Homemade Strawberry Jam

Kids love jam, however, they are jammed with artificial colors, flavors, corn-syrup, preservatives, and god knows what. Some even proudly announce that there is no natural fruits in it. Reading the label feels more like walking down a chemistry store’s isle than food ingredients.

My daughter likes jam on her bread. So I make various kinds of Jams at home and use that instead. I also go light on the sugar to ensure it remains healthy as well.

To prepare jam always first simmer the fruit and sugar really slowly. This process extracts fruit’s natural pectin and retains the bright colors.

Ingredients

• 2lb.strawberries washed and cut into halves
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 2 and 1/2 cup of sugar

Procedure

First we need to sterile the jar which we will use for storing so that the jam is preserved for a long time without any chemical preservatives. In a wide and deep saucepan take water. Place the open jar along with its lid in the water. Let it boil for 10 – 15 minutes. Once sterilized take out the jar and the lid with a clean tong and let it sit for 10 minutes.

In a heavy bottom pan take strawberries and crush them with a potato masher (or backside of large spoon). Add lime juice and sugar to it. Keep stirring them on medium heat till sugar dissolves.

Now crank up the heat up to a high and bring it to a boil. Let it come to a rolling boil. Remove any scum from the top.

Cook on high heat till it thickens. Do a wrinkle test before you turn off the heat. Place 1tsp. of jam into the refrigerator for a minute. Touch it with your finger and if it wrinkles like skin, it is ready. If not boil for another 5 – 10 minutes and then check.

Pour jam into the warm jar when the jam is still warm. Let them cool down completely before sealing.

Hyderabadi Kacchi Gosth Biryani

Biriyani is just a name for traditional Indian way of cooking meat and rice. How it is cooked and what is added varies drastically across India. In one such variation meat is cooked separately with gravy and then mixed with half-cooked rice and put on the final “dum” (slow cooking). In another, marinated raw meat is layered in rice and spices and cooked together. The meat in this case is kacchi or raw. As you can guess this is what I cover in todays post.

This recipe comes from the Hyderabad Nizams kitchen. One of our relatives (Habu Dadu) ran away from home at a young age and finally with a lot of twists of fate landed as the apprentice of the Hyderabad Nizams chief chef. He worked in the Nizam’s kitchen for many years and finally retired in Kolkata. When he used to visit our home he used to come with his own bag of spices and cook for us. It used to be a grand feast which I remember till this date. Todays recipe dedicated to his fond memories.

Ingredients

For Marinating

• 1kg mutton cut into medium pieces on bone
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 1tbsp. salt
• 1/2tsp. sugar
• 1tbsp. ginger paste
• 1tbsp. garlic paste
• 1tbsp. green chili paste
• 1tbsp. garam masala ( You can use Biryani masala of your favorite brand)
• 1tsp. red chili powder
• Juice of 1 lime
• 250gms curd (Yogurt)
• 1 bunch coriander leaves finely chopped
• 1 bunch mint leaves finely chopped

For Rice

• 500gms. basmati rice
• 2 – 3tbsp. salt
• 50gms. ghee (Clarified butter)
• 1tsp. saffron soaked in quarter cup of warm milk

 

Required Appliance

• Heavy bottom pan (I use Martha Stewart or Simply Calphalon vessels)
• Tawa or skillet

 

Procedure

Soak basmati rice for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok and deep fry the onion slices till they are brown. Remove and drain them on a paper towel.

Arrange mutton in layers in a heavy bottom pan. Add Half of the fried onion, ginger-garlic paste, green chili paste, chili powder, garam masala powder, salt, sugar, yoghurt, oil, lemon juice, chopped coriander and mint leaves to it. Mix everything well with mutton  and keep it marinated for 3-4 hours.

By the meantime in a pan take water along with 2- 3  tbsp. salt and bring to a rolling boil. Stir it well and add presoaked basmati rice to it. Once you have added the rice it will stop boiling. Wait till it again starts boiling. This rice is 50% done. Make an layer of rice on top of the marinated mutton. Add about a cup of water ( Preferably the water in which you boiled the rice).

Sprinkle some more fried brown onions on top of it. Drizzle few spoons of saffron soaked milk over it.

Now seal the vessel tightly with aluminum foil.

