Bananas! 3 Banana Chutney recipes

My hanai Big Sister loves chutney. She asked if it was possible to make banana chutney, since she was acquainted with my overload of bananas, and was it possible to make some for her? Well, of course it's possible to make banana chutney! So, being my normal over-achieving self, I made three types.

I'd never eaten chutney prior to making these. I'm amazed at how utterly yummy they are!

I water-bath canned all of the results so they would last at least a year. Just in case Big Sister couldn't consume them all, she could at least store them in the back of her kitchen cupboard. I can just see her drinking coffee and eating toast spread with banana chutney as she chats with her Yorkie, Verna. "I'm so sorry Verna, but this isn't good for you so Mommy needs to eat it all. (listen to her wicked laugh!)

Ginger-Banana Chutney Recipe
This is a fabulous, thick chutney. I like this recipe best of all.

Ingredients:

Ginger-Banana Chutney

1 lb onions, chopped
6 ripe bananas, mashed
¾ lb pitted dates, chopped
1 ½ cups cider vinegar
¼ lb crystallized ginger, minced
½ lb raisins, chopped
2 cups fresh or unsweetened canned pineapple juice
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons curry powder

The mixture before cooking

Directions:
Makes about 4 1/2 pints.
Place the onions, bananas, dates, and vinegar in a nonreactive saucepan.
Stir them to mix well and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir to make sure they are well combined.
Continue to cook until the chutney has a jam-like consistency.
Remove from the heat and place in sterilized jars. Process in a water bath for 15 min.

If you read this blog entry yesterday you'll realize that I've changed the recipe and photos for the following chutney.  I thought the original recipe made for a very vinegary, barbecue sauce-like concoction.  In this rendition I added bell pepper, another cup of raisins, and cayenne pepper.  I deleted the red chiles.  Even with the changes, I think this chutney is too vinegary.  Perhaps cutting the amount down from 3 cups to 2 1/2 cups might make the recipe more palatable. However, this chutney tastes pretty good with salty tortilla chips or mixed with cream cheese and eaten with crackers.

South African Banana Chutney

South African Banana Chutney

15 large bananas
3 cups brown vinegar
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups seedless raisins
1/2 large green pepper, chopped small
1 medium onion, minced
1 teaspoon cayenne 
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon salt

Peel and slice the bananas into ¼ inch  rounds

In the pot, right before cooking

Combine all the ingredients and simmer in a stainless steel or enamel saucepan for 2 hours, until the mixture reaches the desired consistency.

South African chutney before bottling

Bottle and seal while the Banana Chutney mixture is still hot.


The next recipe produces a spicy hot chutney. It's probably too spicy for Big Sister unless she mixes it with cream cheese. I just ate the last little bit of this recipe that didn't fit into the pint jars. It was soooooo good mixed with cream cheese and spread on crackers. Not spicy at all when mixed this way. It. Is.Yum!

Spicy Banana Chutney looks like... all the other chutney

Spicy Banana Chutney

Ingredients
1/4 cup raisins
3 tablespoons tortuga gold rum (or any golden rum )
16 apple finger bananas ripe , or you can use 8 large bananas
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion sliced
1 tablespoon tortuga hell-fire -hot pepper sauce ( or any fire pepper sauce)
OR 1/4 tsp of minced seeded scotch bonnet peppers.
3 tablepoons grated fresh ginger
1 cup cider vinegar
1 3/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons salt

Before cooking

Combine the raisins and rum and stir well. Let the raisins soak for 2 hours to absorb the rum.

In a large pot or dutch oven, combine all ingredients and stir well. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until thick.

Place in pint jars and process in a water bath for 15 min, or store in a sealed container in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
note: If you can use finger bananas it does make a difference in the taste.

After cooking before bottling