Apple chutney with malay spices & raisins

Two marvellous things happen when you make this recipe:

your house smells just like Christmas even though its November
you have 4 lovely gifts to give away over the festive season

It a delicious and unusual chutney and will be perfect with sharp cheddar on a sandwich or served alongside a curry.

Since I’ve been so slack this year and haven’t done any Christmas baking, I enjoyed whipping this up in my kitchen last week. When I say quickly, the effort here is the peeling and chopping of the apples. The cooking takes a while but requires no work from you, and results in the most comforting seasonal smells.

Tru Cape apples sent the hamper with all the goodies, so admittedly this made things a whole lot easier. A rare treat not to have to think about creating a recipe and just doing it. It was a little bit of therapy for me on a very bad day. Thank you.

Recipe | makes 5 small jars (4 to giveaway and 1 to keep)

9 Apples (I used Granny Smith)
1t cinnamon
1t ground ginger
4-star anise pods
8 cloves
1 thumb of fresh ginger finely grated or diced
400ml apple cider vinegar
200g brown sugar
5 sterilised jars to pack in
130g raisins

Put the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and boil until you have a light syrup. Do this while you peel, core, and dice the apples into 1/2 cm dice and put in a bowl. Add all the spices and toss about. By the time you are finished this, the sauce would have started to go syrupy. Add the apples and spices to the syrup and cook with the lid on for about 1.5 hours on a low simmer. I removed the lid for the last half hour to allow some of the liquid to cook off.

Fill the jars and attach the recipe so that you spread the love even more. A fabulous Christmas gift idea.