Three Cheers for Chutney

By Cindi Cook

Americans are creatures of habit, especially when it comes to our foodstuffs. We want what we want, and tend toward the usuals when it comes to our meals - chicken, pork, fish, baked, broiled, or fried. They all satisfy, and are reliable main dishes. Add a little rice, some asparagus or broccoli, and dinner's on the table.

However, our mainstays can get stale if we don't liven them up now and then. Luckily, we humans are also creatures of invention. Making the new and different is what we do. After all, we created a new country because we got tired of the old one. If that's not invention, I'm not sure what is.

When it comes to dishes, though, such drastic measures need not be taken. In fact, it only takes the opening of a jar to transform your chicken into an entirely different dish. The right condiment can take your meal up ten notches, and the condiment universe is more than well stocked to help you do so: toppings, dressings, sauces, relishes, and chutneys all stand at the ready to bring the bland back to life.

The most unsung of these choices is the lovely chutney. What is chutney, you ask? More popular in Indian and Eastern cuisines, chutney is a topping made of either fruits or vegetables, along with vinegar, spices, and sugar that deliver a Pow! to your poultry when spooned on top. Fruit chutneys are great for meat and fish dishes, and vegetable chutneys work better for poultry, but by all means, bending the rules in the culinary world is what makes cooking fun. I remember my mother bringing home jars of chutney from my uncle's gourmet shop when I was a teenager, and marveling at this newfangled condiment gracing the shelves of our fridge. Onion and pepper chutneys are what I remember most. This was when the world was also discovering sun dried tomatoes, olives that weren't just black or green, and more pastas than just spaghetti. The culinary revolution hit the Midwest in the late '80s and hit big. Along with it also came a slew of new ethnic cuisines that pushed our weathered meat-and-potatoes palates in a new direction.

Chutney is actually the British spelling for chatni, the spelling in Urdu, Hindu, Bengali, or Tamile, for the condiment that emanates from the Indian subcontinent. In Europe it is more often called relish, and in Latin America, they call it salsa. As we know them, chutneys tend toward the sweeter side, without the kick of a salsa, as a result of the milder spicy influence. Those spices can include tamarind, coriander, cumin, and/or ginger, along with sugar and salt. The most common main ingredients for chutneys include tomato, mango, onion, peach, and even lime and garlic!

In the summer, the Hamptons is a virtual wonderland of fresh produce. Kristi Hood, owner and proprietor of the Springs General Store, takes advantage of this by making all of her own chutney to use in the store with the dishes, and on the sandwiches, she sells. Mango, fresh pineapple, corn, and fennel are her usual ingredients. Hood says her fresh pineapple is great with grilled chicken, and the corn relish goes really well with roast beef or her delicious crabcakes. "Sometimes people have it on top of their salad," says Hood. When striped bass is in season, she will pair it with a nice light corn relish fashioned from fresh local corn. The store will be growing their own corn on premises this summer, and Hood has plans to sell her chutneys at the farm stand there.

The most logical place to find chutney on the East End is The Hamptons Chutney Company. Their flavors, six in all, range from the traditional to the more exotic, from mango and tomato to cilantro curry, peanut, and pumpkin. The picnic tables outside the shop make for a delightful dining experience, with dosas and other Indian specialties, including vegetarian dishes, to pair with the chutney.

Another great place to find chutney is at Loaves and Fishes Cookshop in Sagaponack. "We make our own plum and peach chutney in the summer, and in the fall apple cranberry chutney, and quince chutney," said Anna Pump, the proprietor of Loaves & Fishes. "Quince are not available until the end of September, but we make one out of them when they are. As children we had them in our orchard," she recalls, "They make a fabulous chutney." The Cookshop, now open full time for the season (with the exception of Tuesday when they are closed), says chutney is an extremely popular item. "People give them as gifts too - sometimes customers buy them six at a time!"

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