It is that time of year again where there are loads of green apricots falling off the tree and I’m thinking what to do with green apricots. There are so many baby apricots on the tree this year that the branches are bending under the weight of the fruit; so I thought it would be a good idea to use a lot of the green apricots to help the tree and so that we don’t end up with too many ripe apricots. Turning green apricots into sweet dishes is easy, one simply adds quite a bit of sugar, or make them into a pickle or relish. But one can only eat so much sugar and relishes! Thus, I always like to try and figure out a way of using green apricots in savoury recipes. I have a delicious green apricot recipe if you do want to make a relish that uses green apricots, it is delicious on bread or crackers, with or without cheese, or in pretty jars as a seasonal gift.
I sat for a while and thought about the tart flavour that the green apricots give to a dishes, and thought it might lend itself well to an Indian style curry that would usually use limes. So one lovely, quiet Saturday morning I wandered down to our apricot tree with the kids and a wicker basket, and we picked a whole basketful of green apricots. The children of course loved picking the green apricots, children always adore picking any homegrown produce. They especially loved picking the green apricots as it was a novelty, because usually I’m repeatedly reminding them not to pick young fruit and vegetables as they’re not ripe yet.
My eight-year-old climbed up the tree and dropped some green apricots down to his younger sister who caught the apricots in the basket. There were loads of green apricots down lower on the tree, but you know children, always make things more fun and adventurous – I loved it. Watching the children climb trees and work together to do something so idyllic like fruit picking made my heart smile, it was like a moment from a childhood story book.
How to prepare green apricots
To prepare the green apricots, give them a good wash in fresh water to get any dirt and dust off them. You must not eat the seeds of apricots, so be careful to only use the flesh and none of the seed. Using a sharp knife I cut the flesh off each side of the apricot, rotating the apricot around 4 times to slice the flesh off, then cutting the flesh off the top and bottom of the apricot. Discard the seeds and don’t use them.
I sliced about thirty apricots and ended up with around 2 cups of loosely packed green apricot flesh. It sounds tedious, but it didn’t take very long to prepare the green apricots for the curry, around 5 to 10 minutes.
How to serve green apricot curry
If you prefer a milder spiced version, simply halve the amount of dried spices used in the recipe, for example, instead of 2 tablespoons of cumin, only add 1 tablespoon. If you like your curries with the heat of chilli spice, add 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes, or one small fresh chili sliced. I didn’t add any chilli as I wanted the children to try it. My husband added chilli to his before he ate it (and loved it!). I’m a bit of a soy sauce fiend, so I sprinkled a bit of soy-sauce on top of my serve to add a fresh savoury saltiness. This curry would also work well with beef or a meaty, firm fleshed fish. This green apricot curry would also be delicious served with freshly cooked rice, or accompanied with naan or flat bread.
If this green apricot curry is too tangy for you, try my pumpkin and coconut curry, which is milder and sweeter due to the addition of the pumpkin – I make it on repeat for the children, freezing down batches of it as a meal to pull out when I’m flat out busy.
Green Apricot Curry Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coriander ground
- 2 tablespoons cumin ground
- 1 tablespoon turmeric ground
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds whole
- 2 medium onions diced
- 3 tablespoons garlic minced or thinly sliced
- 2 medium capsicums thinly sliced
- 2 cups of sliced green apricot flesh flesh of about 30 small to medium apricots
- 400mL tin coconut cream
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 medium chicken thighs cut into 1cm thickness and 3cm wide slices
- 2 cubes good quality chicken stock I like organic Vegeta chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons sugar you can add an optional 2 teaspoons if you feel the curry still tastes too tart
Instructions
- Heat a pan and add the olive oil. While the pan, dice the onion and other vegetables. My pan is cast iron, so I have time to prepare the vegetables while the the pan heats. If your pan is thinner or made of stainless steel or aluminium, it would probably be better to prepare all the ingredients before heating the pan.
- Once the pan is hot, add the diced onion and garlic mixture along with 1 cup of water. The water will allow the onions to soften without getting too dry and avoid the need to add more olive oil, it also prevents the garlic from burning and becoming bitter.
- Once the onion has softened, add to the pan all the spices, bay leaves and coconut cream. Stir and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Some people like to add the spices earlier, but I find adding ground spices at the same time as the onions might result in the ground spices getting a bit overcooked and getting a burnt flavour.
- Add the sliced vegetables and sauté for another 5 minutes.
- Add sliced chicken to the pan and continue to cook for 15 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and sugar and stir through. Simmer for another 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. If you feel the curry is reducing too much (i.e. too much of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce is getting too thick or non-existent), add a splash of water until it resembles the consistency of pouring cream.
- Serve on freshly cooked rice. Add chilli if desired.
Notes
Recent Posts
Want new recipe ideas that will use a lot of zucchini, where zucchini is also the main ingredient of the dish? Here are my favourites! Ah zucchini season…. where one finds oneself googling...
Another recipe in my 'recipes that use a lot of zucchini' arsenal. If you're looking at how to make an omelette that's not bland, but tired of the 'usual' omelette ingredients like mushrooms or...