This is not only a delicious recipe with simple ingredients for a flavorful, sweet & spicy Easy Mango Chutney, but also a brilliant and super easy mango appetizer idea to WOW your guests!
I combined mango chutney with just a small amount of tangy goat cheese to create bite sized Mango Chutney Appetizers with Goat Cheese and Papadums that look elegant and taste out-of-this-world-amazing!
In a previous post, I talked briefly about the preponderance of mango trees in Sri Lanka and how much of my childhood that I spent there was entwined with this fruit.
The mango tree even has great significance in Sri Lankan culture, because legend has it that, Sri Lanka accepted and embraced the religion of Buddhism for the first time over two thousand years ago, following a symbolic conversation about mango trees (!), between the King that ruled the island at the time and a Buddhist missionary from India.
Mango is one of the most cultivated fruits in the tropics, probably because it grows like a weed in that part of the world. And suffice it to say that I’ve always been obsessed with mangoes! This mango curry, mango lassi, mango relish with cream cheese, mango popsicles, and mango compote are just a sample of all the different ways I love to eat mangoes now! 🙂
Mango is a quintessential tropical fruit
When I was a kid, I used to eat mangoes like apples, with the skin on. Mind you this was juicy mango from trees that grew in our garden, so no pesticides etc. etc.
An amusingly large portion of my childhood evenings were spent staring at baby mangoes that were ripening on trees and trying to make sure that I got to them first, before the birds and squirrels did. Sadly, the birds and the squirrels won way more often than I cared for.
Occasionally, someone (an adult) would climb the trees and tie grocery bags around bunches of baby mangoes to preserve them from all the “uninvited guests” (which included the birds, the squirrels and the rowdy boys from the neighborhood) and when the mangoes were finally ready, I would approach the tree with a make-shift hook (usually a wire hanger) tied to a broomstick and pull the mangoes down from the tree.
It was usually a two person job, I pulled the mangoes free from the tree and my little sister dashed around and collected them into a bag. And how much of my haul I shared with my sister, depended on her effort.
Mango chutney
As much as I loved eating mangoes as a kid, one way in which I did not want to eat it was in a chutney! I never quite understood why the adults obsessed about eating this perfectly sweet, delightfully juicy fruit – cooked with vinegar and spices. It just seemed like a waste. I mean I loved eating mango pickle, which was raw mangoes mixed with red chili, pepper, sugar and vinegar. But never mango relish with jalapeños or mango salsa or mango chutney.
I never even tried it when I was young. I cannot believe that I missed so many years of enjoying this simple yet wonderful creation that is mango chutney.
I still prefer homemade chutney over any other kind, though. Staying true to the classic chutney was not something I could do here however, simply because I couldn’t remember the classic chutney. So I went ahead and made my own version.
A little knowledge bomb about goat cheese
Did you know what makes goat cheese much more tangy compared to cheese made with cow milk? It’s the higher amount of medium-chain fatty acids like capric acid, found in goat milk (more than twice that of cow milk).
In fact these fatty acids are named after the Latin word for goat – Capra. However the overall fat content in goat milk is less than that of cow milk which also makes goat milk more digestible for humans.
When combined, the tangy (sour) and creamy notes of goat cheese help the fruity sweetness of mangoes really pop and shine. That creaminess also complements the slight heat of mango chutney really well and that’s why this goat cheese – mango chutney combo in this recipe works brilliantly!
If you’re considering a cheese substitution, I would suggest Gorgonzola which would still keep that sour-sweet flavor combo going. Personally however, I prefer goat cheese. 🙂
Mango appetizer
I served this beautiful pairing with papadum (on papadum to be more precise) as a fantastic mango appetizer! Papadums are a super thin, crisp, cracker-like snack that’s quite popular in South Asian cuisine.
However they can get soggy really quickly from the moisture of the chutney, so remember to assemble the appetizer just before you serve to retain that crunch.
