October Spice Trail Challenge: Fiery Pineapple Chutney

Vanesther of Bangers and Mash blog has chosen Preserves & Pickles as the theme for this October’s Spice Trail challenge, and as pineapples go so well with so many spices and are currently very cheap and plentiful I have picked this 'fiery pineapple chutney' for my entry.

My recipe is based on one from food.com which I found playing around with the yummly recipe search site. I do like some of the search options they have used so you can put emphasis on tastes such as saltiness, bitterness and also filter by seasons, cooking methods, diet restrictions etc.

I am still using up the chilli crop so any recipe which includes chillis is a bonus right now. I only changed the recipe a little to use more whole spices than powdered ones and also to miss out the pureeing of some of the pineapple at the beginning.

I think this would go very well with a chicken or pork curry or bbq dish if you wanted to have a home made relish to serve alongside. The chutney is quite low in the usual preservatives of vinegar sugar and salt so would have to be kept in the fridge and used up a lot faster than a traditional chutney. After making the original version (left spoon) I made a spicier and dryer version (right spoon) to see if it would store longer but I actually prefer the flavour of the original batch which was far more fruity.

Recipe

Equipment: stick blender/mini chopper/liquidiser

Ingredients:

1 large pineapple
150g caster sugar
1.5 tsp cumin seed
0.25 tsp ground cinnamon
0.25tsp chilli pepper flakes or cayenne pepper (I use Turkish or Korean pepper flakes)
0.25tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 rounded tsp freshly grated ginger root
1 level tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon
2 red chill peppers chopped (heat level to your own taste!)
a small mild flavoured onion thinly sliced

to serve 1 tsp freshly chopped mint (optional)

• Peel and core the pineapple and chop into roughly 2cm cubes/chunks.
• Place all of the ingredients except the mint into a saucepan and bring to a boil stirring to dissolve the sugar.
• Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and continue to cook for 25-30 minutes stirring regularly until the pineapple is tender and most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. 
• Using a stick blender part puree the mix. You want to end up with about half puree / half chunks or just puree until you have the texture you would like. If you do not have a stick blender and are using a mini chopper or liquidiser just remove a portion of the chutney and blend briefly before adding it back to the main pan.
• Check for seasoning and chilli heat. You could add extra chilli flakes at this stage.
• Quickly bring back to the boil and then pour into a heat proof bowl and allow to completely cool.

Allow the chutney to sit for at least a few hours before using. If you want the add the mint, then this goes in just before serving.  I didn't add any to mine but would if it was being served with something like a chicken curry.

This chutney does however, go extremely well with toasted cheese and I never thought I liked cheese and pineapple!