Strawberry preserve in jaggery syrup

Strawberry preserve in jaggery syrup

Bought strawberry with so much enthusiasm but was confused as to what to do with them. Couple of ideas went through my mind but thought will do this experiment.

Once I finished making this dear husband entered the house and was curious to know what was cooking as the aroma was divine! I gave him a spoonful of it to taste, he just loved it and when I said its of jaggery he praised more. Oh yea my experiment passed and now have clicked a picture , not a great one, unable to avoid that glare falling in the preserve and have a three lines recipe too for you all :) Yea as usual short and simply ! ;)

Ingredients

Strawberry - 500 gms

Jaggery syrup ( thick) - 1 cup

a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Method 

Wash the strawberries well in salt water and rinse well.

Cut each berry into four and put it a thick bottom pan.

Add the jaggery syrup and keep the pan on the stove. The berries will release water and then gradually the syrup will start thickening. 

Remove from stove once you see the syrup coating the wooden spoon well and the freshly grated nutmeg and mix well

Once the preserve is slightly cool transfer into a sterilized jar and close it airtight.

Store in the refrigerator.

Enjoy :)

thanks!

Chaithanya

Jaggery amla ( amla caramelized in jaggery syrup)

Jaggery amla

Been wanting to try some sweet combination with amla when it is in season. Even if it fails I might not regret too much :). This is a wild try of caramelising amla in jaggery syrup, undoubtedly it turned very yummy. But I might as well warn you that you need a little ' more' time to get this done. But anyways I am going to save the recipe for me and for others who would love to try this.

Ingredients 
I kg amla ( steamed and seeds removed)*
2 cups of jaggery syrup**

Method
Mix both the ingredients and stir until it is reduced. You needn't wait until all the liquid evaporates, you can retain a little amount of the reduced liquid which adds on to that sweetness.

* Wash, and steam steam cook the amlas just until it breaks.
** I melted 1 kg jaggery in I cup of water , strained and used 2 cups of this liquid for the recipe. You can retain the remaining liquid for any other recipe/cooking or use it instead of sugar.

Chakka varatti - jackfruit jam in jaggery

                         

Till the moment I started making it, I had no idea that I would make it that day. But probably as they say I was supposed to make it that day. There is a reason for such a belief.

That day morning when my doorbell rang, I saw my neighbouring kid standing on my door holding a huge portion of a jack fruit. The aroma which filled my house made my mouth watery, yes I confess. I had to take my kids for their swimming classes, once I was back I patiently ventured out in cleaning and removing the carpels one by one carefully and gently. Once I was finished with my task I realised there is quite a lot of it. Then I thought of cooking it so that it stays for a couple of days. What better way other than making chakka varatti for a Keralite. Without waiting for a second I called my aunt to check the recipe. I noted and ventured out to make it. I have the traditional vessel for this called as 'uruli', was happy to make use of it too :)

You have to be very careful while cooking this as you dare not raise the flame since it makes the syrup splash and might reach your face, as it did for me. So be careful while cooking it and use a ladle which has long handle to stir.

Whatever said and done all the effort is worth when you taste the varatti and your kids eat it and has a glee on their face.

So enjoy cooking and eating this delicacy

Following is the recipe

Jackfruit carpels - 1 kg

Jaggery - 1/2 kg

Ghee - 2-3 tbspn

Cardamom powder and dry ginger powder (optional)

Method

Steam the jack fruit carpels for about 15 - 20 mins, remove from flame, let it cool and then puree it to paste.

While you keep the carpels for steaming take about a cup of water and melt the jaggery and sieve to remove the impurities and keep it aside.

Once your paste is ready, mix the paste and the jaggery syrup and pour into the thick bottom vessel and keep in on the stove.

Keep stirring it; yes keep stirring it until the syrup thickens. Once the syrup starts thickening start adding ghee little by little until the syrup leaves the sides of the pan and starts releasing the ghee. You can stop when it reaches a jam consistency.

Let it cool and transfer to sterilised jars. Enjoy the yummy chakka varatti/jackfruit jam.

Before removing from flame you can add the flavourings. 

Sweet and spicy tomato carrot jam

This is a great way to celebrate the tomato and red carrot season of the year. All you need is a kg of tomato and half kg of carrots. This jam/preserve can be used for sandwiches, chappathis and even dosas. It has that sweet and spiced tangy taste. I would say the tangy taste is very subtle in this jam. Easy to make and easy to taste.

Following is the recipe for the same
Ingredients 
Tomatoes - 1 kg ( remove the skin and puree - would come up to 4 cups)
Red carrots - 1/2 kg ( peel and finely chopped - would come upto 2 cups)
Sugar - 3 cups
Spices- cloves, cardamon, cinnamon , pepper corns, star anise.


Method
Mix the tomato puree/paste and the finely diced carrots( I used food processor) in a wide thick bottom pan. Sprinkle the sugar and mix well. Keep it on flame and keep stirring it. Be very careful as it releases a lots of water, hence bubbles up a lot. Add in the spices, to your level of taste, and you have the option to omit if you don't like any of all of the spices. But adding spices gives it a distinct taste, flavor and aroma.
Keep stirring until the jam thickens and store in sterilized jar while it is still hot. Close the jar once the content is cooled.

