Banana Chutney

I discovered that the bananas at the local general dealer were selling for under R5 per kilo, so bought two kilos and made banana chutney. It's delicious with curries!!! I'm puzzled though as when I did an internet search I couldn't find that bananas are in season? These were mostly small and some were not firm which made me think that they must be "local"? I did find this blog though that was some food for thought... It concerns sustainability and fairtrade regarding bananas - thought it to be educational.


Anyway, here is the Banana Chutney Recipe (courtesy of my friend Dawn):
1kg Peeled bananas, sliced
2 Green peppers, finely chopped (if you have an aversion, leave them out but just so that you know - you can't even taste them in the final concoction)
2 Onions, finely chopped
2 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
250g Sultanas
10ml (2t) Salt
1ml Pepper
10 ml Medium curry powder
5ml (1t) Turmeric
1 ml Thyme
1ml Ground cloves
750ml Vinegar (I use white)
500g Sugar

Combine all ingredients in a pot and simmer for 1 hour.

I doubled the recipe and added 2cm of freshly grated ginger this time. I also cooked my mix for longer than an hour to try and reduce the fluid. It didn't really work as quick as I wanted it to, so as I was making curry in a separate pot I ladled 3 soup spoons full of the fluid into the curry to help get the chutney to a thicker consistency. This did the trick, we filled 6 bottles ;-) Enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Adele, thanks for popping into Soonarmy - I'm so glad my post about Fairtrade bananas interested you!
    Is it possible the bananas you just bought are a different variety, locally grown? We used to buy lady fingers (smaller than Cavendish, but still slightly curved) and sugar bananas (short, and straight and a very pale yellow) in North QLD...I honestly had no idea that you could get any variety other than the standard commercial ones we import into New Zealand. So miss the different flavours now! Your banana chutney sounds delicious, especially with that added ginger zing!
    Amy

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  2. Hi Adele,
    I love your recipe for the banana chutney but it will be a while before I try it. Bananas are $15 per liko here is Australia. Normally $4. apx but after the floods the crops in Queensland were destroyed.
    I had my first banana yesterday in months, it was delightful.
    I see you read Down to Earth Blog. I love it too. I have just started blogging too, it is such fun.
    Dayla

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