Green Chili Thokku (Preserve)

My garden was bursting with green chilies and we kept collecting in the hope that we would get some spicy ones - Alas to our disappointment, although they were extremely aromatic and flavorful and raised our expectations no end about its spiciness. Ironically, they lacked the sting which is a quality all of us proper South Indians look for in our green chilies.  We have learnt now that we have to plant the different varieties of chilies at least a 10 feet away from each other because what can happen if you plant spicy ones and sweeter peppers side by side, one takes over the flavor of the other, in our case the sweet dominated the spicy :(  So a lesson learnt for next year. Joke is I had to use store-bought green chilies and a few red chilies to spice up my chili chutney (lol)  But it smells phenomenally good and and tastes incredible, esp with thachu mammu or yogurt rice; a fab spread on sandwiches and with chappatis and cheese...

Presenting to you my Green Chili Thokku/Preserve - also sharing a couple of fun art I made with them.

Ingredients

• 3lbs of Fresh green chilies 
• 4 thai green chilies (not required if you have spicy chilies already)
• 1/2 cup of urad dal
• 1tsp of tamarind paste
• 1/4 tsp of asafetida
• 1tsp turmeric
• 5tbsp Gingely/sesame oil
• salt
• Tempering with mustard seeds

Method

1. de stem the chilies and keep ready
2. In 2 tbsp of oil roast the urad dal until golden brown
3. In a wide pan add 2 tbsp of oil and add the green chilies and allow them to cook until lightly browned
4. Add the salt, tamarind and asafetida to this and stir for a little longer
5. Cool and grind 
6. Add a tbsp of raw sesame oil to the top to keep it preserved. Enjoy in any which way you want to :)

Chili Thokku

Fresh Fig Chutney/Preserve

Fresh Fig Chutney

I wonder how the expression, I don't give a fig ever came about - were they talking about Figs or was that a short for figure as in number?  If they were referring to Figs, then they have indeed been overly shortsighted to have been so dismissive of this delicious and rather luscious looking and tasting fruit. I have known the delights of this fruit thanks to my friend who has this massive fig tree at her home and has been sharing kindly. Today I picked about two pounds (about 20-24 figs) came back home and decided to make something with it asap. And after sifting through a bunch of recipes, I settled on a Fig Chutney with the half and a tart with the other. Today I blog the chutney which I must say myself was absolutely amazing! Here is my recipe and some lovely pictures of the fruit

Ingredients

12 Figs black mountain medium sized

1 cup of honey

1/2 cup orange juice 

1/2 cup Port Wine

1tbsp unsalted butter

2 cloves (crushed)

3 black whole peppers (crushed)

1 tsp each of

crushed cardamom

all spice

crushed saffron

lemon zest

My Fig Face :p

Method

Wash and cut the stems of the figs before cutting them into quarters

Melt the butter in a heave sauce pan

Heat the honey until it becomes syrupy. 

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the figs)

All the all to thicken into a syrup consistency (about 10 -12 mins of medium heat gas flame)

Now add the figs and swirl syrup around or gently aid with ladle until the syrup covers the figs.

All this to simmer in medium low flame for about 18 -20 minutes depending on how ripe your figs are. 

Remove from flame And cool.

Bottling the preserve

I wonder why I do this since this yielded about 1/2 of the 1/2 liter mason jar or a little less and from what I heard after the kids tasted it, they were planning to make short work of it by tomorrow - glad I got the pictures in now -lol :)

Anyway,

Wash the mason jar and lids with soap thoroughly and rinse

Boil them for about 7 minutes in water

Remove with tongs and pat dry with paper towel and place on a sterile (or clean) surface

Cool the chutney and put in the jar

Seal tight. If the jar is full and you notice air bubbles, open the jar ensure that they are teased out before resealing.

If this is to be put away, boil water again and put sealed jar in and boil for 5 more minutes for the seal to set. 

Label and put away in the pantry - It will be good for a year of these instructions are followed.

Now for some pics :) And stay tuned for my Fig pie/tart

CherryKachal/ Thokku (Spicy Cherry Preserve)

When first tasted it after making this rather incredible thokku, almost in unison, my hubby and I declared it was cherry kachal - let it be known he said pulikachal  and gave me the idea to call it a cherry kachal.
Memorial weekend and nothing to do - WRONG - we went to a beautiful orchard set in a very scenic place about 45 minutes from where we live - the weather was perfect and there we were, six of us, my little one leading the pack, all armed with plastic bags. Long story short, we got SO carried away, we ended up with 20 lbs of cherries- Since they expect you to buy all of the cherries you pick, we ended up buying $80 worth of cherries :) !!! Not an issue since my head was immediately buzzing with the different things I can make with them - The pie was the first of course. When we came home, we got busy washing and sorting them into grades of ripeness. Before we made our way to the actual trees with the dark fully ripened cherries, our enthusiasm had led us to pick not so ripe ones - My three year old went about it with clear intent and picked a bunch of red, pink and semi-rotten ones - all part of the deal folks.
My kids, hubby and mother-in-law (who is visiting) took the lead role in washing, sorting, pitting process. While I got busy listening keenly to my good friend Stephanie from Joy of Baking, refreshing my pie-crust recipe.