Your jam is ready!!!!

Carrot jam using jaggery

Few weeks back made carrot halwa using red carrots in season,  this time I bought one kg of red carrots again, but dint feel like making the heavy creamy sweet carrot halwa again, and hence thought of experimenting with it, something healthy and which can be stored for a couple of days.

This jam is very simple to make, delicious and of course healthy, also has shelf life for few days. This is how I made it.

Ingredients
Red carrots - 1 kg
Jaggery syrup - 1 cup (take one cup jaggery syrup when you melt 500 gms jaggery with 1 cup of water)
Cardamom powder - a pinch

Method
Wash, peel and finely chop the carrots in a food processor  or in the mixie jar ( make sure you dont make a juice of it  :)  ).
Keep a big thick bottomed vessel on the stove, put the chopped carrots and sprinkle some water and cook the carrots, once half cooked pour in the jaggery syrup and keep stirring until the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the pan. Sprinkle some cardamom powder and mix well.
Remove from heat and transfer into sterilized glass jars. Enjoy with dosas, rotis or enjoy it as it is :)

Jam with fresh figs using jaggery syrup

Been wanting to try some jam for a long time, but always hesitate for the reason of amount of sugar being used in the same.This time I tried jam with figs and substituted a portion of sugar with jaggery syrup. Nevertheless my family loved it , hence posting and saving this recipe for me and for you for future use.

Following is the recipe

Ingredients 
Figs - 500 gms ( washed thoroughly and halved)
Zest of one lemon and juice of half a lemon
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Jaggery syrup - half cup
Cinnamon stick - 1

Pick a thick bottom flat vessel and add all the ingredients together and mix well. Keep stiring it , once it is half cooked use a potato masher to mash the fruit or use a hand blender to blend it off, I used the latter although few lumps/skins of the fruit will be remaining. Never mind !!! And then put the  cinammon stick and cook further, keep stirring and cook the jam further till it passes the gel test

Do a gel test to check whether the jam is ready  :For a good gel, test a small amount on a very cold saucer: Put the saucer in the freezer for a few minutes, put a little of the fig mixture on it, then return to the freezer for 1 minute. When a good gel stage is reached, the surface of the fruit mixture will wrinkle slightly when pushed with a finger.

Meanwhile sterilize the jar to store jam and store the jam while it is still hot and your healthy home made fig jam is ready!!

Tomato Jam

I guess tomato season is on, streets are filled with tomato carts and fresh cute little tomatoes are quite inviting. I once tried tomato pickle so this time decided to try something sweet.. so why not jam. But dint want to pour in all those huge amount of sugar into it. So I decided to use sugar candies. I Kerala sugar candies ( kalkandam ) are generally used in the food of babies instead of sugar or else jaggery is used. Kalkandam is usually white in colour, but we also fine yellow coloured sugar candies in some grocery stores, mainly those stores which sells ayurvedic raw materials and other stuffs. It is costly compared to the white ones because of its medicinal values. I made this jam using a mixture of the above said white and yellow sugar candies. The recipe is as follows

Ingredients

Tomato pulp - 2 cups ( I took almost 10 medium ones)

Yellow sugar candy - 1 cup

White sugar candy - 1/2 cup

Water - 1/3 cup

Lemon juice - 1 tspn

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Method

Wash the sugar candies in fresh water and then add 1/3 cup of water and melt the candies. Strain in a towel or fine sieve to remove the impurities in the candies. Add this to the tomato puree, add in the lemon juice and cardomom powder too. Stir occasionally in med flame till the contents thickens. Remove from flame when the contents reduce to a jam consistency.  Pour into a sterile jars while the jam is still hot, close the lid tight and refrigerate for longer shelf life.

Note : You are free to replace the sugar candies with white sugar.

Done! :)

Simple strawberry jam

I just love the beauty and taste of strawberries (except those very sour ones ), have always loved admiring those lovely simple fruit... oops but my son who goes to kindergarten claims  that strawberry is a flower.. quite debatable .. go ahead please :)


And when the price of strawberries started falling down, I just cudn't control my selves from buying a couple of boxes of strawberries and trying out making jam from it. I made it and we relished it and made it again too . So the following is the recipe I tried, have a look and give it a try before the season is off!

Ingredients 

Strawberry puree- 1 3/4 cup ( or simply hulled)
Sugar- 1 1/4 cup
Lemon juice of one med sized lemon


Method

Place strawberry puree, sugar and lemon juice in a heavy bottomed pan, place on medium to medium high heat, stir frequently and allow sugar to melt and strawberries to cook.

To test whether the jam is ready  the jam should pour from the spoon in a thread consistency else if you pour a few drops of the jam on a clean plate, it will not spread and will have the clear jam like consistency, then you know that the jam is ready.

Cool slightly, pour in a clean glass jar, cool thoroughly and refrigerate and use as required.


The above method gives you a hassle free jam in case you or your kids don't want to bite in the fruit. If you want to have teeny weeny bite make the jam without pureeing the strawberries.