Chutney and Bean Cakes

Yes, it's that time of year again! And, although I don't want to mention the C word, if you want to have a nice, mature chutney to go with your left-over goose, your Christmas Eve ham and your nice bit of Stilton, you've got to get cracking as a chutney often takes two months or so to mature. Also, many gardeners are dealing with October gluts. Lots of apples, onions and over-grown courgettes for the taking, and this chutney uses all of these ingredients. It's a good all-rounder and cheap to make. Anyway, here's the recipe, slightly adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall' s original.

500g marrow (or overgrown courgette/squash)
500g green tomatoes/any tomatoes really
250g cooking apples (about 1 large apple)
250g onions (about 3 medium sized English onions)
250g sultanas (or raisins or currants, whatever)
250g brown sugar (you can use soft brown or demerera)
350ml of cider vinegar (that's a whole bottle, generally)
1 tsp of chilli flakes (optional, but a very nice addition)
Spice bag of 6 cloves, 1 tsp peppercorns, 1/2 tsp coriander seeds (my tip is to use an odd children's sock as a spice bag...don't say yuck, they're clean!)

Roughly chop all that needs to be chopped and pop it in a large, heavy based stew pot/preserving pan with the sultanas, sugar, vinegar and spices. Bring to a gentle boil, simmer for around 2 hours.

When the chutney is done it looks dark and mushy and nice. Also, you can divide the mush with a wooden spoon and see the base of your pan easily as you divide. Place into sterilized jars. This amount of chutney fills three medium sized Hellman's mayonnaise jars.
Leave to mature for a month or two and enjoy with your Christmas cold cuts! Or...why not try it with these bean cakes, the recipe for which I adapted from the original Cranks cookbook.

8 oz of dried beans, or chick peas, soaked overnight in lots of water
2 tsp of garam masala, or any curry-type spice mix you like
3 big cloves of garlic, crushed
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of chopped, fresh coriander, if you have it
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
Flour for coating the cakes

Boil your beans until nice and tender, how long depends on the age and type of bean you use. You can test one by squashing it between your fingers, if it's nice and mushy then they're done. Drain your beans. Fry your onion, pepper and garlic in a little oil or butter. Pop your beans in your food processor and briefly blitz them. Don't go overboard, you want some texture remaining. Add you onion mix, spices, coriander and season really, really well. Form them into smallish cakes, just as you would crab cakes or fish cakes. If you think your mixture is too dry to form the cakes, mix in a little beaten egg. Then I like to put the cakes into the fridge for an hour , they seem to behave better in the pan if they've rested in the fridge for a while. Once they've rested, dip them in beaten egg, then in a little flour. Get some oil nice and hot in your frying pan and fry the cakes two or three at a time (no more, overcrowding the pan is disastrous!) for two minutes on each side. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with salad and salsa or in wholemeal rolls with lettuce and chutney!

Ladies, if you're thinking of venturing into the wonderful world of pulse cookery then I why not try these sites, vegetarians know a thing or two about dealing with beans and lentils. Also, I can highly recommend Claudia Roden's Middle Eastern Cookery and anything by Madhur Jaffrey, pulses need a bit of spice and these writers know a great deal about the mysteries of the eastern cooking!