Meringue kisses (p. 771) and Curried tropical chutney (p. 219)

I needed a dessert to finish out the Fourth of July and I thought that Meringue kisses (p. 771) would be the perfect light finish to a solid day of eating.

The first step was simple (or so it seemed). I took egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt and I was supposed to beat them until foamy.



So I beat it and beat it...it seemed to be getting foamy...I slowly added the sugar...and then added the vanilla:



I was supposed to beat it until it was glossy and stood in stiff peaks. Well, it got glossy and it never stood in stiff peaks. It was so frustrating! It tasted terrific but it was not standing in peaks.

I decided there was no point in just tossing the batter and that I might as well finish the recipe and hope something tasty turned out. I was supposed to use a pastry bag and make "kisses". Because of the viscosity of the batter, it didn't make "kisses" so much as "discs".



I baked them for 45 minutes, switching them in the middle.




They were actually pretty attractive! They weren't the correct shape but they were really attractive. And delicious--light as air. Hopefully I can get this recipe right in the future, I have to make two more versions of these cookies (cocoa and nutty versions). Any ideas what I did wrong?

As I was thumbing through TJOC Curried tropical chutney (p. 219) caught my eye--and and the strange part was that I had every thing on hand for it. I've never had chutney before but Wikipedia told met that American or European chutneys tend to be a fruit, sugar, and vinegar reduction. The recipe seemed pretty easy. Essentially, the chutney is a whole bunch of ingredients that seems bizarre together mixed up.

To start, I mixed onions, garlic, and a jalapeno in some vegetable oil. After cooking it for about five minutes, I added some curry powder, salt, and red pepper flakes:



Brown sugar was then added in. So, to recap, we now have onions, garlic, a jalapeno, curry, salt, red pepper, and brown sugar. A strange combination.

I needed crushed pineapple and didn't have any so I just crushed my own, in the can. I felt like Sandra Lee!



I added five cups of bananas (a LOT of bananas), the pineapple, some dried mango, peeled ginger, and cider vinegar to the pot.



The whole concoction was cooked for about a half hour and some lime juice was added.

Josh really wanted me to post a picture of his sandwich, an egg, chili sauce and chutney on toast from Red Dwarf. Red Dwarf says it's the ultimate hangover cure and it's even made it into the urban dictionary. This was just the first of many--Josh loves them now.



Any other uses for chutney? I have a huge vat and don't know what to do with it.