I woke up this morning to heavy gray clouds and the sound of thunder. We have been waiting for rain for a while now, in September we had 2 days and before that it was prior to summer. So even though the temperature has dropped, the land is still quite dry. So waking up to rain clouds, was a wonderful sight to behold.
I was meant to be meeting up with some friends to make some chutney, but there was no way I was taking my girls out in the rain for a 40 minute walk. So I cancelled and decided to make some Relish instead. I was meant to be making spiced beetroot and orange chutney, but I had didn't have any beetroot, I was contributing other ingredients.
What I did have was lots of carrots and apples, oh and oranges too. So Carrot and ginger relish it was!
Ingredients
About a kilo of carrots
4 apples
2 Oranges
3 tsp Mustard seeds
2 tsp Cardamon seeds
4 tsp Coriander seeds
About a finger size of Ginger (I love ginger)
250ml Apple Cider Vinegar
200g Coconut Sugar (I wanted to use dates instead, but my girls had eaten most of them.)
First of all, I prepared my spices. I removed the cardamon seeds from the pod and gently crushed the coriander seeds. I cut the ginger up into thin strips and measured out my mustard seeds. I then put all of the seeds into a pan on a medium heat, so that they could release some of their oils.
Whilst I was doing that, two of my girls had begun grating the carrots and apples for me. They then, passed it over to me to complete, when their hands got tired.
Then I prepared the oranges, by grating off their zest and then juicing them. These are oranges from the land I live on and I had just picked them that morning, they smelled amazing.
Then it was time to add the carrot and apple to the spices, along with the ginger. I stirred them well, so that they all combined and the aroma was already quite amazing at this point. I love ginger, so I added quite a nice amount, so it is up to you to decide how much you want to add.
Then it was time to add the orange zest and the orange juice. Yum, I couldn't help but try a little as I mixed this all together. I then added the apple cider vinegar and mixing it well again, until it was all combined.
Next up was the coconut sugar. I really like to avoid using sugar to sweeten chutneys and relishes, instead using dates. But as I mentioned already, my girls had eaten nearly all of my dates, so I ended up using coconut sugar as well, which is a lot more nutritious that cane sugar.
I left it on a low to medium heat, until the carrots had soften and most of the liquid had evaporated and it was quite syrupy. You really need to keep an good eye on it, as it can stick to your pan easily and end up burning ,make sure to stir it regularly.
Whilst it was simmering away, I washed 4 jars of various sizes, as you can see above and put them into a hot oven for about 15 minutes to sterilize them. Once the relish was cooked, I let it cool slightly before jarring it. There was a little left in the pot, so I ate it with some avocado and it was delicious!
I must say, it was really lovely to have the truck full of the aroma of these amazing spices as it was cooking and now as I write this, it lingers still. I will wait a week or two until I open them, so that the flavours infuse even more.