When I recently visited Orford I took this photo of some pumpkins that my Auntie Chrissie's grew. I think that they will be used by my cousin's daughter and children in the village for a Halloween celebration and they will make jack-o-lanterns with them. It's been so suddenly autumnal this week, the leaves are changing, the sky has been blue, the air is crisp and I've debuted my gloves, hat and winter cape. The hypothalamus in my brain also gets super active this time of year and decides that my normal sleeping patterns are inadequate, that I should probably stay warm by drinking lots of red wine and eating as much as possible. Having seen some lovely orange pumpkins I thought that I would make a pumpkin chutney. I was thinking of what ingredient to team up with the pumpkin and with pomegranates being in season I thought that they would nicely accompany one another and that some Asian spices would work with the flavour and texture of the both.
They certainly looked nice and colorful together.
I peeled, deseeded and chopped two pumpkins...
I separated the seeds of two pomegranates...
I added them together with two onions, garam masala, curry powder, some cider vinegar and a bit of water to help the pumpkin to soak up all the lovely flavours. You can add more or less spices according to your own taste and use less water if you prefer a chunky chutney or more if you prefer a smoother one.
Combine all the ingredients and stir for an hour or so.
Place the chutney while piping hot into sterlised jars and lid. I ended up with about 16 x 275g jars.
So here are a few of the finished jars. This week I've been eating the pumpkin and pomegranate chutney with some cheese melted and toasted in a tortilla wrap for lunch. Well actually, I've been having a range of Smy Chutney cheese wraps for lunch this week and as a snack. I've had rhubarb chutney, tomato jam, and six-pepper jelly cheese wraps as well, all were very nice if I don't say so myself. Getting back to the pumpkin and pomegranate chutney, it also went really well as an accompaniment to a chick pea and chorizo rice dish that I make at least once a fortnight.
and remember...
it's not your chutney...
it's Smy Chutney.