We will not be cooking this directly on heat because if we do so the meat will char by the time the biriyani is cooked. So take a tawa (skillet) and place the biryani vessel on top of it. Cook it on medium heat for about 45 minutes. By the end of this time you will see the aluminum foil has swollen up. That means it is ready. Remove the foil an serve it with raita.

Raita

Raita is basically a cool, creamy yogurt based condiment which is a perfect accompaniment for different kinds of spicy dishes. No wonder Hyderabadis famous for their spicy food, eat equal amount of raita with any of their servings.

Made by combining different ingredients with yogurt, raita is a must to soothe the palate and douse the fire .

Ingredients

• 2 cups yogurt
• 1/2 cucumber coarsely shredded
• 1/2 cup red onion finely chopped
• 1/2 cup finely grated carrot
• 2tbsp. finely chopped cilantro
• 1tsp.  dry roasted ground cumin seeds
• 1/2tsp. chat masala
• 1/2tsp. chili flakes
• 1tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

In a bowl take yogurt and add salt and sugar to it. Beat it with a fork so that there is no lump in it. Now combine all other ingredients with the beaten yogurt and your raita is ready to serve.

Paneer Butter Masala

Long time back when we used to live in India, my husband came on a trip to US with one of his colleagues Neeraja. They went shopping together and landed up buying the same clothes and jackets for their children. So in couple of work parties my daughter had the exact same attire as Neeraja’s daughter. It was pretty funny. Couple of months back Neeraja came to visit us and I was reminded of this incident.

Since Neeraja is vegetarian I made Paneer Butter Masala along with some Doi Phulkopi. Here goes the recipe for the former as requested by Neeraja.

Ingredients

1. 200gms paneer cut into cubes
2. 3tbsp. finely chopped onion
3. 1tsp. ginger paste
4. 1tsp. garlic paste
5. 1tsp. cashew powder 
6. 1tbsp. tomato paste or tomato puree
7. 1tsp. coriander powder
8. 1tsp. cumin powder
9. 1tsp. Kashmiri red chili powder 
10. 1/2tp. garam masala powder
11. 1/2tsp. chicken tandoori masala
12. 1tbsp. tomato ketchup
13. 1/2 tsp. kasuri methi (Dry fenugreek leaves)
14. 1/2 cup milk
15. 1tbsp. sugar
16. Salt to taste
17. Chopped cilantro
18. 1/2 cup fresh cream or whole milk
19. 4tbsp. butter

Procedure

Cut paneer into medium cubes and dunk them in lukewarm water. Keep one or two cubes aside for garnishing.

In a bowl take garam masala powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, chicken tandoori masala, chili powder, cashew powder, tomato ketchup, kasuri methi and mix well. Slowly add 1/2cup of milk and whisk it o make a smooth mixture. Keep it aside.

Heat butter in a pan and add chopped onion to it. Fry on low heat till they become translucent. Add ginger garlic paste to it and sauté till the raw smell goes away. Add tomato paste and fry till you see a fine line of oil oozing out of the spices.

Add the liquid spice mixture you made before and stir everything well. Cook it covered for 3-4 minutes and then turn off the heat. cool it down completely.

Transfer the mixture in a blender and blend it really well. Now strain this mixture to get a smooth and silky gravy.

Transfer the strained gravy to the pan and once again bring it to boil. Drain the water and add the paneer cubes to the gravy. Sprinkle salt and sugar to it and give a gentle mix. Let it simmer for 2- 3 minutes and then pour the fresh cream over it. Mix once again before you turn off the heat. Garnish with chopped cilantro and shredded paneer.

Serve with naan or roti.

Pyaji (Bengali Onion Pakora)

Curling up with a good book and some hot pakoras on a rainy day is unbeatable. In Seattle there is no dearth of rainy days, but the leisure time is hard to come by. This Monday I didn’t have anything to cook because there was enough left-overs from a weekend party. So suddenly at around eleven I had nothing to do and there was no one at home. Outside, it was cold and drizzling. A perfect occasion to brew up some hot Darjeeling tea, put on some nice Bangla music and have some Pyaji.

