10 minute sorrel chutney…
I have piles of things to do, and this makes me think of things to cook. In the past, while procrastinating, I would make some elaborate dish. But, in 2013, I have clearly grown and matured. I’m still cooking, but I’m trying to limit the time. Hence, 10 minute sorrel chutney. Perhaps a blog post is overdoing it, but sorrel is so pretty that I had to take photos. It’s used in Jamaica to make a drink with sugar and ginger (and sometimes rum) at Christmas time. I, personally, slightly prefer Senegalese bissap, which is made the same way as Jamaican sorrel–by boiling the sorrel in water–but instead of ginger, it’s vanilla and rose water. Sorrel, for those that don’t know, comes from the Hibiscus plant–it’s the fleshy bit that is left over once the petals of the flower fall off.
So I bought a half pound of sorrel at the market and just washed it thoroughly, tossing out any browned and dried bits. This is a simple chutney, so I grabbed onion, scotch bonnet pepper and ginger.
I diced the onion and tossed it in a deep stockpot with some coconut oil, cooking it just until soft, and then I added a bit of chopped ginger and scotch bonnet. At the last minute I realized that garlic would be a good idea, so that got thrown in the pan too.
This was nice and colourful, but I felt it needed a little warmth (instead of just hot hot heat), so I added a bit of cinnamon, coriander and cumin.
After a couple of minutes, I was ready to mix in the sorrel. There seems like a lot of it initially (hence the need for the stock pot), but it does cook down quite a bit.
I covered the pot and thought about what I would use to sweeten the chutney. Sorrel is really tart, so it does need significant sweetening. Sugar works, as does honey, but I had something better.
The delicious Lyle’s Golden syrup is like liquid brown sugar. It’s slightly caramel-like and thoroughly wonderful stuff. I poured a substantial amount into the pot and stirred and tasted and added more and stirred and tasted. The sorrel had all cooked through, the mixture was still slightly tart, and I could feel the scotch bonnet heat on my tongue as well as taste the spices and the ginger. Perfect.
Now all I need to find is a source for stilton cheese to eat with this stuff and I’ll be on cloud nine.