There is nothing like the push of having extended stay visitors to open your eyes to see all the deficiencies in your home. Case in point, several years ago I filled a few cracks on one of my kitchen walls and then I painted over the patches but since the rest of the wall was about 4 years old, the paint dried a slightly different colour and the wall looked patchy in certain lights. It was on my to do list f o r e v e r! So a couple of weeks ago, after I filled in a few new cracks, bought a new can of paint (when did paint become SO expensive?) I finally repainted the entire wall. A fresh coat of paint really freshens up a room. Of course, once I started filling in cracks all over the house and painting, there was no stopping me…it turned into a two-day project. But then it’s another thing off the list.
Recently we had James, a long-time college friend of JTs over for an Indian dinner and I made my new favourite Jamie Oliver Chicken Tikka Masala recipe along with Palek Paneer, the best Naan ever and a few condiments, pickled carrot and this delightful Apple Chutney. I am certain that James, who is a renovator, was too polite to say anything about my patchy walls but I kept the lighting low anyway!
What are some of the nagging to do’s on your home maintenance list?
Apple Chutney
A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 Granny Smith apple (about 165 g)
- 165 onion, coarsely chopped
- 80 g dates, coarsely chopped
- 10 g fresh ginger, grated
- 3 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
- 1/8 tsp cloves
- 70 mL water
- 1 tbsp Sweet Apricot Chili Sauce
- 1/4 cup Coconut Sugar
Directions:
- Combine all the ingredients in a heavy bottom sauce pan and cook on medium heat until onions have caramelized and the sauce is thick but still have texture.
- Cool. Serve at room temperature.
- Store in the refrigerator for 1 week or freeze.
I just fixed cracks and painted my living room (all by myself). The task had waited too long and I’m thrilled with the results. Now that I’ve got that out of the way there’s time for apple chutney! GREG
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You are so good Eva! I am hopeless with home improvements and so is hubby but sometimes I get obsessed with something. The last thing was the curtains in the lounge and now I am happy every time I look at them 🙂
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Nothing like planning a dinner party to get you to analyze your home! I claim that I’m a minimalist, but I’ve sure accumulated a lot of stuff! Thanks for the reminder to put of few things away to decrease the clutter. Your chutney looks wonderful—in fact, your whole menu sounds fabulous.
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Hi Liz, I fight my Hungarian roots constantly — Hungarians like a lot of stuff around, not necessarily clutter but it’s more like if there is an empty space on a wall, then you find something to hang there, like a pitcher, picture, plate, some embroidery, anything really. Thanks for your lovely comment.
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What a lovely meal that must have been! I’m into Naan lately for my Byblos work and would love to see your homemade recipe:) This chutney looks so flavorful! Oh, Eva, I have been on a mad house spring cleaning circuit for a few weeks… it’s a weird ocd obsession to get everything cleaned up and perfect all at one time. Of course, now the floors are dirty again.. the shower needs cleaning, but at least my craft room is organized, lol!xx
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Thank you so much for your kind words Barbara. The naan recipe I am most fond of is this one: https://kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/draft-indian-dinner-party-naan/
It’s crispy and chewy all at once. We roll it into four ovals (about 30cm x 20cm) for naan and only two 40cm circles for pizza! It doesn’t rise as much but it will bubble up when you bake it.
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We save up all the to-dos that we really don’t want to do and then bring in a handyman we know every 2 years or so. He’ll knock everything off the list in a day or two — and it would have taken us weeks to do everything. Really worth it. Anyway, what a great dish! Such nice flavor. Thanks for this.
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JT and I are more hands on, we really love the DIY around the house, but for some things we, too like to hire a handyman, sadly, it’s really tough to find one that wants to work! Thank you for your comment, John.
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I’m sure James enjoyed the meal immensely. Your apple chutney had to go so well with your dinner.
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Thank you kindly Karen.
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I’m not familiar with apple chutneys but this looks very tasty with the combo of apple and onion.
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Thank you Maria, I thought the flavours were rather lovely together too.
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Ah, somebody is in a Indian food craze. Eva your apple chutney sounds like a great treat. For some reason I was even thinking of Sauerkraut when I saw this and pork fillet (and knödel).
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Yes, indeed Helene, we do love our Indian foods.