Ingredients

1. 2 red onions sliced into half moons
2. 1tsp. grated fresh ginger
3. 2 – 3 green chilies finely chopped
4. Handful of chopped cilantro
5. 1/2tsp. chili powder
6. 1/4tsp. turmeric powder
7. 1/2tsp. baking powder
8. 5 – 6 tbsp. besan (Chickpea flour)
9. Salt to taste
10. Mustard oil for deep frying.

Procedure

In a mixing bowl take onion, green chilies, ginger, cilantro leaves and sprinkle salt over it. Mix the salt thoroughly by hand. Leave it for 10 – 15 minutes. The salt will bring out the natural juices of the raw ingredients reducing the amount of water required for binding.

Slowly add besan and keep mixing it with the other ingredients. Once you have utilized all your besan you may need to  add little besan or water depending on the requirement to bind things together.

Add baking powder and mix it once more.

Heat oil in a wok till it smokes and then reduce the heat. Now using a spoon gently slide small amount of mixture into the hot oil. Try not to over crowd the oil. Fry on medium heat till all sides are golden brown and crispy. Remove and drain on a paper towel.

Sprinkle black salt all over and serve.

Caramel Custard or Flan

When I first visited a Mexican restaurant, I ordered a desert called “flan” and to my pleasant surprise they served what I know as “caramel custard”, which was one of my favorite. My mom used to make it in the pressure cooker. My daughter loved it and so I frequently make it these days but I use the oven.

You can either make it in small individual ramekins to give it a nice shape or you can make it in a big baking dish, which is what I have done here.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup evaporated milk
2. 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3. 1/4 cup heavy cream
4. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
5. 3 large eggs
6. 1tsp. vanilla extract

Procedure

Position rack in the entre of the oven and preheat to 350F.

In a sauce pan heat the sugar till it melts and turns golden brown. This is the caramel sauce. Quickly pour caramel into a oven proof baking pan and immediately tilt the pan to coat the base. In another mixing bowl whisk all the other ingredients without creating lots of foam. Pour the mixture through small sieve into the prepared baking pan.

Set the pan into a larger baking tray and pour enough hot water into the baking tray so that it comes halfway up the side. Bake until the center is set. This will take about 25 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and then chill in the refrigerator till you serve.

Run a small knife around the custard to loosen. Place desert dish on top of the custard pan and holding tightly turn dish and pan upside down. Shake the pan gently to loosen custard. Caramel syrup will run down sides of custard forming a sauce.

Rawa Idli

Having lived in the southern part of India for one fourth of my life has had it’s effect on my cooking as well.One of the things we picked up heavily from Bangalore and Hyderabad is idli.

Making idli in a South-Indian household is easy because there is always batter ready at hand as it’s used in a variety of their cuisine. However, the same is not true for a bong household. So making idli turns out to be an involved affair.

In our Hyderabad home we had a cook who used to make and also taught me the much easier Rawa Idli. The good part of Rawa idli is that there is nothing to grind before hand and no lengthy fermentation process. It tastes great though.

The soaked+ground dal in the ingredient below is optional and something I had only seen my cook use.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup rawa (sooji)
2. 1/4 cup urad dal (split black gram) soaked and ground into a thick paste (optional)
3. 1tsp. dry urad dal (for tempering)
4. 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
5. 1/4 cup thinly sliced French beans
6. Handful of chopped coriander leaves
7. 1 cup plain curd
8. 1/2 tsp. Eno Fruit Salt (or baking soda)
9. 1tsp. mustard seeds
10. 1tsp. dry chana dal
11. 1tsp. hing ( Asafetida)
12. Few curry leaves
13. Salt
14. 2tsp. oil

Procedure

Heat oil in a frying pan and temper it with mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves. When they stop sputtering add chana dal and urad dal to it and fry till they turn golden brown. Lower the heat and add rawa to it and fry for 2- 3 minutes. Switch off the heat and allow it to cool down completely.

Mix the roasted rawa mixture with urad dal paste and curd. Add all the chopped vegetables and salt. Lastly add fruit salt to it and mix everything together to make a batter. Keep it aside for 15 minutes.

Grease the idli molds with ghee and add idli batter to it. Steam for 12 – 15 minutes. If you are using pressure cooker, remove the weight.

Allow it to cool before you un mold.

Serve it with coconut chutney…