Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Recipe: Watermelon Rind Chutney







I usually throw out the watermelon rind like any other normal person, but I decided to save it last week and see what I could make out of it. I decided to try this watermelon rind chutney recipe from Epicurious with a some slight modifications using what I had in the house. The chutney turned out great and we've been enjoying it all week. It's got a little bit of warm heat to it, but it's not too hot. A little cream cheese with the chutney will temper the heat a tiny bit to take the edge off.

Ingredients:
  • Diced watermelon rind from 1 small watermelon. Should yield about 6 cups of diced white watermolon rind.
  • 1.5 cups cider vinegar
  • 1.5 cups water
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/4 cups grated fresh ginger (I keep a frozen nob in the freezer and use a microplane)
  • 1 tablespoon Siracha
  • 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flake (the kind you put on pizza)
  • 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1.5 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
Feel free to mess around with the proportions on the peppers / hot chili paste /fresh pepper ratio. I didn't want to go out on a rainy day to buy fresh peppers so I just raided my fridge.The ratio I used was pleasantly hot so be cautious when adding any more heat. 

Instructions:
  1. Dice up white watermelon flesh only. Remove any green peel or pink watermelon fruit
  2. Boil rind an all the other ingredients in a heavy pot over moderate heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved
  3. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 60-80 minutes until rind is tenter and translucent and you can create a little valley when you scrape the the bottom of the pot. It should be kinda jammy rather than liquidy. Keep simmering and reducing until it's jammy enough
  4. Cool, store in a jar and let flavors mellow and meld for a day
  5. Enjoy! Delicious with cream cheese on crackers.

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