Indian Cranberry chutney recipe
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.
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.