I was looking for a recipe for pickled spekboom and came across this chutney recipe from Suitcase & Chardonnay, a South African company based in Pretoria. Although it is basically the same recipe, I made a few changes and here is my version. Apparently, Renate had also made a few changes from the original recipe that she got from Kerry Kiplin. That’s the beauty of cooking – you make it to suit yourself!
Spekboom Chutney
I found the original recipe on Suitcase and Chardonnay's website, and she had adapted the recipe from Steenberg’s Executive Chef, Kerry Kilpin, which just goes to show that recipes are easy to change bit by bit until you have something that you love. I tasted this when it was cooking and decided it needed a bit more bite, so added some chili, and then I didn't like the colour so added paprika, which also changed the flavour into something with a bit more depth. Oh yes, there is also apple in this recipe - not sure how I misread the original recipe - I think I just assumed chutney had apple and added it. I couldn't find Kerry Kilpin's recipe, but you can see Renate's here
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Spekboom leaves
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 1 Granny smith apple, chopped
- 1/2 cup White vinegar
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Fennel seeds
- 1 tsp Brown mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Chili flakes
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Sweat the onions and spices until soft taking care not to turn brown.
- Add the spekboom and apple and cook for a further 3 minutes.
- Add the vinegar, sugar and salt.
- Cook for a further 15 – 20 minutes on a low heat or until a nice thick chutney type consistency.
- Taste and season further if required
- You will notice that the spekboom releases quite a lot of gooey liquid when cooking, this is quite normal.
- Pour into a sterilised jar and refrigerate.