Getting a bit carried away

Ok, so this morning I was awake at 6am. I hadn't slept well... I was too excited about making chutneys and relishes. The colours, the flavours, the textures, the simplicty... the whole chuck-a-bunch-of-fruit-and-veg-in-a-pot-with-vinegar-sugar-and-spices-and-see-how-you-go. I love it.

So anyway, I'd planned originally just to make some caramelised red onion relish and orange curd. My list kind of grew to also include cranberry relish, date chutney and spicy carrot chutney. Oops! Before I forget what I did or throw out what I wrote, here's my recipes.

CRANBERRY RELISH

For this one I looked at a variety of recipes for inspiration, and then to the fridge/freezer for inspiration, and kind of made it up from there.

1 large onion, diced

250 g frozen cranberries, thawed

1 granny smith apple, diced

1 stick celery

75 g chopped dried apricots

175 g brown sugar

1/2 tsp curry powder

2 shakes ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

120 g sultanas

1 cup water

1. In a dutch oven, gently saute the onion in a bit of oil for 4-5 mins until softened. Add spices to the pot, cook for another minute.
2. Add all other ingredients, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20-30 minutes.
3. Take off heat, and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes to allow the mixture to thicken.
4. Transfer to sterilised jars, process for 20 mins in a water bath.

PRUNE CHUTNEY

I based this one on this recipe. I think this is my favourite one of the day. The texture and taste was just perfect. Can't wait to try it in a few weeks after it's matured a bit.

1.5 cups dried prunes

1.5 cups water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 sml onion, minced

1 tomato, chopped

2 tsp yellow mustard seeds

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

cayenne pepper to taste

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp brown sugar

1. In a container, combine the prunes and water. Allow to soak and plump up while other ingredients are being prepared.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil, add the onion and cook over moderately high heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato and cook until slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Add the mustard seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg and crushed red pepper and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
3. Stir in the prunes and their liquid, the vinegar, brown sugar and salt and simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until jamlike, about 20 minutes.
4. Transfer to sterilised jars, process for 20 mins in a water bath.

And finally, for the carrot chutney, I actually followed a recipe exactly (for a change). Check it out here. I made double quantity because we had a lot of carrots to be used up ASAP.