MATTYB'S MANGO CHUTNEY

The Christmas jam and chutney marathon continues but this time with something new. Having stumbled across Nigella seeds whilst perusing around Spice Mountain's stall at Borough Market I snapped them up with thought of trying out a mango chutney this year. Great on a cheese board or with that turkey curry you make with your leftovers, it's another fab homemade gift you can dish out this Christmas time that will really put a smile on the face of your friends and family.

So for this recipe you need around 2kg of ripe mangoes. For those of us who don't carry a set of scales around with us this equates to around the size of 3 large mangoes twice the size of your fist. Hope that makes sense. When your cutting them up make sure you catch all the juice that will come off and cut into different sized chunks no bigger than your thumb. A lot of flesh and juice will cling to the stone so make sure you scrape off this flesh and squeeze as much juice off as you can. You want as much of that mango in your chutney as possible.

I have a lot of jam and preserving sugar in my kitchen around Christmas time but don't worry if you don't or can't find any. Normal granulated sugar will do the trick too.

Cardamon, cumin and coriander seeds offer up the best mango chutney spice in my eyes. The nigella seeds will really make it pop but are not essential to the recipe so don't worry if you can't find them as they can be hard to find in conventional supermarkets. I got mine from Spice Mountain in Borough Market, London and you can order them online from their website or try your nearest world food store if you don't have the funds or time for delivery. 

Chili's make an appearance too. You all know I loves the chili but this merely my preference. You can leave them out if you wish or if you don't want the chili kick to be too strong then deseed and throw them 10 minutes towards the end of the final simmering stage. The spice will be a lot gentler. 

Give yourself a lazy afternoon and give this chutney a good brewing. You can store in sterilised jars for around three months and I would leave it a month in the jar initially to really let the flavors meld and grow. Recipe below will make enough to roughly fill a 1 litre jar.

Mango Chutney

2kg Ripe Mango 

500ml White Wine Vinegar

 400g Preserving Sugar

Seeds Of 8 Cardamon Pods

1 Tsp Coriander Seeds

1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tsp Chili Powder

2 Grated Garlic Cloves
1 Tbsp Grated Ginger

Salt And Pepper To Season
2 Tsp Nigella Seeds

1 Finely Chopped Whole Chili 

1. Take the vinegar and sugar and place in a large pan (big enough to hold all the above ingredients) on a medium heat and stir continuously until all the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear. Crack up the heat to bring to a boil and then reduce to a strong simmer for around 10 minutes.
2. Whilst the pot simmers, take the time to prepare the mango as detailed above. Capture as much juice and flesh as you can and leave to one side.
3. Use a pestle and mortar to grind the cardamon, coriander seeds, cumin, chili powder, garlic and ginger together into a paste like consistency and add to the mango along with the whole nigella seeds.
4. Season the mango mix with a pinch of salt and pepper and add in the chili now if you like it hot. If you don't, see my guide above.
5. By now the ten minutes simmer should be over so add the spiced mango into the sugary vinegar and give everything a good mix.
6. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover for 1 hour, stirring every five minutes or so to stop anything catching on the bottom of the pan.

Your chutney is ready once it has reduced to a nice thick sticky syrupy like consistency. Remove from the heat and transfer immediately to your sterilised jar and seal. In a months time you will have a beautiful sticky mango chutney to give as something different this Christmas. Perfect for all that left over turkey.

Just make sure you keep some for yourself. You don't want everyone to have all the fun now do you!