Strawberry Jam

 I enjoy having food with my colleagues in the afternoon. It’s not a big assembly but all the same enjoyable all of us share what we carry and food tastes better and of course you learn new recipes or learn a modification.

Alba had brought “Strawberry Jam” and also “Grape Jam” and of course I had to try it out.

The best part is both the jams don’t need any colour.

I will post the pictures next time I make them.

Ingredients you will need are

450 grms strawberry

225 grms sugar.

Method:

1.   Crush strawberries in the mixer (only one round).

2.   Transfer to a thick bottomed pan and add sugar.

3.    Heat on medium flame till the mixture stars to thicken. Till this point you can stir occasionally.

4.  Once the mixture starts to thicken lower the flame and stir continuously till the mixture clumps together.

5.  Transfer to dry bottles. Take care to keep the bottles on wooden surface while transferring the jam and let it cool on the wooden surface only.

PS. This is the plate test to test the readiness of jam.

In the plate test  pour a small quantity of jam on a cold plate. Chill it in the freezer for 30 seconds. If your jam is ready it will be firm to touch. Remove the pan from heat.

Fwd: Sweet Star Pickle

One of my friend's Trupti, brought a pickle the other day; it was sweet, sour and pungent at the same time. She had made it out of what is called here in Goa "Bimbal". 

Bimbal's a look like tendli/Tondli/Tondikai /gherkins but are sour and are used in a variety of dishes like Goan prawn curry.

I found what is known locally "Karmala" or "Kamarak" in Marathi and made pickle out of them. Basically taste wise I personally think Karmala are more sour than Bimla.  This is what Kamarak look like.

I quite like their star shape so I cut them horizontally you can cut them in any shape you want.

You will need

 For 1 cup of these cut pieces

 1 ½ cup of jaggery cut fine

1 tblsp chilli powder (adjust as per taste)

1 small block of asafoetida/hing (Shankar Chaap) or 2 tsp powdered asafoetida/hing.

Method:

1. Add one teaspoon full of water to the jaggery in a thick bottomed vessel and bring to boil stirring constantly.

2.  When the jaggery boil and thickens add 1 drop of the boiling liquid in a little water. The drop forms a hard mass on pressing it forms a solid rock. Your jaggery is done.

3.  Quickly add all the cut pieces and the rest of the ingredients.

4.  The moment the "karmalas" are added the jaggery becomes watery, don't panic cook it on slow flame till the syrup thickens a bit.

5.  Cool and serve with Chapatti, rice anything.

P.S. I never used to like sweet pickle but now I have changed my mind.

Muddi Palaya( Golaa Bhaji)

'Muddi pallaya' and rice or 'bhakri' i.e. jowar roti was a favourite among us siblings. My kids also like Muddi pallaya. The method I had to relearn, as my kids liked more of Savita Mami's pallaya. I tried it often but since I am a slow learner I tend to forget the ingredients and the process. Hence this essay.

Mami made it out of Palak, methi and Pundi Pallaya –this is a sour vegetable. Her instructions were if no pundi pallaya is available use tamarind.

I have after a lot of trial and error discovered that the pallaya tastes better if you use the daal to thicken the vegetable. The easiest way I have found is to cook more daal and add till the whole thing thickens to one homogeneous mass.

Wash and cut the green leafy vegetables.
Cook toor daal.
Put in the vegetables and cook covered.
Add the cooked daal and tamarind if you are not using some sour leafy vegetable you can also add jaggary.
Grind together green chilli, jeera, asafoetida, coriander and garlic.
Add to mixture add salt.
In oil add mustard, asafoetida, curry leaves, dry chillies, urid daal, jeera, methi seeds and garlic and pour over the cooked vegetable. Mix and serve.

P.S. take care that your methi seeds do not blacken as this will make your vegetable bitter.

Stuffed Capsicum in gravy

Since I felt like experimenting with capsicum, tried this recepie. To my surprise it turned out very good and my husband liked it a lot. So here it goes:

Ingredients for the stuffing:

2 boiled Potatoes

1/2 spoon garam masala

1/4 spoon jeera power

1/4 spoon turneric powder

1/2 spoon chilli powder (adjust as per taste)

salt to taste

1/4 spoon oil

Indredinets for the gravy

4 capsicums (small sized)

1 finely chopped onion

1 1/2 finely chopped tomato

1/4 spoon jeera

1 spoon oil

1/4 spoon haldi powder

1 spoon kitchen king masala (or garam masala)

1/2 spoon chilli powder (adjust as per taste)

1/2 spoon dhayina powder

some freshly chopped corriander

salt to taste

Method:

1. Boil 2 potatoes and keep them aside to cool

2. Then peel them and grate them. To the grated potatoes, add chilli powder, turmeric powder,jeera powder, garam masala, salt and oil. Mix well to make a dough like thing. Keep aside. Stuffing is ready

3. Boil 4 capsicums in a pot of water for 10-12 minutes. When capsicums, start to change color and become a little soft, you may remove the pot from the gas. Let the capsicum look for 10 minutes.

4. Cut the top hood of the capsicum and scoop off the existing stuff from the inside of the capsicum. Drain out the water that would have seeped in while boiling.

5. Fill the potato stuffing in the capsicum and keep aside.

6. In a pan add oil. When hot, add jeera. Then add the onions. Fry till they become golden. Add Cut tomatoes. When oil starts to separate, add kitchen king masala, turmeric, chill powder, dhaniya powder and salt.

7. Add 11/2 cup pf water and let the gravy cook for 5-7 minutes

8. Add the stuffed capsicum to the gravy and cover with a lid. Let it cook in the gravy for 5-7 minutes.

9. Decorate with fresh coriander leaves.

This tastes great with parathas or jerra rice.