Spice up your Thursday with mango chilli chutney

Did you know there are thousands of chilli varieties to grow, in a huge range of colours, shapes, sizes and levels of heat, from mild to extremely hot? Many have unique flavours, with some offering a hint of lemon and others having a fruitier taste.

A chilli’s heat is measured on the Scoville scale, a test created in 1912, in which the more water needed to dilute a chilli solution before a human taster can no longer detect the chilli determines the number of Scovilles. Today, testing is done by machines. A score of around 3,000 Scovilles is deemed hot, with record-breaking chillies such as ‘Carolina Reaper’ topping the two million mark.

Many chilli varieties are available to buy in supermarkets, but you will have a much greater range to choose from if you grow chillies yourself. They’re very easy to grow from seed, and grow best in containers, which means they are perfect for a sunny patio or balcony. You can also buy ready-grown chilli plants at the garden centre in spring.

All chillies are bred from just five species:

•      Capsicum annuum – the most common chilli species, from which sweet and paprika peppers originate.
•      Capsicum baccatum – includes the a family of chillies, popular in Peruvian dishes.
•      Capsicum chinense – a hot variety of chilli, from which we have habanero and scotch bonnet chillies.
•      Capsicum fruitescens – where tabasco Thai-style chillies come from.
•      Capsicum pubescens – these are hot chillies with distinctive black seeds.

Several online nurseries specialize in chilli seeds, offering a range of interesting and unusual varieties you can use in different dishes, from Mexican salsas to Thai curries.

Today we’re showing you how to make your own mango chilli chutney. This sweet and spicy mango chutney is a delicious accompaniment to a chicken dinner.

Mango Chilli Chutney

Makes 800 ML | Cooks in 1 hour 15 minutes

Recipe by Capsicum Culinary Studio.

Ingredients

•      2 kg mangos (firm, but ripe)
•      8 cardamom pods
•      2 cloves of garlic
•      1 fresh red chilli
•      500 ml white wine vinegar
•      400 g granulated sugar
•      1 teaspoon cumin seeds
•      1 teaspoon coriander seeds
•      1 teaspoon chilli powder
•      8cm piece of ginger

Method

1.   Peel, stone and roughly chop the mangos; set aside.
2.   Remove the cardamom seeds from the pods. Peel and finely chop the garlic, then trim and finely chop the chilli.
3.   Add the vinegar and sugar to a large pan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and reduce by a couple of centimetres.
4.   Gently toast the cumin, coriander and cardamom seeds until aromatic, then crush with the chilli powder using a pestle and mortar. Add to the vinegar pan, along with the chopped mango, nigella seeds and 2 teaspoons of sea salt.
5.   Finely grate in the ginger, add the garlic and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour until it has a thick, syrupy consistency, adding the chopped chilli for the last 10 minutes.
6.   Divide among sterilised jars, seal and keep for up to six months.