Guava Chutney – Sweet and Sour
Sweet, and sour Guava Chutney. Use it as a dipping sauce, glaze or serve it with some cheese.
Guava Chutney is the simplest recipe out there. You just have to mix everything with some water, break it down and let it simmer. Its done. Its so easy to prepare and stores well.
Once it starts heating up, the paste will soften up and break down with the help of a spatula or if you feel comfortable a potato masher will also be useful.
Let it simmer until it thickens and has a thick consistency. Remember, it will thicken up further as it cools down. Taste a little bit to make sure the salt, sugar and other seasonings are balanced. It should be sweet, slightly sour, and just perfectly spiced.
I know so many families that have alternate chutney ideas to swap out Indian tamarind chutney. Let’s be honest homemade tamarind chutney can take some efforts and time specially if you use pods. Either we make it in big batch and freeze it or use store-bought.
But lot of immigrant moms found other alternatives to it, they started making it from apple sauce, or cranberries and I have known someone who makes it from guava.
We travel a lot, in one of the tropical places we had this type of guava sauce and my husband had guava BBQ chicken. I had some guava paste left out since I made this barfi.
You all have to try it. Its so delicious and comes together in no time. All you need a block of guava paste. The most common one that I have seen in stores is from Goya. You either find it in a plastic casing or round block.
PREPARATION AND STORAGE
You can make the guava chutney in advance in fact 2-3 days in advance it keeps very well in the refrigerator. It needs to be cooled down completely before storing. So, it perfect that way to prepare it in advance.
You can easily serve this with many other appetizers or use this as a glaze to meat or tofu and grill it.
Whenever you are ready to serve, take out the guava chutney and just warm it up. It will thicken up as it sits. You can easily dilute it with some water to the chutney in a bowl and microwave it for few seconds to loosen it up.
Pairs perfectly with Jalapeno Poppers!
Guava Chutney
Ingredients
- 1 cup guava paste
- ½ tsp red chili powder
- ½ tsp roasted cumin seed powder
- ½ tsp coriander seed powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/ 4 tsp Fennel powder optional
Instructions
- Mix everything along with ½ cup water and let it simmer for atleast 10 minutes. Stir in between so that it does not stick to the pan. Once guava paste softens up, with the help of the spatula try breaking it down. Another alternative is once its cooked, let it cool down and then use handheld blender or blender and blend it till smooth.
- Taste and adjust the flavors. Guava paste already contains sugar, so I have only used a little. But, if its too sour for you adjust and add a little bit more one tablespoon at a time.