Seasonal fresh figs, spices, sugar and vinegar are combined together in this delightful fig chutney which is good on just about everything. It’s vegan, made in the Instant Pot and can be enjoyed with any bread or crackers of choice. It will also make a fantastic addition to your charcuterie board!

I love making chutneys with in season fruits like peaches, apples etc. These chutney go well with so many things and make a great accompaniment to Indian breads. With figs being in season, I had to make fig chutney. This chutney came out really well thanks to the super ripe and sweet figs that I used in the recipe.

You get several types of figs in the market when they are in season. There are the green ones, the black ones, for this recipe we use the black ones. The figs have to be ripe and sweet for this chutney recipe. I made this chutney in the Instant Pot which makes it super easy.

You just have to add everything to the Instant Pot and let it do its thing. This gets done quickly in the IP without constant monitoring, which is one thing I always love about the Instant Pot.

Ingredients

You need some basic ingredients for this fig chutney. If you cook Indian food often, then you will likely have all these spices in your pantry.

Figs: for this fig chutney recipe, we need fresh ripe figs. I have not tried this recipe with dried figs and honestly I don’t think it will come out as well as it came with these fresh figs.

Spices: the chutney is flavored with spices like cumin seeds, fennel seeds, mustard seeds. There’s also some garam masala and chili powder for heat. You can add more or less of the chili powder according to preference.

Sugar: to balance the flavors, there’s also some sugar in the recipe. I have used white sugar but you can also use brown sugar here. Or even jaggery will work.

Vinegar: for that little acidity, there’s vinegar. You can also use lemon juice in place.

Step by Step Instructions

1- Press the sauté button on your Instant pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil and then add 1/4 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, fennel seeds & mustard seeds.

2- Let the seeds sizzle and mustard seeds pop. Then add chopped onion & 1 tablespoon chopped ginger to it and cook 2 minutes.

3- Now add 500 grams of cut figs (I cut them in half) to the Instant Pot. I didn’t remove the skin of the figs before adding them, you can if you want to.

4- Then add the following:

• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/4 teaspoon red chili powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, adjust to taste
• 3 tablespoons sugar (37 grams) and
• 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar.

Give it all a good stir.

5- Now, add 1/4 cup water. You don’t need a lot of water as figs release a lot of water when pressure cooked.

6- Stir and close the lid. Press the manual or pressure cook button. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes with the pressure valve in sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then do a quick pressure release. 

7- Open the lid and press the sauté button again. The chutney will be a little thin at this point, stir on sauté for 3 to 4 minutes until chutney thickens to desired consistency.

8- Keep breaking the figs with the back of your spatula or use a potato masher as you cook it in sauté mode. It thickens more as it cools down. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy with breads, crackers and more!

Stove-top Instructions

If you wish to make this on a stove-top, simply add oil to a pan and then add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and fennel seeds to it. Follow the same instructions until adding the figs. Once you have added the figs, add all the spices, sugar, vinegar and water. You will probably need to add more water, around 3/4 cup for a stove top version.

Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 15 minutes until the figs soften completely. Break figs with a spatula or a potato masher and cook until chutney thickens and reaches desired consistency.

Making Chutney with Dried Figs

I have not tried making this recipe with dried figs. My recommendation would be to use fresh figs for this recipe. I don’t think the chutney made with dried figs would turn out as well as it did with fresh figs. But if that’s your only option and you do try it with dried figs then let me know how it turned out for you.

Storing the Chutney

Store this fig chutney in an airtight container and keep it refrigerated. It will last in the fridge for around 2 to 3 weeks or even more! I always finish it way before that time period though!

Tips & Notes

• The red chili powder I used in this recipe was extra-hot, so I used only 1/4 teaspoon of it. You can definitely use more if you like and if the chili powder that you are using isn’t extra-hot.
• Sugar levels can be adjusted to taste. For me, this balance of flavors was perfect but you can cut down on the sugar to make it less sweet.
• Peeling the skin from the figs is optional. I didn’t do it and I would recommend keeping them as such especially when they are ripe figs. Just remove the stems, cut the figs in half and use in the recipe.

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