Fresh Apricot Chutney / Khubani ki Chutney … preserve the goodness of summer

Fresh Apricot Chutney … sweet, tart, fresh, spicy, tangy, colourful with goodness in every bite, this is too delicious not to make. It’s also a great great way to preserve the bounty of summer fruit at a time when the bazaars are practically flooded with the best fruit.

This is my favourite time of the year when the local markets are flooded with beautiful fruit, where it’s not what do I make today, rather where do I find the time to make so much. Honestly, there’s too much to make, too little time! Also, I was happy to receive a ton of the prettiest vegan porcelain from my favourite brand of all time, Devnow. I talked about their extensive range in my recent Mixed Berry Verrines post, about how good their products are, how inspiring as well. They sent me another huge box of the most wonderful vegan porcelain a few days ago, some of their timeless range used above. More about that in a bit.

This summer has been really hot, like 45C hot, yet it’s quite typical and characteristic of the North Indian summer. We’re used to it, we cope brilliantly, we love to complain how hot it is, and life goes on. Every summer as the sun literally rains down on us, summer fruit grow in abundance flooding the plains of North India with their sweetness. The hills and foothills of the Himalayas have always been known to produce the most delicious and juicy stone fruit and we are certainly not complaining.

Add to it a thousand varieties of the best mangoes in the world and we’re in business! This is a season I wait for every year, literally the most flavourful, colourful season of all. So many possibilities, so many dessert opportunities, so much to style & shoot, our hearts are always full.

Did I forget phalsas or grewia asiatica, the quintessential Indian superfood summer berry that makes the best and prettiest cooler ever? It vies for first place with aam panna or a raw mango cooler, and I’ve been making both Phalsa Sharbat and Aam Panna for over a decade, both a delicious part of summer survival in the subcontinent! Our childhood was sans air conditioners. The uncomfortably long, hot summer afternoons were often pierced by the sound of the phalsa walla who would walk the streets in the unbearable heat of the Indian summer … “khatte meethe phalse le lo“. With a wicker basket on his head filled with these tart little native berries all wrapped in a damp gunny bag, one would imagine that the berries would perish at 40C + temperatures. Magically, they stayed fresh and plump, colourful and mouth puckering tart. A small sprinkling of black salt over these beautiful little berries served in a paper cone of sorts, and everything in the world was bearable!

Until a few years ago the phalsa berry seller still showed up around where we currently live but sadly that’s now history. The berries are now available at the local fruit vendor, safely stored at cool temperatures until we buy them. Always fresh, always delicious but no old world seller charm! Other than coolers, phalsas add quite a lovely tart bite to salads and desserts as well, with hints of nostalgia in every bite. This Eggless Mango Phalsa Tres Leches Cake and this Mango Makhana Kheer are delicious examples! I also made a Phlasa Berry Fro Yo ages ago and besides the vibrant colour, that taste still lingers on!

Summer is when produce is abundant and long days mean loads of time to preserve. You can find a million local recipes since as a nation, we traditionally love to preserve excess produce in season. And preserving isn’t limited to chutneys alone, we ace at pickling too. Then, in places like Kashmir, there is the intriguing ancestral process called Hokh Syun or sun drying seasonal produce in summer for use through the freezing winters, or as Marryam Reshii beautifully says, ‘Saving the sun for winter‘! All this preserving of sorts is an art passed down through generations.

So summer is a season I wait for rather impatiently, the first stone fruit that appears suddenly changing the way I do food. Suddenly we have fruit salads, bean salads, dessert sauces, relishes, chutneys, pickles, frozen treats, crumbles, verrines … and so much more. Everything with a burst of colour and fresh flavour, something that promises sunshine in every bite, something that promises to make our treacherous summer bearable.

Apricots, khubani, show up sometime around late May and this year I’ve been quite lucky to find really really nice apricots. Best eaten fresh of course, but I need to do something more so apricots find their way into our morning smoothie without fail and often in the breakfast bowl. Dessert of course – cobblers, crumbles, tarts, crisps, sorbet etc. This time with the good produce in the market I thought I’d make a batch of apricot jam but my savoury side won and I was tempted to make a chutney. I made an apricot chutney, khubani ki chutney, several years ago with dried apricots and the star of that recipe was garam masala. Also made a fresh plum chutney recently and it was too delicious and so figured a Fresh Apricot Chutney was definitely a good idea.

Inspired by this recipe by Greedy Gourmet, I made a 1/2 kg batch with a few changes and it is honestly quite addictive. Sweet, spicy, tangy and finger licking good, it tastes great on crackers, is beautiful in a grilled sandwich, is great on sourdough and makes quite a good base for a salad dressing too. It also adds a lovely depth when brushed onto the base of a savoury galette!

The day after I made a batch, my good friends from Devnow sent me a huge box of the prettiest vegan porcelain, something I fell in love with immediately. Vegan Porcelain or Vegan Bone China I thought, is that even a thing? Turns out it is. Devnow has now begun a line of New Bone China that uses natural mineral powders like different varieties of clay {no bone ash that is characteristic of bone china} and it produces the finest, prettiest and most delicate crockery. Take a look!

This is just some of the porcelain they sent and hopefully I’ll get a chance to shoot the rest soon. The Devnow collection is thoughtfully crafted, handpicked, exclusive and is stellar quality, serveware I’ve used for over a decade. It just keeps getting better and better! The apricots and Fresh Apricot Chutney shot beautifully in it, and I hope you get a chance to make a batch. It’s a quick, fuss free, no nonsense gluten free and vegan recipe, entirely customisable to taste and finger licking good!