One of my favorite condiments.

Up until about 15 years ago, the only time in my life I’d ever had chutney was back in my college days. I was dating a guy with rich parents and they ate well. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we’d get to go with them. There was an Indian restaurant right off Second Avenue in the Sixties — my brain is saying 62nd Street, but I really can’t be sure. That was my introduction to Indian food, including curry, tandoori, poori, and mango chutney.

I liked what I ate. (That is the story of my life, isn’t it?)

Years ago, I ran across this recipe for mango chutney and figured I’d give it a try. It was easy enough to make and the pint yield held up remarkably well in my refrigerator. I mean really well. We were still eating it two years later with no sign of it going bad. I guess it’s the vinegar.

What’s this good on? My favorite is pork tenderloin. You grill up the tenderloins whole, then slice them into 3/4-inch medallions. Spoon on a little chutney and let the hot pork and cold tanginess of the chutney roll around in your mouth a bit before you swallow. Heaven. Good with a salad that has some kind of mildly sweet dressing, like a raspberry vinaigrette or honey mustard.

Here’s the mango chutney recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound mango, coarsely chopped. I use the frozen cubed mango and chop each cube into 4 or 6 pieces. It sure beats peeling and slicing fresh mango and I bet no one can tell the difference when it’s done.
• 1 cup golden raisins. You can use the regular kind if you can’t find goldens.
• 1 cup packed brown sugar. This is an excellent recipe for using up brown sugar that has solidified in an improperly closed bag. But fresh brown sugar won’t hurt it.
• 3/4 cup vinegar. I use white vinegar.
• 1 jar (2-7/8 ounces) crystallized ginger, finely chopped. I don’t know what kind of jarred ginger they’re talking about. Here on the edge of nowhere, I can get crystallized ginger in a little 3-oz bag. Close enough.
• 1 clove garlic, chopped. I chop it really fine.
• 1 teaspoon salt. I probably put a little less than that.

Instructions:
Place all ingredients in a sauce pan and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, cool. Place in a sealed container — a canning jar works well for this; I avoid plastic for anything I want to keep long term — and store in refrigerator. Serve with pork (as discussed above) or Indian curry dishes.

I should probably mention somewhere that this doesn’t really smell very good while it’s cooking. After all, you are cooking vinegar. Not worth leaving the house for, but certainly not something you’d cook up when you’re trying to fill the house with nice aromas.

If you try this recipe and like it, please do let me know. Also let me know what else it’s good with. The only reason it lasts so long here is that I only eat it with pork — and I’m the only one in the house who does!