Indian Cranberry chutney

If you are a fan of sweet, sour, and spicy Indian chutneys, then this Indian-style cranberry chutney is perfect for you. You will be amazed to know of the many ways you can enjoy it.

Some of the traditional ways to serve this cranberry chutney are to serve it with rice and ghee or any kind of dosa as a side dish and it will for sure win the palates !! Looking for more versatile ways to use it, then use it as a spread on any sandwich or as a topping for your favorite crackers or just mix it with some yogurt and use it as a dip for anything you like.

Feel free to use the button at the top of the page to go to the recipe directly or the table of contents below to go to any section of the page you want. The recipe card has all the information that is needed to make the recipe perfectly. However, I try to provide as much useful information in the post for the readers who are looking for it.

Ingredients

Since this is a slightly out-of-the-ordinary recipe, Let's look at the ingredients once.

You will find the complete list of ingredients and amounts in the recipe card at the end of the post, but we will just look at the main ingredients here.

Since cranberries are very tangy berries, we will have to use something to balance that sourness and turn it into a spicy, sweet, and sour delicacy. So I used mustard powder, green chilies, and red chili powder for the spiciness, jaggery or sugar for the sweetness, and of course garlic and fenugreek powder (Methi powder) which gives a wonderful flavor and balances all the flavors together in any chutney.

If you are serving it with rice or dosa then do not forget to add the tempering at the end as that is a very important step to bring everything together. But if you are just using it as a dip, topping, or a spread then no need for tempering.

How to Make with step by step pictures

Let's look at the recipe instructions for making Indian-style cranberry chutney.

• Start with prep work by washing and roughly drying the cranberries and peeling and chopping the garlic. You can also use frozen cranberries for this chutney. Just make sure to cook on medium high until you evaporate all the extra water that comes out.
• Now heat oil in a pan and stir fry chopped garlic for few seconds without burning, then add fenugreek powder (methi powder) and mustard powder to the oil and fry for few more seconds before adding the next ingredients.
• Next add chopped green chilies and cranberries and mix well. Cook covered while stirring occasionally for the first 5 minutes to bring out the water in the cranberries and help them cook faster.
• Everytime you stir, try to smash the berries roughly with the spatula. Cranberries will slowly turn into mashed consistency as they cook down.
• After 5 to 7 minutes of adding cranberries, add sugar or jaggery, salt and red chili powder, mix well and cook uncovered to evaporate all the mositure and cook the cranberries further down.

• When all the moisture is evaporated and cranberries are cooked down properly into a thick mixture, check the taste to see if it needs any more of the seasonings and add if required. Turn off the heat and take the chutney into a serving dish.
• If you are planning to use it as a dip, spread or a topping then it is ready now. On the other hand, if you are planning to serve it with rice or dosa then please continue with the next step to add tempering to finish up the dish.
• Tempering: Heat oil in a small tempering pan, add split urad dal, mustard seeds, broken red chilies, curry leaves and hing (asafoetida). Fry them for few seconds until the dal turns golden brown and then add sone finely chopped onions and chopped cilantro. Stir fry the onions for a couple minutes just until they are slightly softened. No need to fry them for a long time. Now turn off the heat and add the tempering on top of the cranberry chutney in the serving dish and mix well before you serve.

More Indian recipes to try

• Tomato pachadi | South Indian Tomato chutney
• South Indian Boiled potato fry | Easy Potato Poriyal
• Bendakaya Pulusu | Sweet Sour & Spicy Okra Curry
• Indian style scrambled tofu curry | Scrambled tofu matar masala( Vegan)
• Apple Pumpkin Halwa | Easy Indian Pumpkin dessert

Tips for a delicious Cranberry chutney

Let's look at a couple of tips to make sure you make a delicious Indian cranberry chutney.

• Choose slightly ripe cranberries for this chutney and pick out any cranberries that have gone bad or overly softened before you use them in the chutney.
• It is better if you use freshly ground mustard powder and fenu greek powder to get the maximum flavors out. I usually just use mortar pestle for grinding the mustard powder in single use amounts and my nutri bullet to make small batches of fenugreek powder. dry roast the fenugreek seeds before grinding to get better flavor.
• Do not skip adding the jaggery or sugar. I feel it is very necessary in this recipe if you don't want an extremely sour chutney. The sweetness adds a very balanced taste to the chutney.
• If you are serving it with rice or dosa, then do not miss adding the tempering along with the onions. They add a wonderful crunch and flavor to the chutney.
• Cranberries cook pretty fast, so stay close and stir frequently while mashing, to avoid burnt taste.
• Adding tempering at the end usually brings down the spice level by a tad. so I suggest you fnish up the chutney by adding little more spice level than you prefer. Also I felt that this chutney feels lot less spicier when you eat it with rice than when you taste it as it is. So again, increase the spice level than what you prefer if you are planning to eat it with rice.

