For our November 2018 “Feast Around the World” feature, we asked five of the state’s top chefs to create festive meals to serve this season. What we got was a cornucopia of global flavors.
Not long after chef Kiran Verma opened her first upscale Indian restaurant in Houston, she started what would become a local tradition for many customers by offering her own version of a traditional Thanksgiving spread. It’s a tradition that moved with her when she opened Kiran’s, in 2004. Below is Verma’s alternative to cranberry sauce for her “Tandoori and Beyond” feast.

Cranberry Chutney
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon onion seeds
- ½ cinnamon stick
- 5 or 6 whole cloves
- 3 ancho chiles
- ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 12 whole star anise
- ¼ cup good olive oil, mild-flavored
- 1 tablespoon ginger puree (available in stores and online)
- 1 pound fresh cranberries (if using frozen berries, thaw first)
- ½ cup canned cranberry jelly
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- ½ cup ruby port
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and cut into slivers
- ¾ cup orange juice
- 2 cups sweetened cranberry juice (if using unsweetened, add sugar to taste)
Directions
- In a heavy skillet over medium heat, toast first 7 ingredients until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat immediately and transfer spices to a bowl.
- Add olive oil to the skillet, heat 1 minute or so, and put the toasted spices back in, stirring. Add ginger puree and fresh cranberries and sauté until the berries begin to pop, about 5 minutes.
- Add the cranberry jelly, salt, brown sugar, port, and red wine vinegar, stirring to blend. Cook 15 more minutes.
- Add the slivers of ginger, orange juice, and cranberry juice, and cook until mixture starts to thicken, another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Refrigerate to firm up. Serve cold.
Comments