Its time to make delicious Kalamansi Chutney or Acar buah limau kasturi. Ideal for coming Ramadan

I have been looking for kalamansi or kalamodin plant for quite sometimes, but to no avail.
Kalamansi limes are very popular and could be found in abundance in Malaysia.



My mom planted one kalamansi plant in our little garden. It was a lone tree that stood few head taller than my 8 year old self :P. It gave us plenty of kalamansi... mom gave some away to neighbours as we couldn't possibly finish them all.

We used kalamansi in most of our cooking or beverage

• sambal belacan (pounded fresh chillies with prawn paste, salt and freshly squeezed kalamansi), a condiment to accompany fried fish, fresh Asian herbs (ulam) and steam rice. 
• to enhance the flavour and to give a subtle hint of sourness in soup-y dish like Noodles in sweet potato soup or Laksa
• excellent to cool down on hot days with glass of iced kalamansi tea
• chutney or acar

Besides using in cooking or drinking, we used to have it as snack ;)... unheard off, you might think!!!

All you need is one ripe kalamansi, cut in half, place a salted dried plums (asam boi) in between... then squeezed and sucked out the juice.
Everyone would be making funny faces...grimacing ;P ... salty and sour with a zing in our head :D
... but one should not eat too much of that concoction, he or she would be making few visits to the loo the next day ;P





Another great used for kalamansi is to make chutney.
We are a nation (Malaysian ;p ) of not wanting to waste anything.
After squeezing out the juice, the skin or peel is then used to make chutney.

Womenfolk prepare this chutney/ acar when fasting month is approaching. Kalamansi chutney will be in demand during that month, the month that we craved for something simple, sweet and slight sour and tart :D to go with hot steamed rice and boiled salted duck egg....sluuurpp :)

Kalamansi Chutney / Acar Limau Kasturi

8 kalamansi
7 shallots
7 cloves of garlic
2 inch ginger - julienne
3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 cup cooking oil
50g preserved mango - cut into slice
20g dried black currants
4 pieces dried apricot - diced

to blend
1 red onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 inch of ginger
15g dried chillies - wash, deseed and soak in cold water overnight

pan roast and grind
1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds

Prepare 1 week ahead.

1. Halved kalamansi and squeeze out the juice (reserve juice for other uses or to make ice lemon tea).
2. Rub the kalamansi inside out with salt. 
3. Place them in a plate and dry it out in the sun until kalamansi is dry to touch.

making chutney.

1. Take off as much salt as possible from the sun-dried kalamansi. 
2. Blend onion, garlic and ginger with 1/4 cup of cooking oil into a smooth paste. 
3. Blend chillies (separately) with 1/2 cup oil into a paste. 
4. Heat up wok with remaining oil, saute mustard seeds, blended onion mix until it changes to slightly golden in colour and aromatic. 
5. Add blended chillies, pan roasted ground cumin and fennel, and apple cider vinegar, shallots, garlic and ginger. 
6. Cook until the oil split. 
7. Add sugar. 
8. Simmer for 5 minutes. 
9. Add sundried kalamansi, shallots, garlic and ginger. 
10. Cook until the sauce thickened while making sure that shallots and garlic are cooked through. 
11. Add salt (advise to taste first as kalamansi is saturated with salt). 
12. Add sugar if you require sweeter taste chutney. 
13. Leave it to completely cool.  
14. Pack in a sterilised jar and refrigerate. 
15. Serve with steam rice.