Caribbean Chutney Rapture
Chutney, that wonderful Indian invention! I can lay claim to it because My Dad is a Jamaican Indian.
We had chutney every Christmas as both Mum and Dad Love their chutney. they also love pickled gherkins, and those tiny little pickled onions. My favourites were the cranberry jelly and the mango chutney.
During the 1980s, mum decided that she would make her own chutney. There was I, the unwilling ‘helper’, artfully dodging the Caribbean food Queen’s wooden spoon which would frequently scythe toward me when I hadn’t completed a task correctly.
Was it REALLY my fault one year when I accidently left out the sugar? Or the year she left me totally in charge, only to return to the smell of burning metal?
How did these misdemeanors happen?
Well you have to understand – I went nowhere without a book when I was a child, I walked to school reading a book, went shopping reading a book, and was usually reading a book when my parents instructed me to do something. I was a book demon!
The consequences I’m afraid were that I only picked up bits and pieces of what they had said.
Still, I think my mum missed her calling. She should have invented a chutney factory. I can picture it now, piles and piles of over ripe fruit. Vats of vinegar whose aroma would sting one’s eyes like sharp darts. Mountains of sugar you could ski down, and hundreds of Jars eerily humming a low tune as they waited to be filled.
Of course now her chutneys are to die for. At first your taste buds are gently caressed with the honey sweet taste of fruit, after which there is an explosion of peppers, onions and ginger slowly saturating your mouth filling your being with Caribbean sunshine, and leaving you totally satisfied.
Absolutely Divine!
Try the recipe below for a little sunshine happiness:
ANGELI’S CARIBBEAN RHUBARB RAPTURE
INGREDIENTS
50g Fresh Root Ginger chopped
5ooml Cider vinegar
700g Cooking apples
700g Rhubarb
250g Cranberries (I used the ones sweetened with apple juice)
500g onions chopped
650g Raw cane sugar
2 teas chopped garlic
1 tblsp Pimento berries (grind in pestle and morter)
1/2 tblsp black peppercorns (grind in pestle and morter)
2 teas finely ground cinnamon
1 tblsp salt
1 teasp finely chopped scotch bonnet pepper.
2 tblsp Martell cognac.
METHOD
Wash peel and roughly chop apples into small pieces.
Wash trim and chop rhubarb into approx 2cm chunks.
Peel and wash onions, then finely chop.
Now crush and finely chop the ginger. Next using a pestle and morter, or a coffee grinder, grind the pimento berries and peppercorns.
Now finely chop the scotch bonnet pepper.
Put all the ingredients EXCEPT THE RHUBARB into a large stainless steel pan, and on a medium High heat, bring to the boil. Now turn down heat so that everything is simmering and bubbling. REMEMBER, NO LID. Put your timer on for 50mins and give the mixture a good stir every so often as this will prevent it from sticking.
After 50mins add the Rhubarb and cook for another 20mins. Once the time is up turn off the heat and add the cognac. Give another good stir and leave mixture for approx 10mins before putting into jars.
THE JARS.
To sterilise your jars make sure you wash both jars and lids in hot soapy water. You can then rinse them off in the dishwasher on a hot rinse, or rinse by hand in hot water. I usually put them in a solution of milton and water for about 10-15 mins, rinse off and then place in a hotish oven around 150c/fan 140c/gas for about 10 mins.
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Caribbean food king? My dad – ‘Mr T’
My dad recently passed away, he was a fiercely loyal, loving father with a strong family ethic.
I love my dad, and I miss him greatly, I am coming to terms with the fact that he has gone, and I can no longer talk to, or share a joke with him. As a family we are still in the grieving process and still trying to get our heads over what has just happened.
Last year he had been diagnosed with asbestos related cancer, and this weakened his immune system greatly. His passing was still a shock because he had been told that the cancer was stable and was not moving, he had gone to Jamaica in the spring, and came back looking very healthy. However, events took a turn for the worse very quickly, it seemed that he had contracted a chest infection which was complicated by the cancer. One thing led to another and within a week of him being admitted to hospital, he had gone.
My dad grew up on a farm. There were goats, chickens, cows, coffee, chocolate, sugar cane ,star apples ….I could go on. He wasn’t a great caribbean food cook when we were little because my mum was so good, he couldn’t be bothered. Still she had to work, and they were a team so he persevered, and actually became quite good.He always said that while growing up in Jamaica, when it came to food, he wanted for nothing, because they grew everything they needed to survive. Earlier in the year we were joking about Puri Dahl, which is one of his favourite caribbean food snacks. I had made them for him but had made them just a bit too hard – the joke was how long it was taking him to eat and digest them.
I didn’t feel that I could carry this blog on , but now I think I owe it to my dad who together with my mum looked after us, and is there for us 1oo% .
Working with asbestos, was the ultimate death sentence as it takes 30-40 years to develop . We knew that he loved us and would have died for anyone of us. In the end he died for all of us thanks to the asbestos he had unwittingly inhaled all those years ago when I was little .
I love you dad.
Angeli xo