A New Cranberry Love

Last year we published what we thought was a reader’s recipe for a tasty cranberry relish made with sour cream and horseradish. A flood of mail set us straight. In fact, that recipe came from National Public Radio correspondent Susan Stamberg, who had been reading it on the air and even sending it out on postcards for several years.

So imagine our surprise when Stamberg visited Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago and told us she has a new favorite cranberry recipe that she serves at holiday (and non-holiday) meals.

The new love is cooked, rather than raw, and has a dominant ginger note. This recipe, which probably tastes like no other cranberry relish you’ve had, comes from Indian cooking expert Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbook “East/West Menus for Family and Friends” (Harper & Row, 1987).

Of course, it’s not as if she’s forgotten the old recipe. “I would never give up that one,” she says. “I just tried the new one and thought it was so delicious that I make it too.

“Now at our table we have three different kinds of cranberries. I make Madhur Jaffrey’s. My son and I make Mama Stamberg’s, which I got from my mother-in-law. My mother Anne Levitt’s contribution is a can of cranberries. It’s such a democratic table that everybody brings what they like.”

Here are both recipes.

MAMA STAMBERG’S CRANBERRY RELISH

2 cups cranberries

1 small onion, quartered.

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons horseradish

Grind cranberries and onions in food processor or meat grinder, being careful not to puree.. Add sugar, sour cream and horseradish and mix well. Cover tightly and freeze. One hour before serving, move to refrigerator to thaw. Relish will be thick, creamy and shocking pink.

1 1/2 pints. Each 1/4-cup serving:

152 calories; 20 mg sodium; 12 mg cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 24 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.56 gram fiber.

GARLICKY CRANBERRY CHUTNEY

1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 (1-pound) can whole-berry cranberry sauce

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Cut ginger into very thin slices. Stack slices together and cut into very thin slivers.

Bring ginger, garlic, vinegar, sugar and cayenne to simmer in small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup, about 15 minutes.

Add cranberry sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Mix and return to simmer. Cook on low heat 10 minutes.

Cover tightly and refrigerate.

2 cups. Each 1/4-cup serving:

114 calories; 54 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 30 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.20 gram fiber.