Christmas Day is all about gifts, spending time with your loved ones, and great food. And, quite often, so is Boxing Day! While we don’t often eat quite as much, everyone’s still picking, and that’s when snacks, leftovers and condiments come into their own. A jar or two of chutney is the perfect accompaniment to Boxing Day food, and they also make a great gift too. Here are two mouth-watering recipes to try. 

Sterilising jars in the microwave.

Before we get onto recipes, you need to know how to sterilise jars, so they are safe to use to store your homemade chutney. Sterilising jars in microwave appliances is one of the easiest ways to do it. Here’s how:

  1. Remove labels and clean the jars with hot, soapy water.
  2. Place in the microwave, turn the dial to high, and set it for 30 to 45 seconds.
  3. Dry thoroughly, placing the jars upside down.
  4. You can’t sterilise metal lids in the microwave, so you’ll need to cover the tops with wax, or buy new lids. 

Cranberry chutney

It doesn’t come much more festive or traditional than cranberries. And what better accompaniment is there to leftover turkey and crackers than a fruity chutney? You can add this to a turkey sandwich for a delicious lunchtime snack.

 

Ingredients:

450g cranberries

350g demerara sugar

425ml red wine vinegar

2tbsp grated fresh ginger

2 cinnamon sticks

2 oranges – zested and juiced

Medium red onion, chopped

1tsp ground cloves

1tsp salt

 

Method:

  1. Place all of the ingredients into a large, shallow pan and bring to a simmer.
  2. Let the ingredients cook on the low heat for around 45 minutes. You’ll see bits float to the top, and maybe even a film, but you can ignore them, as they’ll quickly disappear.
  3. Continue to let things bubble and reduce until you can run a spoon through the mix and it doesn’t collect a pool of liquid.
  4. Once you’re happy that it’s thickened up to your desired consistency you can remove from the heat.
  5. Let the chutney cool and then pour into sterilised jars. Never pour the mixture into glass jars when hot, as you could crack them… and cause a jammy explosion!

Cranberries are such a Christmas staple, that it’s good to have a few cranberries recipes up your sleeve at this time of year.

 

Spiced Apple Chutney

 

This delicious spiced apple chutney recipe is another tasty option and one that’s great for savoury and sweet dishes. Place some on top of a cracker or a piece of bread and cheese.

 

Ingredients:

3 Bramley apples – peeled, cored and chopped

400g golden caster sugar

375ml white wine vinegar

500ml water

1 chopped and de-seeded large red chilli

1 piece of peeled, shredded root ginger (about the size of your thumb)

2 onions – thinly sliced

1 cinnamon stick

10 green cardamom pods

½tsp coriander seeds – lightly crushed

½tsp ground turmeric

½tsp cumin seed

¼tsp black onion seeds

2tbsp sunflower oil

1tsp salt

 

Method:

  1. In a large and deep pan, heat your sunflower oil and soften the onion. Add the ginger and cook for around 10 minutes until golden.
  2. Throw in your spices, leaving the turmeric to the side for now, and toast for a minute or so.
  3. Sprinkle the turmeric in, stir and add the apple with 500ml of water. Cover your pan, cook for 10 minutes and then drop in your sliced chilli. Simmer the mixture for 20 minutes, or until the apple has broken down.
  4. Stir in sugar and salt and pour in the vinegar. Simmer uncovered for half an hour, stirring frequently.
  5. Once the ingredients have reduced to a pulpy texture you can remove from the heat, set aside to cool and then spoon into your sterilised jars.

 

You can find more recipes using apple here.

 

Images: www.pixabay.com

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