This spicy cucumber chutney recipe is a great way to preserve cucumbers from your garden and have a delicious chutney throughout the year. Full of flavor, cucumber chutney is often served with roasted meats, cheese flatbread, or is also perfect as a stand-alone side dish.
While I love to use fresh cucumbers dipped in hummus when their season starts, I search for other alternatives on how to use up the bounty of cucumbers from my garden.
In this post, however, I decided to cover two methods of making cucumber chutney.
The first method using slow-cooked cucumbers with herbs and spices is useful when you wonder what to do with too many cucumbers.
This method requires some cooking and a sauce pot or pressure cooker.
The second method is made of raw cucumbers and uses just a food processor or blender to make delicious raw cucumber chutney.
What is Chutney?
Originating from India, chutney is a gluten-free, vegan condiment made of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices. While South Africans often use apricots in their chutneys (see this dried apricot chutney) , English prefer apples. Chutney is often preserved with sugar or vinegar and served with various dishes.
What is cucumber chutney?
Cucumber chutney combines shredded cucumber with garlic, ginger, and aromatic herbs such as mint and cilantro. Adjusted with lime juice and salt, this cucumber chutney recipe is spicy chutney that complements curries, pork, or cheese.
Cucumbers
As the main ingredient in this recipe, cucumbers are one of the low-calorie fruit with a good amount of water and soluble fiber. They are also high in vitamins C and A and antioxidants and are considered an ideal ingredient for weight loss. Many people think that cucumber is a vegetable but it, is actually a fruit.
While cucumber doesn’t have that much of a distinct taste, this chutney, however, is packed with flavor.
There is a large number of cucumber varieties with different textures, flavors, or sizes.
The best seedless varieties for this particular recipe are English Cucumbers. You can also use other cucumber types; just cut them in half and scrape out the bulk of the seeds before shredding.
If you happen to have a leftover of cucumbers, make this delicious Hungarian cucumber salad or cucumber and beet salad that will exceed your expectations.
How to Make Cucumber Chutney with cooked cucumber
This method requires a saucepot, pressure cooker or dutch oven
Making your own chutney is an easy process that any beginner can manage.
First step
Cut the cucumber into small pieces or shred them, add salt and let them sit for a while to get rid of moisture.