That will be a post to follow. The semi ripe ones are the ones that I decided to make this thokku with.  I decided on a really simple recipe and let the cherries take on the spices and do what they will with it. And we ended up with a tangy, tongue-tickling thokku, perfect as a side for bondas, doasi and idli, or to mix with freshly prepared fluffy white rice :)

here is my recipe

ingredients
2lbs pitted semi-ripe cherries
5 green chilies
5 red dry chilies
1tbsp whole black peppers
2 tsp urad dal
2 tsp crushed rosemary
a small pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup of gingely oil (sesame oil) (approx 6 tbsp)
salt

Preparation

Dry fry the green chilies, red chilies, peppers, urad dal and rosemary and dry grind into a powder.
Take 1/3 of the cherries (aprrox) and grind them coarse -
Add 2 tbsp of oil and and add the powder and roast for a minute.
Add the ground up cherries and the remaining pitted cherries into the pan
Add salt (about 3 tsp) and all it all to simmer and simmer and simmer in a low flame
in intervals of 5-7 minutes, keep adding a tbsp of oil until you've exhausted the oil
You will have a finely simmered thokku in about 45 minutes.

Allow it to cool down. Transfer into a mason jar. Refrigerate and use as needed.

Orange Chutney

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 This idea came about as I was talking to my sweet friend - who was making an orange marmalade (which will hopefully feature in my next guest post as of now scheduled for either November 2011 or Jan 2012) She asked me to come up with a good recipe for an Indianized orange chutney and this is what I came up with - It is truly a chutney for all cravings with its sweet, sour and spicy flavors. A must try for those who like to have a preserve which can be used in more ways than one - My recommendation is to have it with yogurt rice - Heavenly my maties

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This is the 3rd day of the blogging marathon started by Srivalli and my theme is Cooking with Fruits

Ingredients

2 Oranges with rind

1 cup of Jaggery (unrefined sugar) (Increase amount to 1 cup if you desire a sweeter chutney)

3-4 dried red chilies (reduce or increase based on need)

2-3 mint leaves

1 tbsp grated ginger

Juice of 1 lemon

1tbsp sesame oil

1tbsp urad dal

Zest of the 2 oranges (that are being used) and 1 lemon (that is also being used for juice)

Preparation

Soak the zest of the 2 oranges and the lemon in the lemon juice along with the grated ginger

Remove pith and any pips and cut into small bits

Measure 1 cup of jiggery and add to the orange bits in a deep saucepan

Heat oil in a small shallow pan

Add the red chilies and the urad dal and fry until the dal is golden brown

Cook the orange and jiggery for 2 minutes exactly and remove from flame and grind into a coarse paste

Add back into the saucepan and continue cooking

Once the chilies and urad dal are cool, grind them up with the soaked zest juice

Make sure this is a finely blended

Now, add this to the orange jaggery mix and let it all cook for another 2 minutes – Now you will notice that the chutney /relish is thickening and slightly brown from the jaggery

Remove from flame – taste to see if you want to add more jaggery/red chilies

If you find it dancing on your tongue like I did, put in the fridge to cool it down and use it as desired, with toast, chappatis or dosais and idlis!
Check out the other Bloggers in this Marathon

Bon appetite! 

Steps in Pictures

Preserve in a Jar

Strawberry-Ginger-Habanero Preserve With Agave Nectar & Honey

This is one my most exciting ventures in the kitchen – I am still rollicking with Verge’s Cooking with Fruits books. The thing about such books is while we want to remain completely true to the recipe, they often also kindle creativity and allows your brain to fantasize a new and exciting way of using the fruits, which would in certain ways, be more suitable to one’s own palate – don’t you agree?
The other wonderful realization that dawned on me preserves are the western pachadis – seriously! We make pachadis with just about any fruit- so also does the west make preserves with just about any fruit! I am catching myself doing what I do too often – trying to find parallel between cultures so we can find a point of intersection – I firmly hold the belief that food brings people together like nothing else can!
I also need to share a short story behind making this. We had gone for a vacation to Bermuda and for those do not know, Bermuda is quite famous for their Gombeys folk dance comprising of African, Native American for dance and British influences in the music. And the hot& sweet preserves are a huge tourist attraction and of course being the gourmands that we are, we bought a six pack back home one more flavorful than the other, the spice making our hair stand on edge, while the sweet overtones try to soften the explosion that is to follow as the last flavor of the habanero, jalapeno and Serrano peppers emerge in full throttle ☺ We had it on crackers, on bread, with chapatis and with English muffins – they were Da bomb!
Having said that, I needed to try and recreate something similar if not the same before I forgot the flavors! They do not provide their recipes on the label! So if you go to Bermuda anytime, do not miss out on the Gombey preserves!

Here is my recipe for this preserve
Prep time 5-10 minutes
Cooking time – 10-15 min

Ingredients
1lb box of fresh strawberries
1 habanero pepper
1-inch sized ginger (about 2tbsp grated)
½ cup Agave nectar
½ cup Orange Blossom Honey
1 packet pectin (roughly 1tbsp)

Preparation
Wash strawberries thoroughly and cut the heads off
Remove the head of the habanero
In a blender, add the strawberries and the habanero and grind – do not use any water
Grate the ginger with the finer side of the grater
Ready a saucepan
Add the puree quickly followed by the honey and agave
Add the grated ginger as well
Let them cook together for about 3-4 minutes
In 1tsp of water, mix the pectin like you would besan to thicken sauce.
Gently dribble it into the pan stirring swiftly as you do it so that you do not encounter knots or white balls of unbroken pectin!
Allow it t thicken some and switch off
Leave overnight
Come morning, find a nice bottle to transfer it into – you will have the perfect consistency of a jam/preserve
The other thing you will notice is the spiciness of the jam from the previous night would have tempered down a bit and will only get you at the very end of the taste – so that part coincided with the Gombey preserves we bought and I was quite relieved and happy that I was able to recreate a similar taste without using too many preservatives. Enjoy with dosa, idlis and the usual food mates like bread and pancakes!