Gooseberry chutney

Ingredients

1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
500g gooseberries (or roughly two punnets)
2.5 cm ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
Three tablespoons of elderberry or other cordial (optional)
Handful of sultanas
4 dried apricots – finely chopped
Teaspoon of tamarind
1 fresh chilli – finely chopped, or a sprinkle of chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
Some honey – this will vary according to the ripeness of the gooseberries


Method

Heat the olive oil. Add the onions and cook for up to ten minutes under a really low heat, until they start to caramelise.

Add the ginger, garlic and chilli to the mix and cook for a further minute

Add the gooseberries and the brown sugar. Cook the mix for about 15 minutes – you may need to add a little water to get it going. Then add the rest of the ingredients, apart from the honey. Cook for a further 15 minutes.

Taste the mixture – it is likely to be quite tart, so add honey to sweeten. If the mix is not quite of chutney consistency, then you could add the juice of a lemon (which is high in pectin, which thickens jams and chutneys) and cook for a further period of 15 minutes. Again you may need to sweeten with some honey at the end.

Sterilise your jars by putting them in a low oven for about twenty minutes. Add the chutney to the jar and seal. This chutney doesn’t need to mature