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Beautiful apple chutney Eva! I don’t make these flavorful sides nearly enough and when I do I tend to focus on stone fruit — apple is a perfect complement to your lovely Indian inspired menu. And… I could not relate more to the win/win of preparing for guests 🙂 long (long) standing projects and to-dos finally get to-done and it feels *so* good to scratch them off the list and benefit from the results too! The other thing I find is that when you leave things long enough, you kind of forget they are there (don’t notice them anymore) though they remain obvious to everyone else ;-). Enjoy your guests (and your fresh painted wall!) xx.
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Isn’t that the truth, Kelly, you leave them long enough, you don’t see them anymore. It’s rather strange because when we were prepping our last home for sale, we replaced all the slab doors on the second floor with a nicer, panelled door — wasn’t expensive, nor difficult to do, JT and I did it. And then we wondered why we lived with those horrible slab doors for 10 years and only changed them for the next people. It’s funny.
Thank you for your lovely compliment for my Indian menu, the granny smith apple was able to withstand the long cooking and didn’t turn to mush.
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It sounds as a big Indian party! I must say whenever I cook Indian, I never cook anything else than rice and the main course. I just take out my pickles from the pantry and that’s all I have as a side-dish 😉 I think I have never actually had apple chutney…
PS I don’t know if you have noticed, but this post is not visible on your home page.
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Thanks Sissi, for some reason, WordPress has changed the way their ‘Sticky’ button works and I can no longer apply sticky to the latest post whilst leaving the previous one as sticky, so I need to go in, unstick the last post and stick the latest one, which is a pain and sometimes I forget!
Indian food (for me, anyway) always tastes better the next day, so when I prepare for a dinner party, I usually start the curries and saucy dishes a few days in advance and just reheat them on the night, it makes it a more enjoyable evening for me and the food tastes better!
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I’d love your apple chutney with that dinner. Everywhere I look there’s something that needs to be done. John can’t see it. 🙂 I call it selective eyesight.
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And selective hearing Maureen! My deadline is coming to a close so we’ve managed to knock off many of the items from the list..still a few more little things to do. Thank you for your comment.
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Never thought of making apple chutney. This sounds so yummy and chatpata.
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Hi Minnie, thank you for your comment. I must look up chatpata!
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The apple chutney looks delicious. I love the sound of your Indian meal. I agree that paint is ridiculously expensive. What’s in it that makes it so pricey? xx
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Hi Charlie, when I spoke to my ‘paint guy’ he mentioned that today’s paint is a lot more technological than in the past, they put a lot of R&D into it. I must admit, it’s a lot better too, two coats is all it takes and it lasts a lot longer even rigorous washing.
Thank you for your kind words.
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I need inspiration for home repairs but think I can manage this tasty chutney recipe sounds so mouth watering !
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Hi Ruth, thanks for dropping by, I always like to read your kind words.
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Yum apple chutney I bet that is so good on so many things. We live in HK apartment so we escape having to do any home repairs. I might put out fresh towels for my guests but that is about it.. Lol
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Lucky you Bam, having someone else responsible to do the home repairs is excellent. Fresh towels for guests is always a nice touch.
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This looks so tasty, I bet it would be perfect on some sweet bread 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Hi CCU, thanks for your comments.
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I bet this would taste awesome on some sweet raisin bread, yum!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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What a gorgeous recipe. Such a pity my Peter won’t eat chutney in any form. I bet this is delicious.
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Koszonom Lizzy, sajnálos hogy Péter nem szereti. Igen, nagyon finom volt.
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I can’t even think about my home maintenance list. It just overwhelms me. So many places on our walls need patching and that’s just the start! Your Indian meal sounds delicious! I’ve never made a full Indian meal, but really should one of these days. We all love it. I’ll certainly keep your apple chutney in mind for when we do. 🙂
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Thanks Kristy. May I suggest you start with Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Tikka Masala, it really is delicious!
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Sounds like a great plan! 🙂
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Love recipes that freeze well. Imagine you made a big batch and stocked up your freezer.
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Hi Norma, we don’t eat chutney often so I just made one batch.
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I found that our local Habit for Humanity home store has ecco paint for 10 a can and have been painting a room each week since. Love the chutney and have to try Jamies recipe.
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Hi Chef Connie, thank you for your comment and welcome to my blog. Can you get special colours?
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At the home store? You cannot request colors you just buy what they have but they usually have a bunch of colors. I bought yellow, blue, light brown, light green and a rose color.
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Sweet, tangy with a kick..that sounds like a perfect chutney, Eva.
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Thank Angie.
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