Never grown Aubergines before so I bought two pots of Pot Jackpot pre-planted ones from Tesco (something like £1.99 each), potted them on into 7.5L pots and placed then in the front garden by the outdoor tomatoes. Figuring that if tomatoes grow the so should these!

Anyway, I’ve had an abundance of fruits from the two plants so I decided to make chutney with the ones I knew I was not going to eat.
Here we go, same as usual, all quantities very approximate!!

INGREDIENTS

450gm baby aubergines
2 or 3 TBSP salt for salting
1 medium red onion; finely chopped
3 TBSP tomato paste – squeezy tube stuff.
220ml apple cider vinegar
250g brown sugar
60g sultanas
½ tsp chilli flakes (or to taste!)
½ tsp hot chilli powder (or to taste!)
1 cinnamon bark stick
1 tsp nigella seeds
1 ½ tsp freshly grated ginger
Salt, to season

METHOD

Wash the aubergines and dry
Slice the aubergines then cut into largish chunks. Place in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle with salt.
Leave for 3 to 4 hours, discard the water in the bowl and rinse the aubergine chunks to remove excess salt. Pat dry or spin dry if you have a salad spinner.
Place the aubergines in a pan along with the onions and salt to taste. Add the tomato paste and stir well to combine.
Cook for a minute or two and then add the vinegar and sugar; mix well and then add the sultanas, chilli flakes, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, ginger and nigella seeds.
Stir well and cook on medium heat then turn the heat down and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
Continue to cook on low heat stirring occasionally so that the mixture does not burn or stick to the bottom of the pan.
The chutney is ready when it has turned thick and sticky
Remove the cinnamon stick and ladle into sterilised jars.
Should keep 3-6 months or so in sealed jars