 tbsp celery seed … [Read more...]
Tomato Relish
I use the good old Edmonds Cookbook recipe for this delicious tomato relish and am always amazed at how many 'rave reviews' and recipe requests I get. This is the cookbook owned by just about every New Zealander and covers a good range of basic recipes for all occasions. It is regularly updated though so perhaps not all recipes stand the test of time. My cookbook was printed in 1983 but the 100th year edition was published in 2008. We wait and wait for the tomato season to begin, eagerly … [Read more...]
Quick & Easy Berry Jam
Once you have berries in your freezer, you can quickly make some tasty jam whenever you need it. The wonder ingredient is Chelsea's Jam Setting Sugar. 1 kg Fruit 1 kg Chelsea Jam Setting Sugar A knob of butter (10g) Crush the fruit coarsely with a potato masher, fork or food processor. Or I simply heat the frozen berries until they are a bit mushy. Put the fruit and jam setting sugar into a large, heavy based 6 litre pot (I used a preserving pan). Heat over … [Read more...]
Cherry Guava Jelly
We can't grow the wonderful tropical guava in New Zealand but Cherry Guavas grow well here. They come in both red and yellow varieties. I have planted a few of these, mostly for screening and to fill awkward spaces. The fruit can be a bit inconspicuous, tucked away in the foliage but they come in late autumn when there is not a lot else around. I have tried making guava jelly (which was the only thing I had heard of doing with them) previously but managed to make a rather unappetising … [Read more...]
Spicy Plum Sauce
2.5 kg Plums (I used frozen) 1.5 litres Vinegar 1 kg Brown Sugar 2 tbsp Salt 2 cups Onion, finely chopped 3 cloves Garlic, crushed 1/2 cup Raisins 2 tbsp Soy Sauce 2 tsp Black Pepper 1 tsp each: Ground Cloves, Cinnamon, Ginger, Allspice, Cayenne Pepper Put frozen plums into a preserving pan and heat gently until plums thaw (remove stones if still in). If you want you can put plums, onion and garlic through a food processor to make a but I find that they soften … [Read more...]
Fickle Figs
My fig trees produced their first fruit this year – I was so excited. First of all I was just eating them fresh off the tree, savouring the novelty of fresh figs. I have only had fresh figs once before years ago when I happened to be visiting a property with large fig trees at just the right time. I came home with a bucket load of figs and made them into Fig & Ginger Jam - delicious! I was really keen to make this again but it seemed that the figs were only ripening 2 or 3 at a time and … [Read more...]
Grapefruit Marmalade
Grapefruit Marmalade is my favourite - just the right blend of bitterness combined with a caramelly sweetness. I find many of the store bought varieties just too sweet. My grapefruit tree isn't big enough yet to produce any fruit (well, it might have been this year but it sulked after I went away for a month in spring - which turned out to be a very dry month). Thankfully my friend Debbie has a grapefruit tree that produces well, so I was the grateful recipient of a big bag full. I thought … [Read more...]