Or, even better, you can just serve the papadum on the side, so people can help themselves to it. I cut out little rounds of papadums as you can see below (and kept the scraps for a meal for us on a later date).
Recipe substitutions
My favorite substitution for papadum in this recipe would be triscuit crackers or water crackers!
Imagine those flavors with a crisp, slightly salted water cracker topped with goat cheese and sweet & spicy mango chutney?? Can I get a YES PLEASE? 🙂
Alternatively, you could serve this easy mango chutney with tortilla chips too.
How to serve mango chutney
You can serve this easy mango chutney as a lovely, fruity condiment in a variety of ways.
- As an appetizer (like I do here with goat cheese and papadums or crackers or your favorite tortilla chips, OR pair this mango chutney with my easy grilled shrimp appetizers).
- Pair it with any of my authentic curry recipes. We often eat this with rice and curry. It goes exceptionally well with my Sri Lankan black pork curry. The pork curry is a little sour and the sweetness of the mango chutney will cut through it. Plus pork pairs REALLY well with fruit flavors anyway (roasted pork tacos with blueberry coleslaw, slow braised pork roast with pear and apple sauce, BBQ pork ribs with peach, pan fried pork chops with peaches, or pork carnitas tacos with mango, just to name a few examples, ha!).
- As a condiment to pair with grilled meats.
- In sandwiches and burgers. For example, I paired this mango chutney with this chicken meatball sandwich, and it was AH-mazing! Or use it as a sandwich spread – this chutney will go so well with this cajun shrimp and avocado toast.
- As a fantastic sweet and spicy dip.
Recipe
Sweet and Spicy Mango Chutney
US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results whenever available.
Common Measurement ConversionsIngredients:
Mango Chutney
- 370 g sweet mango flesh about 2 – 3 large mangoes. You can use frozen mangoes as well.
- ½ medium yellow onion chopped into medium dice
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 cm piece of ginger peeled and grated (or minced finely)
- 1 ½ tsp black mustard seeds
- 2 tsp spicy brown mustard sauce
- ½ tsp Cayenne pepper leave out, or adjust, to your spice tolerance level
- ⅛ tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup water
Mango Chutney & Goat Cheese Easy Appetizer
- 2 inch papadum rounds or water crackers as many as you like
- Goat cheese
Instructions:
- In a dry non-stick pan, place the mustard seeds and heat them on medium-high heat, while gently shaking the pan to move the mustard seeds around.1 ½ tsp black mustard seeds
- When the mustard seeds start to pop, remove from the heat and transfer to a saucepan.
- In the same saucepan, add about 1 – 2 tbsp oil, onions, ginger and garlic and heat these together on medium heat for a couple of minutes till the onions soften (but make sure not to burn the ginger and garlic).½ medium yellow onion, 1 cm piece of ginger, 2 cloves garlic
- Add the mango, spicy brown mustard, cayenne powder, turmeric, sugar, water and vinegar.370 g sweet mango flesh, 2 tsp spicy brown mustard sauce, ½ tsp Cayenne pepper, ⅛ tsp ground turmeric, ¼ cup white sugar, ¼ cup white vinegar, ¼ cup water
- Stir gently to mix all the ingredients together and bring the liquid to a boil (be careful not to let the bottom burn), and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the liquid has thickened, the mangoes have softened and have just started to break down. Lower the heat of the stove if needed to prevent the chutney from burning.
- Place the hot chutney in a clean glass bottle and let it cool to room temperature before storing in the fridge. It has lasted about a week in the fridge in our house.
Mango Chutney & Goat Cheese Appetizer
- If you’re using papadums, heat about an inch of oil in a small pan and fry the papadums till they puff up and have cooked. Keep in an air tight container till ready to use.2 inch papadum rounds or water crackers
- Top the water crackers/papadums with a dollop of goat cheese and some mango chutney. Serve immediately.Goat cheese
Nutrition Information:
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
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