Pear Chutney With Fruit And Nuts
This fruit and nut pear chutney is made with juicy pears, oranges, dates, raisins, almonds, ginger, and a few spices. Pear fruit and nut chutney is a perfect balance between sweetness and spiciness. It is a perfect addition to your fall recipes to serve with cheese, crackers, some toasted bread, and your favorite appetizers.
Pears are in season from the end of August till the end of December. This sweet and spicy pear chutney makes a perfect holiday season recipe which you can plan to make ahead of time.
Pears are loaded with antioxidants, vitamin C, fiber, and potassium. You can enjoy pears in both sweet and savory recipes which makes them a versatile ingredient. You can enjoy them as a snack, add them to your salads, and they can be used in many dessert recipes.
Table of Contents
What Is Chutney?
Chutney is a sweet and savory condiment originating in India. Indian cuisine varies from region to region, and so do the flavors of chutney. Indian chutneys can be made from a variety of ingredients like coconut, peanuts, mint, dates, tamarind, fruits, and a few spices.
Chutney made with fruits is generally slow cooked with few spices, sugar, and vinegar.
Ingredients
- Pears
- Orange
- Lemon
- Dates
- Raisins
- Almonds
- Ginger
- Black sesame
- Cumin
- Cinnamon
- Red chili powder
- Salt
- Oil
- Water
Pear Chutney Step By Step Recipe
In a small bowl, add some hot water. Add dates and almonds and set aside for 30 minutes.
Rinse the pears, orange, and ginger well to remove the dirt.
Roughly chop pears into medium sized pieces and set aside.
Finely chop some ginger. Set it aside.
Make a fresh juice out of orange and lemon.
Heat some oil in the pan. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter. After that, add sesame seeds and ginger.
Add the chopped pears, orange juice, lemon juice, water of soaked dates, salt, chili powder, and cinnamon. Cook everything covered on medium heat until the pears cook halfway – roughly 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel off the skin of the soaked almonds and chop them into pieces.
Chop the soaked dates into small pieces and set aside.
Once the pears get cooked halfway, add chopped dates, raisins, and almonds. Cook them covered on a low flame for about 15 minutes, or until the pears become soft and well-cooked.
You can mash some of the pear pieces with the back of a spoon or potato masher if you wish to make a smooth chutney.
Let it cool down completely before serving.
Variations
Like most of the chutneys, pear chutney is very simple and delicious. There’s a lot of room to play around with your own ingredients as well.
You can skip adding almonds for nut free options. If you are not a fan of raisins then go ahead and add some cranberries.
You can even skip adding sesame seeds. I like to add them to make the color pop.
Instead of red chili powder, add dry red chili or chili flakes as well. Instead of cinnamon sticks, you can add ¼ tsp ground cinnamon.
You can replace the raisins and dates with white or brown sugar. This recipe is good to use for 2.5 weeks if stored in a refrigerator. If you want to store it for longer, you can add ¼ cup of white or brown sugar, skip lemon juice, and add 1 tbsp vinegar as well.
How To Store Pear Chutney?
Once the chutney is cooled down completely, it can be stored in an airtight container for 2.5 weeks in a refrigerator.
It can even be stored in the freezer for up to 1.5 months.
If you add sugar and vinegar in the recipe, the chutney will stay for 4 weeks in the refrigerator.
How To Serve Pear Chutney?
Serve pear fruit and nut chutney with cheese and crackers. It is a great addition to your cheese board.
It can be served with breadsticks, sourdough bread, ciabatta, crostini, naan, paratha.
Or maybe, you can serve it with samosas, pakoras, cutlets, kebabs, fritters, burgers, wraps, or any appetizers.
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Pear Chutney With Fruit And Nuts
Ingredients
- 2 Pear chopped
- 1 large Orange
- 1/4 Lemon
- 12 Dates chopped
- 1 tbsp Raisins
- 6 Almonds
- 1/2 inch Ginger chopped
- 1/4 tsp Black sesame seeds
- 1/4 tsp Cumin/Jeera
- 1/4 tsp Red chili powder
- 1/2 inch Cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Oil
- 3/4 cup Water
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add some hot water. Add dates and almonds and set aside for 30 minutes.
- Rinse the pears, oranges, and ginger well to remove the dirt.
- Roughly chop the pears into medium sized pieces and set aside.
- Finely chop some ginger. Set it aside.
- Make a fresh juice out of the orange and lemon.
- Heat some oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter. After that, add sesame seeds and ginger.
- Add chopped pears, orange juice, lemon juice, water of soaked dates, salt, chili powder, and cinnamon.
- Cook everything covered on a medium heat until the pear cooks halfway – roughly 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, peel off the skin of soaked almonds and chop them into pieces.
- Chop the soaked dates into small pieces and set aside.
- Once the pears get cooked halfway, add chopped dates, raisins, and almonds.
- Cook them covered on a low heat for about 15 minutes, until the pears become soft and well-cooked.
- You can mash some of the pear pieces if you like.
- Let it cool down completely before serving.
Notes
- You can skip adding almonds for nut free options.
- Add some cranberries instead of raisins.
- Instead of red chili powder, add dry red chili or chili flakes as well.
- Instead of cinnamon sticks, add ground cinnamon.
- Replace white or brown sugar in the recipe instead of raisins and dates. This recipe is good to use for 2.5 weeks if stored in a refrigerator. If you want to store it for longer, you can add ¼ cup of white or brown sugar, skip the lemon juice, and add 1 tbsp vinegar.
- If you like your chutney to be smooth then you can slightly mash it with back of a spoon or with a potato masher.
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