This gorgeously dark and sticky fig and tamarind chutney deserves a place front and centre on any cheese or charcuterie board. It’s laced with sour tamarind, warming ginger and is a wonderful way to use of a glut of figs. Make a big batch when they’re in season and you’ve got holiday gifts sorted!

We have a HUGE fig tree in our garden and there are honestly hundreds on there. HUNDREDS!! I had to find a way to use them.

But I’ve never really used figs in cooking. They just weren’t something I ever really found growing up in New Zealand. So when I was faced with ALL THE FIGS I was at a bit of a loss. They go bad quickly and it felt like such a waste to leave them out there to rot away. Enter this sticky, sumptuous and incredibly addictive fig chutney. 

I love chutney – I find it more versatile than jam (mainly because I can eat it with cheese) – so I decided the fate of my figs was to become a luscious, sticky chutney. Figs are naturally super sweet, so there’s not a huge amount of sugar in this recipe, relative to the weight of the figs. It’s also packed with tamarind, which if you’ve not used it before, is a gorgeously sour fruit most often used in South East Asian cooking. It works brilliantly with the sweet figs here and hits my favourite flavour combo (sweet, salty and sour). 

The recipe is pretty hands-off – it’s just about waiting for the chutney to reduce on the stovetop. 

Ingredients

Aside from the obvious figs, there are a couple of other key ingredients that go into this addictive chutney.

• Figs. This recipe uses 2kg/4lbs which I know is a lot, but the recipe is easily scaled down depending on how many you have.
• Tamarind. This one is key too. You can find this in a couple of ways – tamarind paste (which is in a jar), or you can buy dried tamarind blocks where you just cut off a bit and dissolve it in boiling water to make your paste. I’m using paste here, but I’ve included instructions on what to do if you’re using a block.
• Sugar. I’m using a mixture of dark brown sugar and white caster sugar – I LOVE the sticky, molasses-esque nature of the dark brown sugar, but you could switch it out for all white if that’s what you have. The colour won’t be quite as rich but it’ll still be delicious.
• Dried fruit. I’m using a mix of raisins, sultanas and cranberries, but you could just use raisins or sultanas (cranberries alone can be a little sweet).
• Rice vinegar. Use apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar in place of this if you like.
• Ginger + garlic + onions. These three combine with the tamarind to give that lovely, sweet, salty, sour and savoury flavour. You could use ginger or garlic paste in place of fresh.

You’ll also need glass jars to store the chutney in, and they’ll need to be properly sterilised (I go into more detail on this further down the page, but it’s an easy process).

How to make it

Get all your ingredients into a large pot. I like to cut each fig into 6 long pieces so they hold their shape once cooked down. Finely dice the onions, and grate the garlic and ginger straight into the pot. It will look like a lot when it all goes in, but reduces in volume as you cook it. Give the ingredients a good stir to combine everything well, then set over low heat and bring to a simmer.

Continue to simmer the chutney over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it’s reduced in volume by about a third. It’ll start looking dark, sticky and glossy. This does take time – give it at least 1.5 hours. About an hour into simmering, get your jars sterilised and ready to go (I go into more detail on this below). Spoon the warm chutney into the warm sterilised jars then let sit for 15 minutes. Seal and store at room temperature for months.

How to sterilise glass jars

When you’re making any kind of chutney, jam or preserve, it’s super important to properly sterilise your storage jars. You want to kill any potential bacteria so that whatever you’re making can be stored at room temperature without being contaminated and spoiling.

Luckily, this process is really simple.

• Start by heating your oven to 320F/160C fan and line an oven tray with baking paper. You want to add your finished chutney to the sterilised jars when they’re BOTH still warm. I find if I start to sterilise the jars about 30 minutes before the preserve is ready, that works well.
• Wash the jars – and lids – you want to sterilise in hot, soapy water. Then give them a rinse but don’t dry them. Pop them upside down on the lined oven tray. Put them in the hot oven for at least 20 minutes, then remove them one at a time when you need them. Let them cool slightly before filling it with your preserve.

REMEMBER: Glass reacts to extreme temperature changes, so never add hot ingredients to a cold jar, or hot ingredients to a cold jar. The glass could shatter, so be very careful.

PRO TIP: If your jars have rubber seals, make sure you remove them before you put them in the oven.

I have a whole post about how to sterilise glass jars that goes into more detail on this process and why it’s so important, so have a look at that if you’d like some more information.

Got a question?

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If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave me a comment below.

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