Jams Archives - Aayi's Recipes

Gooseberry jam(MoravaLo/avla murabba)

I was very busy for last few weeks due to house renovation work. Still the work is going on, but today got some time to post here.

Gooseberry (avalo or avla) is full of Vitamin C. MoravaLo is prepared by cooking gooseberry pieces in sugar and preserved. When my kids were toddlers, my grandmother used to make this for them. She also gifted me with two tiny plates to serve this. At my native we don’t get big gooseberries, my sister or brother sends them from Belgaum/Mumbai (we get the small local variety, but bigger ones are very rare). Since everyone at home loves amla pickle, that would take precedence over this jam. Â But this jam always has a special place in my heart due to so many childhood memories.

Normally, gooseberries are grated and then cooked. But since they are very hard, it is a difficult process to grate them. Once cooked, it is very easy to cut them. So I cook them first in pressure cooker and then cut them into small pieces before cooking them with sugar. With this method, the jam gets read without a lot of hard work.

Sometimes, they are pricked all over and soaked in kitchen lime(chuna or chunno) water to remove its bitter tart flavor, but this also removes the Vitamins from the berries. So I don’t follow this step.

Ingredients:
250 gms amla(gooseberry)
Sugar
Cardamom powder
Saffron strands(optional)

Method:
Pressure cook gooseberries in very little water. Chop them into small pieces, discard the seeds.
Measure the pieces with a cup. Now mix same amount of sugar with the pieces. (If there are 2 cups of pieces, use 2 cups of sugar).
Take the mixture in a thick bottomed (or nonstick) pan and heat on a medium flame. (if you feel the sugar is getting caramelized, you can use few drops of water).
Cook till the sugar makes one thread syrup consistency. (touch the syrup with your forefinger and touch thumb to forefinger, if it forms a thread, syrup is ready).
Take off heat, mix cardamom powder, saffron strands and mix well.
Cool to room temperature and store in air tight container. Refrigerate it. This remains good for a long time.
It can be served with chapathis, dosas.

Mango/pineapple in sugar syrup(Ambe/Ananas paank or Morambo)

26 Comments / Jams, Konkani Recipes / By Shilpa

At my native, during mango/pineapple season, this dish is prepared in huge quantities(just like pickles) and stored for the rest of the year. The jam/syrup goes well with dosas, chapathis, rottis etc. Usually the pineapple (ananas) version is more popular compared to mango(ambe) version. When I was a kid, I loved this or honey with the dosas and usually avoided chutneys.

Previously, I had prepared strawberry paank(syrup) on the similar lines. I haven’t tried this with the canned fruits, because I thought the fresh ones would taste better.

Ingredients:
1 cup mango/pineapple (Cut into bite size pieces)
1 cup sugar
1/2 tea spn cardamom powder
Few strands saffron

Method:
Mix mango/pineapple pieces and sugar in a non stick pan and cook.

Keep mixing once in a while to avoid burning. Cook for around 10-15min on a low flame. (To check whether it is done or not, put a drop of syrup on a plate. The drop should not spread. If you cook beyond that, the syrup becomes very hard after cooling).
Add cardamom powder, saffron and cool it to room temperature. Store it in an airtight container and refrigerate. It remains good for months.

Serve with dosa or chapathi or bread.

PS: Traditional version of this recipe requires the syrup to be in liquid state(unlike jam which is in semi-liquid state).

Preparation time : 30min

Strawberry in sugar syrup (Strawberry paank)

10 Comments / Jams / By Shilpa

From the day I heard about “JFI for Strawberry“, I am thinking about it. It was so difficult for me to participate in this event, mainly because strawberry is not very famous in Karnataka. We can find it in one or two shops in Bangalore and we never bought them there. After coming to US, I bought strawberries every time I saw them in any shop. They are so beautiful, I feel they are the most beautiful fruits in the world. I always loved the strawberry flavour in ice creams, milk shakes etc. I had even baked strawberry cake a few days back, but I wanted my entry to be something ‘Konkani’. That was the biggest challenge!!!. How to fit the strawberries in Konkani food???

Then I read the Strawberry Shrikhand in Ashwini’s blog today morning. I wished I could cook something like that. I mentioned it to my hubby (he knows what are the food blog events going on, mostly because I pester him to give me some ideas, without any hopes of getting a good idea from him). First time in the history, instead of giving some stapled answers like “Cook something delicious thing with strawberry”, he said, “why don’t you make Strawberry paank??”. (We usually make a dish called as ‘ambe/ananas pank’, its mango or Pineapple cooked in sugar syrup, which is served with dosas, chapathis etc. It can be preserved for months. Today morning we had ambe(mango) pank(syrup) with dosa for breakfast).

I just laughed at him. I said “don’t give me such ideas, paank from strawberry??? people will laugh at me. Its just impossible”. But he was very sure it will work out. He said, “atleast try it. Use 2-3 strawberries, if you don’t like, don’t post”.

Well…I thought about it for around half an hour. Then I felt, ‘Let me try it. Then I can atleast blame him saying, what a horrible idea it was’ and I prepared it. And…. It came out just superb!!!.

Now on, I have decided not to ignore his ideas :).

Ingredients:
Strawberry(Cut into bite size pieces) 1 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Cardamom powder 1/2 tea spn

Method:
Mix strawberry pieces and sugar in a non stick pan and cook.

Keep mixing once in a while to avoid burning. Cook for around 10-15min on a low flame. (To check whether it is done or not, put a drop of syrup on a plate. The drop should not spread. If you cook beyond that, the syrup becomes very hard after cooling).

Add cardamom powder, cool it to room temperature. Store it in an airtight container and refrigerate. It remains good for months.
Serve with dosa or chapathi or bread.
PS: Traditional version of this recipe requires the syrup to be in liquid state(unlike jam which is in semi-liquid state).

Preparation time : 20min