Acar Buah / Fruit Chutney

I went out of my comfort zone today and cooked something I´ve always loved but never dared making. Maybe its the fear of not reaching my own standards... because I´ve tasted some really awesome acars! A few people I´ve asked either blatantly say No to sharing their recipes or will vaguely sputtered out the recipes which is also impossible to comprehend.

Now I understand why a small container is charged at $6. Dried fruits are really costly now. Especially in my recipe, I used the Ajwa Dates which cost $60 per kg?? of course you can use any other dates but that was all I had in my fridge :-)

Ingredients 

1kg of mixed dried fruits (chopped into bite size pieces)
(I used apricots, golden raisins, dates, currants, plums, prunes, radish, orange peel, small garlic, shallots and cili padi).. would have loved it if there were preserved mangoes and cherries too!

3 tablespoons of fish curry powder (dry fry in a pan and set aside)

Items to be blended

12 large onions (bawang besar)
10 garlic
5cm ginger
40g of dried chilli (soaked)

1 cinnamon
2 star anise
3 cardamoms

Fry the blended ingredients until fragrant, add the dry spices and the curry powder. Continue frying and making sure there´s ample oil to continously cook the spices (you can always scoop out and throw the oil after all is done). The paste should be a deep brown colour.

1/3 − 1/2 cup vinegar (taste accordingly.. it has to have a balance of sweet, sour & salty)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of salt (or more I kept adding according to taste)
1 tsp ajinomoto
2 tablespoons Marmalade (yes the jam!)
10 ajwa dates blended with half cup of water to thicken the paste (please deseed the dates before you blend)

Add the above ingredients and then the mixed fruits. Simmer on low heat until fruits are tender.