Apricot Chutney

Take advantage of apricot season to make this delicious and versatile sauce. It's a wonderful topping on poultry, fish, or meat alternatives. This can also be used as a base sauce for baking or slow-cooking those same items, as well as combined with other ethnic sauces (such as curry paste) to add a whole new dimension. Fresh apricots taste much better than using store-bought apricot preserves.

This extra sauce will be used for my next dinner, which will be a vegan curry full of a variety of vegetables. The sauce will be made by combining the chutney with "Patak's Mild Curry Spice Paste."

Ingredients 

• 6 ripe apricots (they should "give" a little when you press your finger into it; make sure they're not too mushy) 
• 1/2 medium or 1 small onion (white, yellow, sweet, red, or any other favorite) 
• olive oil 
• brown sugar 
• lemon juice or any variety of vinegars 
• salt and pepper 
• any additional favorite spices/flavorings/add-ins (see Step 4 for suggestions)

Instructions 

1)  On medium heat, stirring frequently, sauté in a saucepan (small pot) until onions are caramelized: 

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 to 1 cup diced onion  

2)  While onions are cooking, dice and save for Step 4: 

• 6 apricots 

3)  Once the onions are ready, deglaze the pot with: 

• 1/4 cup water. 

4)  Then add:

• the diced apricots 
• 1/4 cup light ("golden") brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar 
• salt and pepper, to taste 
• any other spices/flavorings/add-ins to help coordinate with the rest of the meal (such as: poultry seasoning, red pepper flakes, soy sauce and ginger root, garlic, curry seasoning, raisins or dried cranberries, etc.)...make it your own!

5) Cook the mixture over medium heat for several minutes, stirring frequently, until apricots shrink down to desired consistency. If it starts to get too dry, add 2 tablespoons of water at a time.

Apricots are cooked down and ready to taste to make adjustments to flavorings.

6) When it's ready, taste the sauce and make adjustments as needed: 

• add brown sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, if you want it sweeter 
• add lemon juice or vinegar, 1 teaspoon at a time, if you want more tartness 
• add salt/pepper/other flavorings in small increments until you get the taste you want

Apricot chutney on top of baked wild-caught salmon. This dinner combo came from local produce that happened to be abundant and in-season at the local veggie stand. In the recipe for this batch, I added a little extra vinegar and brown sugar, plus some crushed red pepper flakes to give it a "kick."