Cranberry Pachadi (Cranberry Chutney)

Cranberries are in season during the holidays and are used to make cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. All the stores carry cranberries and I over-zealously bought a big bag for myself. I wanted to make some cranberry sauce for my Thanksgiving series and even found a recipe that I liked. But cranberry sauce is usually served with turkey and I was not sure which vegetarian dish goes well with cranberry sauce. So decided against making it.
Now I had the whole bag staring at me from the fridge. So I froze half of the cranberries for later use (at least they won't stare at me until I open the freezer, which is not as much as the fridge -- clever, isn't it??) Anyway I used some to make this warm cranberry cider and the rest to make this tangy cranberry chutney.

The recipe is from our neighbor in India. Her daughter lives in US and she made this chutney and brought it over to her mother. I got to taste it while I was in India and noted the recipe down. Thankfully found the recipe in time to make before my cranberries went bad.
Cranberries have a slightly bittery-tangy taste. So I added a wee bit of tamarind to balance that out. The chutney turned out tasty. It is great to serve with plain rice, idli, dosa, upma or just about anything that is mild and needs some spice.

Ingredients:

Cranberries - 2cups

Red Chili Powder - 2tbsp

Tamarind - 1~2tbsp (adjust as per taste)

Ground Mustard - 1tsp

Salt - to taste

For Tempering:

Mustard seeds - 2tsp

Garlic Cloves - 3~4 cloves, finely minced

Method:

• Heat 2tbsp sesame (gingelly)/ peanut oil in a pan, add the cranberries and cook covered for 5~7 minutes or until the berries are cooked through and turn mushy.
• Add the tamarind pulp, red chili powder, salt and ground mustard. Cook for 5~6 minutes more, stirring constantly.
• Heat 2tbsp oil in a small saucepan, add mustard seeds and once the seeds start to splutter, add the garlic and turn off the heat. Pour the tempering over the chutney. Serve with rice, idli or dosa or upma.

Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge: January -- Week 2'.