Amla/Indian Gooseberry Jam in Microwave

I lolve making jams at home and with microwave its surely a breeze. It gets done easily in less time. After seeing Latakka's amla halwa, I was inspired to try jam.

You need

• Amla - 250 gms (Around 13 nos) gave  a packed cup of cooked amla pulp
• Sugar -1 cup
• Cardamom - a pinch

Method

  

Microwave the washed amlas for 3 minutes till it is soft. De seed and pulse for few seconds in the mixer to get a coarse mixture. Don't grind it smooth else it will effect the texture of the jam. Measure the pulsed amla paste. Take equal quantity of sugar.

Mix sugar and  amla and micro high for 8 minutes. Stir in between. Check if there is any liquid present. If then cook for a minute or so. Adjust the timings according to your oven.  Don't cook long enough that it might turn hard on cooling. When cooked in microwave, it continues to cook even after its removed from the oven. So keep that also in mind.

I added a teaspoon of saffron + cardamom syrup or add just cardamom powder. Next time I am planning to add freshly crushed ginger too.

Enjoy the healthy jam on a warm toast.


The tart taste of amla is very much felt... To mask the taste of amla, you can increase the amount of sugar. After a week, I could not feel  the khatta meeta of amla... not sure if I got used to it or its the result of ageing.

Anyways, not many may like it at the first instant. If you love amla, then you will surely like it. 

GO GIANTS!

We in the San Francisco Bay Area are SOOOO excited about our Giants being in the World Series.

The first game starts at 4:57PM (PDT). Don't call me.

Our team this year is not the same team that started the year. So many changes. So many new (to us) players who were cast off from other teams and thought they would be watching the rest of their season from the couch.

It's quite remarkable that they were able to pull off an end of the season run to the top in the rankings and beat what we all thought were better teams in the playoffs.

Many, many fans have been cheering for the Giants ever since they came to San Francisco from New York back in the '50's. That includes me. My Mom was a SF Seals fan before the Giants came to town. We often went to (tiny) Seals Stadium, at 16th and Brannon, to watch both teams play, before Candlestick park was built.

After Candlestick was built, we went there. This was the era of Mays and McCovey, Cepeda and Marichal. Now the Giants have a gorgeous new stadium in Pac Bell Park.

The one thing missing all these years has been a World Series win. We've come close. Gotten into the Series, only to lose, in 1962, 1989 (the Earthquake) and 2002 (Barry Bonds).

Now here we are again; hoping against hope that this ragtag bunch of castoffs and rookies can pull off a miracle.

We're the underdogs, but that's the way we like it.

Go, GO Giants!
and Fear the Beard!

Peggy

ADDENDUM 11/1/10:

I just watched the Giants clinch the World Series title in 5.
What a run!
All of San Francisco is ecstatic!

Manoharam - Rice and lentil tubes coated with Jaggery

MANOHARAM

This is a traditional festive sweet and it takes a prominant place especially in South Indian weddings in cone forms. The prepared sweet is moulded in a pair of conical containers and is called 'Manoharam Paruppu Tengai'. This occupies the central position among the other 'seer bakshanams' displayed during the wedding ceremoney. Seer Bakshanams are sweets and savouries presented to the groom's party and will be distributed among relatives during the wedding.
The literal translation of Manoharam is Mind Stealer or Heart Winner! A savoury dish called Thaen Kuzhal (meaning Honey tubes) is first prepared and later dipped in jaggery syrup and is transformed into the delicious Manoharam. This can be relished as it is or formed into balls for easy handling.

INGREDIENTS

Rice flour -2 glasses ( 1 glass can hold 250 ml of liquid)
Black gram dal - 1/3 glass
Green gram dal - 1/3 glass
Bengal gram dal - 1/3 glass
Salt - 1 pinch
Ghee - 4 tbsps
Powdered jaggery - 3 glasses
Dry ginger powder - 1 pinch
Oil - for frying

METHOD

1. Powder the three dals (lentils) smoothly in a mixer. To prepare Manoharam in a large scale the lentils can be powdered in the local mill. For people living abroad all types of flours are available in India Stores.
2. Mix rice flour and the tri lentil flour in a wide bowl.
3. Add salt and rub in 2 tbsps of ghee thoroughly into the flour.

4. Add water little by little and knead the flour into a smooth dough.
5. Add the remaining 2 tbsps of ghee and finish the kneading process.
6. Grease the inside of the chakli press ( a device to get strands of dough when pressed through it) and fill it with the dough.

7. Heat oil and press the dough into it samultaneously swirling your hands, so that the strands of dough form coils.
8. Cook on medium flame turning it now and then till the Thaen Kuzhal becomes crisp and turns into a light honey (thaen) colour.
9. Remove the Thaen Kuzhal with a perforated ladle and drain on a kitchen towel. It will become crisp as it cools down. When a strand of the cooked savoury is broken you can see a fine bore running through the length of the strand making it look like a tube (Kuzhal).

10. Allow the Thaen kuzhal to cool well.
11. Melt jaggery powder in 2 gasses of water and filter it.
12. Break the Thaen kuzhal into small bits and spread them out on a greased plate.
13. Add ginger powder and cook jaggery syrup till it reaches a soft ball stage.
14. Remove syrup from flame and add it little by little to the Tthaen Kuzhal strands.

15. Mix syrup with Thaen Kuzhal using a wooden spatula so that the thick jaggery syrup coats each and every strand.
16. Make balls or store as it is in an air tight container after it cools down.
Though the steps may seem elaborate, it can be prepared with great ease once the ingredients are ready at hand.

Manoharam is sure to steal your hearts when you bite into the crispy sweet delicacy.