Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Chilli Doppelbock Chutney

A few weeks ago I made some chilli chutney, using a recipe from a Jamie Oliver book given to me last Christmas. When I do my cooking I like to experiment and play with flavours. For example, the original chutney called for red chillies, so I upgraded those to habeneros which resulted in a very spicy chutney, with a lovely smooth sweetness that rounded it out nicely. Most of the liquid in the original comes from the balsamic vinegar, and it was this I wanted to change, and replace it with some kind of beer.

The decision as to which beer to use was a difficult one, did I want lager or ale, hoppy bitterness or malty sweetness? Then I remembered the night Mrs Velkyal and I had our first, and to date only, bottle of Primator Double 24° - a dark beer of incredible smoothness and sweetness with an alcohol content not far off that of wine, 10.5%. Despite the immense sweetness, it also has a touch of bitterness that I wanted in the final chutney. The night we drank the bottle of Double, both Mrs Velkyal and I passed out about 15 minutes after drinking it – a fact we put down to the beer.

So here is my variation on Jamie Oliver’s “Cheeky Chilli Chutney”:
  • 8 Red Peppers
  • 8 Chillies – 5 red chilli, 2 habanero, 1 jalapeno
  • 3 Red onions – chopped finely
  • 100g Brown sugar
  • 1 bottle Primator Double 24°
  • 5cm stick of cinnamon
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 2 bay leaves
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • splash balsamic vinegar
  1. Char peppers and chillies until black and blistered


  2. Put peppers and chillies in a bowl, cover with cling film and let steam for 20 minutes


  3. Fry onions in a large saucepan slowly in olive oil with cinnamon, rosemary, bay leaves until sticky


  4. When peppers and chillies are steamed, skin and de-seed then chop thinly


  5. Add pepper and chilli mix to the onions


  6. Add sugar and beer to the pan, stir and bring to the boil


  7. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar


  8. Lower the heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced and you have a sticky chutney


  9. Remove cinnamon and bay leaves before spooning into sterilized jars


I let the chutney sit for about a week before tasting it properly, however I did have a few tries while it was cooking and it seems to have worked like a dream. Once the week is up and all the flavours have come together in the jars, I hope to have a sweet yet spicy chutney which will go wonderfully with cheddar cheese on rough oatcakes.

9 comments:

  1. Sounds delicious!
    The Primator makes the product sweeter, I presume?

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  2. That's the plan - I will find out for sure on Sunday when I crack it open properly. From testing and tasting during cooking, it is rather sweet but the heat from the chillies cuts through that.

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  3. Bloody hell! I'll be interested in how that turns out! I wonder though if the acid in the balsamic vinegar acts as a preservative, a bit like pickling (something I tried before, but ehhh... well, I won't be doing it again!).

    I sometimes find that using a very dark beer in cooking can make it a bit too sweet, with porters and stouts at least. I keep making beef stews with different amounts of different porters and stouts as I can't help myself :D Although the Chili I made using Animator worked out pretty well! No overpowering dark malts I reckoned.

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  4. Holy Cow this sound great! I'm always looking for something to have with bread and cheese, not that I need an excuse mind, and this sounds perfect. Not sure where I'll get the beer around here but I'll check it out.
    Thanks for the recipe.

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  5. I must admit that I tried a touch of it last night, and it is good! Had it on a Marks and Spencer oatcake, with a few slices of gouda. There is a pronouced heat in it but not one that burns terribly. I found with the last batch I made that the heat cools down a bit after a while, but it is still delicious.

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  6. Oh this chutney looks very interesting! The only place I've considered beer in my booking is when I want something crispy batter coated.

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  7. Hey Coco - you will also find some recipes using beer in stews as well on here. I have a range of recipes I am playing with when it comes to using beer in my cooking, all of which will be posted up here.

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  8. That looks fabulous. Do you think it would be OK to use a crapper beer, or do you think the quality of the beer is important?

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  9. Hey Boak, I would tend to the opinion that if you put a worse beer in then you compromise the end product - so while I would say that the brand itself is irrelevant, the quality of the beer should be good.

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