Trinidad Mango Chutney
This chutney couldn’t be any easier. Just add all ingredients to your blender and finely blend. That’s it! In no time You can have some delicious chutney you can enjoy with anything!
Trinidad Raw Mango Chutney
A chutney is a relish that has Indian origins, made with some sort of fruit and/or vegetable, combined with other spices and herbs, and is used as a condiment in various dishes. In Trinidad, we use this to refer to a spicy or sweet topping for some of our savoury East Indian Delicacies such as Saheena, Baiganee, and Phulourie. But you know what else it goes great with? Kitcheree or Kitchari, which is a one-pot dish made with rice, split peas and tons of flavourings like onions, garlic and fresh green seasonings and herbs. This may seem like a weird combination, but I actually had it from one of my good friends, Amie, whose mom had made this one day when we were at her house. It really complimented each other very well.
Learning Time:
Common East Indian Savoury Delicacies found in Trinidad:
Saheena: Can be 1 of 2 types; both made with dasheen bush baji and a split-peas based paste seasoned with garlic, onions, hot pepper and fresh herbs.
Baiganee: Made with slices of eggplant/baigan, topped with a seasoned split peas-based paste and fried to a golden brown.
Phulourie : Savoury balls of a split peas-based dough seasoned with tumeric, garlic, peppers and fresh herbs, which are fried to perfection.
So by now, you can see that we use split peas as the base for many of these types of delicacies…..LOL….. And, the traditional condiment for them is usually a chutney which can be either raw/fresh, or boiled, and can be made with different types of fruits. The most common types in Trinidad are mango, pommecythere and tamarind, which all have a nice balance of tangy and sweet flavour, complimented with sufficient seasonings of garlic, peppers and fresh herbs. The good thing about this is that it is very versatile; there is no ONE way to make this. You usually go along with your preferences and adjust the sweetness, spiciness or tangy-ness to your liking. Is “tangy-ness” even a word? I don’t know for sure but it fits in with this description here….lol
Tips for making a trini-Style raw Chutney:
I made this with mangoes, but you can also make it with pommecythere and adjust the sugar depending on the sweetness of the fruits themselves.
Pommecythere
Make sure and use what we call “full” mangoes in Trinidad. Which are mangoes that are matured, and has not begun to ripen as yet. If you use young mangoes, it will be too sour and you may need a lot of sugar. If it is too ripe, then it will be too sweet.
This can be made the day before and kept in your fridge to be used the next day. Because I used water in this recipe, it can spoil if it remains out in the open for more than 1 day.
I like to add a little amchar/anchar masala for a little extra something that brings all the flavours together. You don’t have to add any, but when you taste the chutney with it, it’s that spice in the background that has you asking “ hmmm, what is that?”
Blend until smooth. It shouldn’t be too chunky; this ensures all the ingredients marry well together.
Don’t have a blender? No problem! It can also be grated on the fine side of your box grater. This was how my grandparents actually did it! And it does have a nice texture.
I like to use red pimentoes or hot peppers because it adds some nice colour to your chutney. But this is not a necessity.
Play around with your spiciness- add how much hot pepper you like. In Trinidad some like it HOT, others don’t. It’s all up to YOU.
Yield: about 2 cups.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of mangoes. Peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces- about 2 medium full mangoes.
3 medium garlic cloves
2 medium pimentoes
1/2 hot pepper such as habanero or scotch bonnet. OR more!
10-15 leaves of bhandania/culantro/chadon beni. If the leaves are small, then use more.
2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon anchar/amchar powder (optional)
1 cup water
Method
Add all ingredients to the blender, and blend until fine. If your mangoes are a little on the sour side, add more sugar by the teaspoon and taste until it’s appropriate.
Add more hot pepper if you like it HOT!
Have with your favourite savoury East Indian treat :)
