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I love fruits with spice. Not just any spice, mind you. Some fruits are made for particular spices, some not so much. It’s a bit like a school playground for the tastebuds. Let’s ponder this a little more; oranges love cloves like apples love cinnamon… and star anise fancies a little apple and orange. It’s a love triangle. Lemon and cardamom have been lifelong chums and are always ready indulge in a spot of tag, but if anyone else tries to join in they get a little uneasy. Oh, and strawberries are fond of black pepper but black pepper doesn’t really enjoy playing with other summer berries.

Do you follow?

Experimenting with fruits and spices is like entering yourself into a lottery where the combinations are extensive, as are the possibilities of amazing as well as not so amazing results. You’ve just got to be prepared to take a gamble. Are you feeling lucky?

I won’t lie; I have a tooth as sweet as a diabetic’s craving for syrup, so I only have one remedy for sour fruits like Greengages.

Sugar.

Please don’t judge me.

Unripened greengages are super sour and hardly edible without being incorporated into some sort of sugar-fuelled dessert. Trust me. They are a part of the plum family and share the same tartness as their purple-hazed cousins, but have an enviable greenness that the Hulk would be proud of.

They are certainly not a traditional Indian ingredient for chutneys, for they are a proud French ingredient… But you know how I love to play with binary opposites. East meets West anyone?

This chutney combines sour greengages, mild onions, sweet sultanas, aromatic fennel, heat-filled black peppercorns and strips of green chilli.

Jackpot.

Fruity Greengage and Fennel Chutney

Ingredients

6 unripened greengages (about a cup), stoned and chopped into chunks
¾ cup onions, chopped finely
¼ cup golden sultanas
2 tbsp butter (or oil)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp fennel powder
½ tsp whole black peppercorns
1 hot green chilli, de-seeded and cut into thin strips

Method

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and sauté the onions until translucent.

2. Add the chopped greengages and combine. Add the sultanas, black peppercorns and sugar and cook until thick and syrupy. Try not to stir too much as this will break up the nice, chunky pieces of greengage and onion. I just swirled the chutney in the pan (carefully) to prevent it from sticking.

3. Add the fennel powder and chilli strips and mix. At this point you could also add an extra tsp of butter to get a nice glossy sheen. You know I did.

4. Pile into a sterilised jar and refrigerate once cool.

Serve with crusty bread, in hearty cheese sandwiches, as a dip for poppadoms and spicy starters or scoop it up with your fingers and pile it into your mouth (probably best to do this when nobody is around). If you can’t get away from people then try using Indian breads (e.g. puris, chapattis, parathas, bhaturas) as shovels for your chutney-craving tongues.

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Let me introduce you to the most wonderful breakfast/brunch/lunch in the whole entire world. Well, almost. Not counting ice cream. Ice cream IS a breakfast item, right?

Poha (pronounced: puhwa) are cooked, flattened and dehydrated grains of basmati rice. You can find them in most Indian grocery stores packed in regular plastic bags. The bateta part is cubed, deep fried potatoes, but you probably worked that one out already; bateta-potato-bateta-potato-bateta-potato. They do sound similar.

The ingredients in this dish vary from region to region and family to family. I’m making a classic Gujarati version, which of course must be like all Gujarati dishes are: hot, sweet and sour. This dish is very forgiving, so if you want to omit certain ingredients like onions or not add too much chilli then that’s totally up to you. At home we add plenty of peanuts and cashews to bulk the dish up for a more filling meal. If you’re ever stuck for making something for a large amount of people then this is the perfect recipe. You can make a huge amount in one go and feed an army of hungry people.

Bateta poha is great with plain yogurt and a cup of chai, but if you’re feeling a bit fruity then try out a variation with some pomegranate seeds and/or soaked sultanas.

Ingredients

2 tbsp sunflower oil
¾ cup onions, chopped finely
2 tsp cumin seeds
4 medium hot green chillies (more or less according to your taste)
1 tbsp ginger, minced
¼ tsp asafoetida (optional)
1/3 cup mixed nuts of your choice (I used redskin peanuts and cashews)
1 tsp turmeric
8-10 curry leaves
2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups poha (flattened rice)
2 tsp sugar (or to taste)
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
1 tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp fennel powder (optional- I like fennel powder)
5 cups half-boiled water
¼ cup chopped coriander

Enough sunflower oil to deep fry

Method

1. Place the poha in a small-holed colander and pour on the half-boiled water. Set aside.

2. Wash and dry the cubed potatoes, then deep fry in sunflower oil until golden. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

3. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan and add the chopped onions, ginger, nuts and chilli. Cook until aromatic and the nuts are golden. Do not let it turn too brown.

4. Add the cumin seeds, turmeric, asafoetida and curry leaves. Sauté for 30 seconds. Add the fennel powder and the potatoes and mix carefully and thoroughly.

5. Separate the now cooled poha grains gently with a fork and add to the pan. Season with salt, sugar, lemon and pepper. Gently toss in the pan and remove from the heat. Garnish with chopped coriander.

6. Serve to hungry friends and family only if you’ve managed to refrain from scoffing the whole lot after cooking.

Don’t wait for me. Just dig in.

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