The Cottage Smallholder

The raisins etc are useful for absorbing liquid in a chutney, adding sweetness and creating a greater depth of flavour- you can leave them out, but you may need to add more sugar ( use brown) to the mix to give sufficient sweetness and cook it for longer to reduce the liquid. Or add another dried fruit as suggested above- bear in mind that the flavour will then be different and you may need to alter the spices used to suit.