Indian Style - Bell Pepper Chutney

My Chutney Label Design

 

Acording to Wikipedia: A chutney is a spread typically associated with cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt, or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion, or mint dipping sauce.

My version for this condiment has more to do with what produce I have available from my garden and need to preserve or pickle to keep and store for use later before they would spoil. Pickling low acid vegetables is a safe way to preserve these using a simple water-bath canning process. I often make pickles or relish, but making exotic chutney is an interesting alternative.

I cleaned out my garden and greenhouse before we got a hard freeze and I made lots of my oven roasted tomato sauce. I also needed to preserve my bell peppers before they go bad. I usually make pickled peppers or sweet pepper relish. I have a favorite recipe for Indian style Chutney made with green tomatoes so I decided to make chutney with my bell peppers instead.

I started with my Green Tomato Chutney recipe that calls for 2 cups of chopped green tomatoes but I used bell peppers because that's what I had and I had a lot. After seeding and running through my food processor I had 30 cups of chopped bell peppers so I had to scale up my recipe. I needed 2 pots for preparing and cooking my chutney. This chutney needs to cook down and reduce to thicken and blend flavors like making Apple Butter.

The original Green Tomato Chutney Recipe that I found online:

2 C chopped Green Tomatoes - I used Bell Peppers
1 C chopped Granny Smith apples
1/2 C Sugar - I use Stevia sweetener
1/2 C golden raisins
1/2 C chopped onion
1/4 C cider vinegar
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 T lemon juice
1 T grated ginger root - I use minced ginger
1 tsp Tamarind concentrate
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Cayenne pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground Cardamom
1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground Allspice
2 garlic cloves minced - I use crystalized Garlic powder

Adjust sweetener and hot cayenne spice to your taste. This chutney  needs to slow cook down to reduce and thicken. This can take 1-2 hrs. Watch closely and stir often so it doesn't burn.

Fill sterile mason jars and water-bath process 30 minutes for pints. Cool on a rack overnight.

 
 
 
 

Chopped bell peppers, granny Smith apples, raisins, onions, ginger, tamarind, cayenne pepper, cardamom, allspice, cinnamon, lemon, salt, vinegar, and stevia sweetener. My scaled up amounts were probably not exact, but I think it turned out great. The result was ‘kinda’ sweet - with complex exotic flavors and spicy-hot but not killer-hot and just right!

 
 

As an added note: I like to design and print labels for some of my jars since many of my preserved Jams, Pickles, and Relish end up as gifts to friends and family. It is just another creative outlet, along with gardening and cooking, that I enjoy. Computer Graphics and a good inkjet printer are all that it takes and I use round Avery brand sheet labels that fit jar lids.