A few weeks ago, as I was rummaging through my little black recipe box, I ran across a yellowed snippet I cut out years ago from one of those old-school women’s magazines perched at the grocery store checkout. This is a long-time habit of mine— hoarding recipes— and I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit that I frequently don’t get around to making the things that intrigue me enough to impulse-buy a magazine or cookbook. Or if I do make one of these recipes, I change it up so much that it barely resembles the thing that caught my eye in the first place. Blogging has changed me for the better, though, and I’ve been revisiting my box full of clippings, even creating a culinary bucket list of things to try.

I have finally gotten around to this cranberry chutney, and for the life of me, I don’t know why I waited so long. It’s absolutely delicious! With a few adjustments (of course).

Chutney is a condiment that I only experienced in my adult years, and I appreciate it for many reasons. In addition to the warm spice flavors of India and competing notes of sweet and tart, there’s a texture element to chutney that I find most addictive. It certainly doesn’t hurt that chutney is a lovely complement to meat and vegetable dishes, and with cranberry in the spotlight, this one feels perfect for all the food holidays barreling down on us. I’m always on the lookout for an interesting twist on classic foods, and I can promise you this ruby-colored condiment will be on our Thanksgiving table, but it was also really dang good last week on my second go-round of Thanksgiving burgers.

Let’s go ahead and talk about the adjustments I made to the magazine recipe (I can’t help myself), and if you enjoy chutney as I do, I bet you’ll agree that these were necessary. 

First, I knew straightaway that I would add onions to my version of this chutney, because I love the little crunch next to the tender cooked fruit and I wanted a gentle push-pull of sweet and savory in one bite. Every chutney I’ve ever loved had onions, and though sweet or even red onion would have worked fine, I chopped up a medium shallot for this. The magazine recipe had plenty of sweetness with dried figs and chopped oranges plus sugar. The fresh cranberries contributed a tart contrast, and cider vinegar gave it a slightly “pickled” flavor. The recipe called for sherry, and since I do not buy “cooking wines,” I used a generous splash of a high quality Spanish drinking sherry. It’s the holidays, why not?

Then came the spices, and I had to improvise a bit here because I also don’t buy curry powder. It’s one of those blends that is different from one brand to the next, but I know enough about Indian flavors to estimate which ones belonged in this recipe. So I made up my own “curry” blend on the spot, with a few shakes each of cumin, turmeric, cardamom and cayenne, plus some freshly crushed coriander seed for a citrusy complexity. The recipe also suggested cinnamon and allspice, and those were easy. Ground ginger also stepped up in place of fresh, which I never seem to have when I need it.

The aroma of this concoction was instantly intoxicating, and as I began to stir, it hit me that I didn’t notice on the magazine recipe one very important ingredient. I had to look again to be sure— do you see what’s missing?

Salt, of course! Now, this may have been an oversight, or perhaps the author assumed that the reader would know to include it. This is one of the things I griped about in my post about the problem with recipes, and why I insisted that one still must know how to cook even when following a recipe. Even if this was meant to be just a “sweet” chutney, it should still have at least a pinch of salt to highlight the amazing flavors of the other ingredients. So, salt it I did.

Twenty minutes later, I had this gorgeous, sweet and savory cranberry chutney. The oranges cooked down and took on the red color of the cranberries. The shallots were still a bit crunchy, the figs were delicate and chewy, and the spice aroma was just perfect. 

I’m glad I didn’t put this one off another year. It’ll be great with my roast turkey, and my taste buds want it with pork chops, salmon and chicken, too. Will you be throwing a twist onto any Thanksgiving classics this year? Let’s hear about it in the comments, just below the click-to-print recipe card. As always, feel free to adjust to taste. 😉

Sweet & Savory Cranberry Chutney

• Servings: About 8
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

This mouthwatering chutney brings a Thanksgiving classic together with warm Indian spices and crunchy bits of onion, making it a fantastic sidekick to pork, chicken, fish and (of course) roasted turkey!

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over for duds
• 1/2 cup dried mission figs, stems removed and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 fresh navel orange, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons sherry (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (mine was smoked)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground coriander (a similar amount of crushed seeds)
• two shakes each ground cumin, cardamom, turmeric and cayenne* (see recipe notes)
• two or three shakes ground allspice
• a generous pinch of kosher salt

Notes: If you have a curry powder blend, 1/4 teaspoon of it will suffice in place of the cumin, cardamom, turmeric and cayenne listed above.

This was my first time making this wonderful chutney, so my ingredients represent a half-batch, which was enough to fill a jelly jar. Next time, you can bet I’ll make a whole batch!

Directions

1. Combine cranberries, oranges, figs and shallots in a small saucepan.
2. Add sugar, vinegar, sherry and spices (plus salt) and toss to distribute the spices. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. As the cranberries soften, use the back of your mixing spoon to gently smash them.
3. Allow chutney to cool to room temperature (it will thicken as it cools), and then transfer it to a clean jar to store in the refrigerator.