Banana Chutney

I know, this sounds different and it is something I would probably not have put together myself - however I came across a mention of banana chutney as being really nice with left overs from a big meal. Such as often happens when we have a feast!

Usually during any feast I am cooking up a storm and have found myself standing in the kitchen in my pajamas late in the afternoon having virtually not left the kitchen since my eyes opened in the morning - spending my day cooking.

The is serious stuff here for us and I wanted to try out some new tastes, textures and combinations of foods over this next little while. So, when I got to reading up on what to do with extra dates, I found a mention of this banana chutney which of course includes dates and a few other things.

Tonight, I decided to dive into making some and perhaps late next week we'll see how it tastes (it should be left to sit for about 10 days or so). It certainly smells lovely and even looks nice in a chutney sort of way.

Fruit and vegetables for Banana Chutney

For the chutney I mashed bananas, chopped apples, dried dates and apricots, sliced onions and diced garlic - this all went into apple cider vinegar to bubble away over half an hour or so. In the meantime part way through the cooking I added in some date syrup, water whenever it looked too thick, and spices (allspice, turmeric, ginger, salt, pepper, cumin).

Banana Chutney steaming away as it slowly cooks 

Once this was placed into jars and processed in the boiling water bath it turned out well and the jars sealed up. I am finding the larger jars take longer to seal and I really do prefer the screw top Kilner jars as opposed to the flip top lids. However, I will use anything that comes into the house at this point!

Apparently banana chutney is very nice served with cheese and crackers, leftover meat such as duck or lamb, salad and stirred into yogurt. When we have a feast day there is always lots of food left for the next meal, a nice chutney (or a couple of them) will add some interesting flavours to these meals and I can't wait to try them.

Well that's my story today - day 9 of my August cleanse, I was itching to cook something interesting and found it. Perhaps I will do some further searches to see what else I can find...

Have a healthy day!

April

Big jar of Banana Chutney