members recipes

Wet autumn afternoons bring out my creativity. I picked the figs from the garden...for the first time ever... and looked for something to do with them. My friend Prakash reckons Fig Pickle doesn\'t exist, so I\'m claiming this one as my invention! Is it any good? Well, the first time he tried it, my ten year old got on his knees and begged for more...

Ingredients
1 kg fresh figs, trimmed and cut into quarters or eighths depending on size
50ml sunflower oil (or similar)
2 cloves of garlic
1 thumbsized piece of ginger, chopped
1 tsp chilli powder, or more if you like it hot!
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tsp Panch phoran (if you don’t have this try using Garam Masala)
1/2 tsp tumeric
2 cups vinegar (I think a light fruit vinegar is better than malt)
3 tbls brown sugar
1 tbls salt

Method
I used a pressure cooker but this is not essential.
Add figs to pot.
Mix all ingredients except sugar and salt. Blitz in a food processor or with a handmixer.
Add mix to pot.
Keep lid off and bring to boil, add sugar and add salt bit by bit to get a nice balance.
I used a full level tablespoon.
I put the lid on the pressure cooker and simmered gently for 1 hour.
Allow to cool before adjusting flavour. The flavour seems to change as it cools so don’t add more salt or chilli until it cools…
Enjoy!
(very nice with poppadoms...)