Just been experimenting with a pickle/chutney side dish to go with a curry later today and have come up with this -

Lemon and Onion Chutney

Ingredients

1-2 onions (depeding on size)diced

2 dried red chillies

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli powder (depending on how much heat you want on top of the chillies)

1-2 tsp sugar

1 tablespoon of corriander stalks (the young fine type)

2 lemons *

salt and pepper (a pinch each)

olive oil for cooking

*using the juice from both lemons but the peel from only 1, make sure they aren't the waxed variety

Method

Soften the onions until a light golden brown then add the finely chopped lemon peel, the corriander stalks,finely chopped dried red chillies, paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper and the juice of the lemons. Stir together and add the sugar, mixing it in and allow to simmer for about 10-15 mins then put to one side to cool.

Makes a hot and sour chutney which can be served as an accompaniment to other dishes.

Well much to my shock and amazement it went down a treat !

As the curry was being dished up everyone was dipping into the chutney with some (shop bought) popadoms, even those that don't normally like spicy food went back for more !

looks like I'm going to have to make up a big batch next time.

Steve

As I was asked about keeping this in jars or in some container I've been thinking more and more about pickles and chuneys.

Pickles are kept fresh by the pickling agent (ie vinegar and salt)

Where Chutneys are kept fresh by cooking them and allowing the heat to create a vacuum as they cool in a sealed jar.

So I suppose you could save anything that you cook in a similar way ? Like a big pan full of curry into a sterilized jar and sealed (like you do with jam and chutneys) So you could keep it for a while before using it ( a bit like being able to can/tin your own food) - although I'm not sure why you would want to do this? Maybe to save time at a party or something?

Would the flavour of a curry mature if stored like this for say a week ?

Steve

Hi Steve, sorry to ask another question instead of answering yours...

any particular reason for coriander stalks and not chopped leaves?

pickles, Indian style, usually rely on an oil base to help in preservation, by excluding oxygen (suppressing aerobic bacteria) but if you don't follow instructions to the letter, you could end up with an anoxic environment when anaerobic bacteria can grow.

If you think aerobic bacteria are bad, then when it comes to anaerobic, be afraid, be very afraid!!!

Saying that, mixing citrus juice and oil is usually the way to go. In the UK, the sun cannot be relied upon to do the 'maturing', as in so many Indian recipes. I have used a ?wave oven for this step, which works well.

cheers

Waaza

Don't even CONSIDER canning curry by the method you describe! You can safely use Kilner-type (Mason) jars only with foods that are high sugar or high-acid (pH 4.6 or lower). Even modern tomatoes are less acidic and often require the addition of lemon juice or citric acid for canning.

I doubt curry sauce is high-acid (except maybe a true vindaloo?), and so would require processing in a pressure-cooker to raise the temperature.

Don't risk it. Use your freezer!

You learn something every day !

Thanks for that

(and stalks as I thought leave would cook into nothing where the stalks would leave something to chew on)

Steve