How to Serve

There are many ways in which you can use this Indian cranberry chutney recipe.

• Serve this cranberry pachadi with rice and ghee.
• Serve it as a side dish with any kind of dosa.
• Use it as a spread on the bread for sandwiches.
• Top your favorite crackers with this Indian style cranberry chutney and any cheese to serve as a snack.
• Mix it up with some greek yogurt and salt (if required) and serve as a cranberry yogurt dip or as a sauce in any wraps.
• Mixing it with some plain yogurt and eating it right out of the bowl like cranberry raitha is my favorite way of enjoying this chutney.

Let me know your favorite way of serving this cranberry chutney in the comments below if you get to try this.

Storing

Cranberry Chutney stays fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days. Try to keep it out on the counter at least an hour before you want to reuse it as usually chutneys are not reheated.

I personally don't prefer to freeze the chutneys as I feel they lose flavor.

Recipe

Indian Cranberry chutney recipe

Yamini

This spicy, sweet, and sour Indian cranberry chutney recipe is perfect for your chutney cravings. Serve it with rice, dosa, as a sandwich spread, topping for crackers , as a dip, or in any other innovative way you come up with.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Servings 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

  

• 12 oz Cranberries can use frozen cranberries too
• 2 tablespoons oil use sesame oil or canola or any neutral oil
• 5 big garlic cloves peeled and chopped
• 4 green chilies Thai chilies or serrano chilies works
• ½ teaspoon fenugreek powder methi powder
• ½ teaspoon mustard powder
• 1 tablespoon red chili powder adjust as per your spice level
• Salt to taste takes around 1.5 to 2 teaspoons, do not add all at once
• 2 tablespoons Jaggery or Sugar adjust as per taste
• For tempering also called tadka or popu
• 1 to 1.5 teaspoons oil
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon split urad dal
• 2 red chilies broken into pieces
• ¼ teaspoon hing asafoetida, skip or use gluten-free asafoetida for gluten-free version
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Instructions

 

• Start with prep work by washing, roughly drying the cranberries, and peeling and chopping the garlic. You can also use frozen cranberries for this chutney. Just make sure to cook on medium high until you evaporate all the extra water that comes out.
• Now heat oil in a pan and stir fry chopped garlic for a few seconds without burning, then add fenugreek powder (methi powder) and mustard powder to the oil and fry for a few more seconds.
• Next, add chopped green chilies and cranberries and mix well. Cook covered while stirring occasionally for the first 5 minutes to bring out the water in the cranberries and help them cook faster.
• Every time you stir, try to smash the berries roughly with the spatula. Cranberries will slowly turn into mashed consistency as they cook down.
• After 5 to 7 minutes of adding cranberries, add sugar or jaggery, salt, and red chili powder, mix well and cook uncovered to evaporate all the moisture and cook the cranberries further down.
• When all the moisture is evaporated and cranberries are cooked down properly into a thick mixture, check the taste to see if it needs any more of the seasonings and add if required. Turn off the heat and take the chutney into a serving dish.
• If you are planning to use it as a dip, spread, or topping then it is ready now. On the other hand, if you are planning to serve it with rice or dosa then please continue with the next step to add the tempering to finish up the dish.
• Tempering: Heat oil in a small tempering pan, add split urad dal, mustard seeds, broken red chilies, curry leaves, and hing (asafoetida). Fry them for a few seconds until the dal turns golden brown and then add some finely chopped onions and chopped cilantro. Stir fry the onions for a couple of minutes just until they are slightly softened. No need to fry them for a long time. Now turn off the heat and add the tempering on top of the cranberry chutney in the serving dish and mix well before you serve.

Notes

• Choose slightly ripe cranberries for this chutney if available or else you can adjust the sweetness based on how sour the cranberries are.
• If you are serving it with rice or dosa, then do not miss adding the tempering along with the onions. They add a wonderful crunch and flavor to the chutney.
• Cranberries cook pretty fast, so stay close and stir frequently while mashing, to avoid a burnt taste.
• Adding tempering at the end usually brings down the spice level by a tad. so I suggest you finish up the chutney by adding a little more spice level than you prefer. Also, I felt that this chutney feels a lot less spicy when you eat it with rice than when you taste it as it is. So again, increase the spice level than what you prefer if you are planning to eat it with rice.

Keyword Cranberry chutney recipe Indian, cranberry recipes Indian, Indian Cranberry Chutney

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