With CoVid still hanging around, very few of us have time to spare to make stuff like jam . After all, it’s far easier to order the jam online! All you have to do is get the delivery.
But when strawberries the size of tomatos are sold on the pavements, I thought I should try my hand at some homemade preservative-free jam.
The first thing I did was to find a suitable recipe. As usual Google came to the rescue and I came up with an easy three ingredient 20 minute recipe .
According to Jamie Sanders whose recipe I relied on, all that you really need is strawberries, sugar and lime juice . And a heavy bottomed pan and twenty minutes time.
Adding the sugar to the fruit
I loved this recipe because it didn’t require pectin which is not available at my local baniya.
Actually I’m not too sure about that because of late, the baniya has begun stocking up on Rice Wine Vinegar and blended Sesame Oil . Obviously during the pandemic, these two foreign ingredients have become essential for the denizens of this neighbourhood who like millions of others, have become gourmet home cooks . Who knows , he may yet surprise me with two brands of pectin to choose from .
But, anyways, with Ms. Papaya dying to try her hand at making jam at home, we got down to making the yummiest, scrummiest home made jam
Ingredients
500g strawberries, hulled and coarsely chopped
3/4 cup of sugar
2 tbs lemon juice
Instructions
In a heavy bottom pot, mix together the strawberries, sugar, and the lemon juice.
Stir continuously over med-low heat till all the sugar dissolves
Now, Increase the heat to med-high and bring the mixture to a boil.
Stir from time to time, mashing the strawberries until jam is thickened. This should take around 10 minutes and the pot should be covered with bubbles.
When the jam is cool, transfer to a jar.
A sealed jar can stay in the fridge for around 10 days.
I must say, that the quantity it yielded was quite disappointing – only one jar. But it was precious all the more because the strawberries were chopped by Ms. Papaya, the lemon juice poured in by her and it was watched over carefully for the last two minutes as the jam bubbled away.
So I would definitely recommend trying this recipe. Especially since the strawberries are getting redder and sweeter every day.
If you do try out this recipe, do let me know in the comments how it came out.
With 2020 being what it was, we decided to bring in the New Year differently from the way we normally do.
Initially we used to celebrate New Year’s at the Club. But once Hubby Dear turned teetotaler and vegetarian, it was no fun downing sodas and waiting till 1 a.m. to have some cutlets and mashed potato.
So we celebrated with family and friends on top of a terrace flat till one year one of the husband’s died. The next year one of the couples lost the wife. By this time we were too spooked to go for the third year as we believe that misfortunes happen in threes.
After that, New Year’s eve was spent in traffic bringing home one daughter or the other.
Finally, for the last ten years or perhaps more, we spent it in our own beds, exhausted after the whole year’s shenanigans. We didn’t even get up at midnight to watch the ships lit up in the harbour or to hear the gun salute.
But this year, since everything was different, we decided to break from tradition and break bread with a young couple from down the road.
Our menu was simple with Daughter No.1 volunteering to do the mains.
All that she requested me to do was arrange the flowers, make a roast and make a Banoffee Pie.
I first heard about a Banoffee Pie a few years ago and if truth be told, didn’t like it the first time I had it.
I mean, what kind of a name is Banoffee to begin with?
Banana+Toffee= Banoffee
This typically British dessert was first made popular in the early 1970s by Nigel Mackenzie of the Hungry Monk, an iconic restaurant in the UK. It has since then become a popular dessert and despite its exotic-sounding name, Banoffee Pie is surprisingly easy to make.
Easy as Pie
Now Bananas are not particularly my favourite fruit, especially they are considered the most plebian of fruit. But today’s prices of Rs. 80 per dozen are slowly inching them out of the reach of the common man.
However, a take-away pie is even more outrageously priced, so I decided to make it myself.
While the regular Indian Green Bananas have now become rare, the ubiquitous yellow Cavendish Banana does just fine.
What is important is that the banana should be ripe and firm, not soft, squishy and overripe.
I went through the recipes I found on YouTube ( my latest recipe source) and combined the recipe by Carnation and Sally’s Baking Addiction, to come up with my own.
The Ingredients are very simple.
For the crust :
250 g of Marie Digestive Biscuits
100 g unsalted butter ( melted)
75 g castor sugar
For the caramel toffee
75 g Butter
75 g Demerara sugar
1 tin of condensed milk
For the topping
500 ml fresh cream
2 ripe bananas
So now that you’ve got all your ingredients together you can start by making the pie crust.
♦ Combine the biscuits, sugar and melted butter in a food processor or blender to make a mixture that resembles bread crumbs.
♦ Tightly pack the biscuit mix onto a pie tin and press into place with the back of a measuring cup or spoon. Bake in a hot oven ( 180º C) for 15 minutes. This ensures that the pie crust doesn’t crumble.
♦ Allow the pie crust to cool completely and refrigerate for an hour or more so that it firms up.
In the meanwhile, you can get down to making the Caramel toffee or Dulce de Leche.
♦Pour the contents of the condensed milk into a thick-bottomed bowl. Add the butter and sugar and allow to come to the boil, stirring all the time.
♦Lower the heat and keep on heat till the mixture thickens.
♦Take off heat and allow to cool.
♦When completely cool, pour over pie crust.
If you plan on making the pie ahead of time, you can stop at this stage. Else, go ahead with the last stage.
♦To finish, whip the cream and sugar till it forms stiff peaks. Take care not to curdle the cream.
♦Place banana slices cut into roundels on the toffee layer. Top off with whipped cream.
♦Drizzle Hershey’s chocolate syrup or sprinkle chocolate shavings for decoration.
Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
Tip : This pie tastes even better when made two days in advance!
So now isn’t it easy? If you try out this recipe do let me know how it turns out.
Ciao
P.S I must admit that this pie was a flop because I didn’t use FRESH cream. Somehow the UHT whippable cream didn’t measure up and instead of the stiff peaks I got a huge gooey mess .
So the pie didn’t cut into wedges and I had to scoop it out as a pudding instead .
If you have a recipe or foodie anecdote to share, do ping me so that I can visit your post!
