Anna Hansen’s gooseberry chutney

Anna Hansen of The Modern Pantry is known for her interesting twists on traditional recipes. Growing up in New Zealand on a dairy farm, her Danish grandmother was a big influence on her early cooking. Here she creates an unusual chutney to serve with a selection of artisan British cheeses. For this cheeseboard she chose Dorstone, Corra Linn, Crozier Blue and Kirkham’s Lancashire, with Peter’s Yard crackers as the perfect canvas to show off the flavours.

You can watch Anna talking about how to create a perfect cheeseboard and making this recipe here on our YouTube channel.

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 250g gooseberries, frozen
• 200g greengage plums, stones removed
• 2 1/2 tsp panch poran
• 1 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
• 3/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 cloves
• 2 black cardamom pods
• 300g white onion, sliced
• 30g ginger
• 30g garlic
• 1 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 3/4 tsp chilli powder
• 3/4 tsp ground turmeric
• 120g palm sugar, or brown
• 75ml white wine vinegar
• 75ml water
• 50ml vegetable oil

Method

1. Cook the vegetable oil in a pan on a medium heat. Put cumin seeds, black cardamom, clove, fennel and panch poran in the pan and cook until aromatic. Then add in the sliced onion and fry until golden.
2. While the onions cook, blitz the ginger and garlic in a food processor with a splash of water to form a paste. Add this to the pan and cook for five more minutes.
3. Add turmeric, chilli powder, ground coriander, frozen gooseberries and plums to the pan. Mix together until well combined, and add the palm sugar, water and white wine vinegar.
4. Bring to the boil and then leave to simmer for around thirty minutes, until it forms a thick chutney-like consistency.
5. Once cooked, leave to cool and divide it into sterilised jars, seal and store at room temperature for 4-6 months. Refrigerate and once opened use within two – three weeks.

To eat, serve with a range of artisan cheese and Peter’s Yard crackers.

Our notes:

Panch poran: this is a mix of fenugreek, nigella, cumin, black mustard and fennel seeds in equal proportions. It is available ready mixed in some supermarkets but its easy to make your own. The seeds are kept whole never ground.

Recipe courtesy of www.greatbritishchefs.com