Green Bean Chutney

I am trying to work from home but am constantly distracted by the explosion of fruit and vegetables in my garden. This week my green bean plants are out of control, so much for my attempts at sequential planting, sowing seeds every two weeks etc…Everything has happened at once and my kitchen has become an industrial assembly line with large cauldrons bubbling away with catering quantities of green bean chutney – the only thing I think to make with my over sized, slightly tough green beans!

This is the best recipe I have found, I have tried and tested several others – the chutney is so delicious you could eat it in spoonfuls straight from the jar!

Green Bean Relish (makes 6 jars)

500g green beans

400g diced onion

400ml malt vinegar

300g raw cane sugar

100g sultanas

20g cornflour

3tsps mustard powder

2tsp brown mustard seed

2 tsp chopped red chilli

1 1/2 turmeric

1 tsp sea salt

• Top and tail the green beans and slice into 2cm lengths.
• Blanch the beans in lots of salted water, boiling them for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop from cooking further.
• Put the vinegar, sugar, onions, sultanas and chilli in a large pan and boil for 5 – 10 minutes to cook the onion.
• Add the mustard seed, turmeric and salt to the pan.
• Mix the cornflour and mustard powder with a little water to make a paste and stir slowly into the pan. Boil until thick and goopy.
• Take the pan off the heat and add the green beans.
• Put into sterlized jars.