Apple-Mint Chutney

(from Apples: A Country Garden Cookbook by Christopher Idone)

It is easy to find recipes that pair apples with pork, I have yet to find one that matches apples with lamb. People eat mint sauce on lamb, so how about this apple-mint chutney? John ate it alongside lamb stew and gave it the thumbs up. We ate it again as a condiment for dal. Try it on rice or pork or with your favorite curry. Pretty good right from the spoon.

The recipe calls for three tamarind pods or ½ cup of canned tamarind paste.  I have no idea where to find tamarind pods in Waldo County so I bought a jar of the paste at the Belfast Co-op Store. It worked well and was easier than soaking the seeds, squeezing out the pulp and straining.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup canned tamarind

  • 1/3 cup water

  • 6 tart apples (I made this once with two Wolf Rivers and another time with two Twenty Ounce – the recipe recommends a Greening) – cored and diced

  • ½ cup brown sugar

  • 1/3 cup cider vinegar

  • 1 tsp chili powder

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 2 tsp dried mint

Directions

  1. Place all ingredients in a nonreactive pan.  

  2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes until the apples are tender and the mixture is thick and pink.

  3. Remove from heat, and cool.

  4. Keeps in the refrigerator up to two weeks.  Makes about one quart.