We are lucky to have an apple tree in our backyard and every fall we have tons of apples. While I could make the usual apple-based desserts – I find that uses very little apples and we end up eating lots of flour and sugar.

I experimented with chutney recipes in the past couple years and this recipe below that I’m sharing uses a ton of spices as spicy chutneys always seem to do. I skip the vinegar and add lemon juice. Also I have increased the ginger a lot. I find it comes kind-of close to a Sri Lankan chutney but the texture is soft and the taste of something as delicious as mango is not quite there in the apple. But it certainly makes an awesome condiment to any rice-and-curry meal.

Chutney uses up pounds of apples all in one go. And the best part is I can put them into little jars, freeze them and they keep through the winter when fresh apples are long gone. You could home-sterilize the bottles by putting them in boiling water, adding some pectin to the chutney and fill-up the bottles without air-gaps so they can be stored at room-temperature. My mother in law does this and makes jam as well. But I haven’t had the time to experiment. Instead I freeze them or gift them. I mostly use recycled jam-jars but this year I had more time for chutney-making so I bought a 12-pack of bottles. My daughter drew some cute apples on their labels. They make great gifts for friends.

Ingredients

3 lb apples, any variety
4 tbsp peeled sliced ginger
1 onion
1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar (depending on tartness of apples)
4 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp fennel seeds optional
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chili flakes
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom pods
1 inch piece of cinnamon
1.5 tsp salt
1/4 cup lemon juice

Instructions

Rinse the apples. Peel and chop them into rough-chop them into roughly 1/2 inch cubes. A few big pieces or small ones here and there are going to add more texture and taste. Also chop the onion into a small dice.
Peel and slice the ginger. Using the back of your knife gently squash the cardamon pods, save the seeds and discard the outer pod. Squeeze the juice out of the lemon – about 1/4cup of juice.
In a spice grinder grind the dry spices into a powder that is the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, cardamon seeds and the piece of cinnamon. (If you don't have a spice-grinder, a mortar and pestle works well for these dry spices and simply chop the ginger finely or use a microplane grater.)
Add the sliced ginger, lemon juice and extra 1/4 cup water and grind to a paste.
Heat coconut oil on medium heat in a pan big enough for all the chopped apples. Add the onions, add 1/2 tsp salt and fry on medium to low heat till they are soft.
Add the spice paste and stir around for 30 seconds. Add the apples, 1/2 cup of the sugar, 1 tsp salt and a cup of water. Stir well. Cover and let the mixture heat up.
Stir every 3 minutes or so and cook covered. After about 15 minutes the apples will begin to soften and let out their juice and the mixture will have a lot of liquid.
Rest of the cooking time can be uncovered for another 10 minutes or so. Taste and add more salt as needed. Depending on your taste add another 1/4 cup of sugar, this is needed especially if your apples were a little tart/sour to begin with.
When the mixture is mostly comprised of very soft, almost sauce-like apples it is done. There will be a few pieces that are not soft and that's fine it'll add texture to the chutney.

Spicy Apple Chutney