Priya Kumar... wanted to know how to make marmalade with the Chinese Oranges ... well, Priya... I truly hope you enjoy making it ... will wait to hear your side of the story.Luckily, I had a few Chinese oranges ... all plum...ripe and orange on my little orange plant.And I wanted to make the marmalade as I write this recipe down for all my readers... so here goes... and please do note I use no preservatives ...and ...aaahhh... no ... it can't go easy on sugar ... :)
Ingredients -
- Chinese oranges
- Sugar
( P.S - I do not mention the quantity of the two ingredients because ... you only need to remember a 1:3 ratio ... sugar will be 3 times the quantity of your chinese oranges )
Method -
Wash and pat dry the oranges ... cut them into two halves and remove all the seeds.Now, slice the oranges into thin slivers.We don't remove the rind ... the whole fruit is used .
The deseeded amount of fruit ...will give you exact idea of ...what the 3 times quantity of sugar is ...(e.g - 250 gms of deseeded and diced oranges needs 750 gms of sugar.)Trust me ... they may smell sweet while cooking ... but you need that kind of sugar... they are sour as hell.
Put the oranges in a cooker ... and add water (1/4 th of a cup per 250 gms)
Cook it covered till steam starts to come out ... turn the heat to low ... and cook for about 15-20 min.'s. ..or till most of the water evaporates...
Turn the heat off when you see its just the juice part of the fruit at the bottom of the cooker.(but don't let it completely dry.)
Now add the complete quantity of sugar and keep stiring... so that sugar does not caramelise at the bottom of your pot ... make sure you melt all the sugar.It may take another 15 - 20 min.'s ... cook on low flame ... at times you may feel syrup to be too thick ,and so sugar may not dissolve easily ... not a prob. ,add a little bit of warm water .
Put a spoon in and ... if the back of the spoon comes out coated sticky ... your marmalade is ready ... and all the bubbles you may see ...they'll settle down on cooling.
P.S - The Chinese orange marmalade ... makes one of the yummiest bread pudding ...ever ... ofcourse the chef is my darling husband , Sam ... who guards his recipe like a mama bear ... :D ...do write in ,if you'd like me to wrestle the recipe out of the big bear ...
(Find out more about the chinese orange...in the gardening section...post dated... Jan.6th,2009)
Posts
9 comments:
Oh yum!
I remember in Delhi one of my mother's friend used to send us jars of Chinese orange 'Murabba' with the whole oranges.
Thanks for bringing back those memories!
Would love to try this recipe...when I get my hands on some Chinese Oranges;-)
Arch,
I bought my Chinese orange plant for pure ornamental reasons...then I loved to see fruit grow in my own pot...and along came the recipe ... made some marmalade... packed it for some neighbours in Pune and got back loads of friends... things that make memories are hard to discard.Have carried that pot with me from Gurgaon...to Pune all the way to Navi Mumbai and will cart it to God knows where all future destinations... it is beautiful.:)
Priya Kumar ,inspired me to write the post about the Chinese Orange marmalade recipe... and I just received this awsomely funny mail from him ... I told him I have to share it with all the readers ... so here goes ..and PK... thanks for taking the time to write back...
Hi Rajee,
Made the marmalade last night. It tastes absolutely divine!!! Again thanx a ton for the info. I made a couple of blunders, first I halved the fruit , took out the seeds and bunged the lot into the cooker. Only when the steam started did I realize I had'nt slivered the halves. Cooled the cooker in cold water and fished out each half and sliced it back into the cooker with a pair of scissors. Then added the sugar and I think I left it a bit too long cooking so I've got rather thick marmalade. Must try another batch before my wife gets back.
Well thats it from me,
Take care,
PK
Hi Rajee,
Not sure if you would come across this comment. But would like to know where you got this little orange plant.I am dying to get one myself and Ah i love your blog!
Thanks in anticipation,
Gayatri
Hi Gayatri,
Any and all questions are very welcome ... I am so glad you like my blog ...
The chinese orange plant ... I picked up in Delhi ... but I have seen it all over ... I am not aware where you are located. But you get it up north ... here in Maharastra and I was told by one of my readers they have a really old tree in their yard in South India... so guess its o.k for me to assume you'll probably get it all over India ... Now when you go to look for it ... your nursery may call it by all different and localized names ... but generally this is what it looks like ... dark glossy leaves ... and your nursery may try and tell you they are Bonsai oranges ;) ... Better still if you tell me where you are located ... I put it across as a request on my facebook network ... and this network has all my blogging friends and regular readers ... we all help each other out ... I'm sure we may be able to help yo out with locating one ... :)
All the best ... and let me know if this is helpful... :)
Thanks a ton for replying to my comment Rajee. We are moving to bangalore in about a month and we are looking to setup a garden with different plants in our 12*6 balcony.i stumbled at your site when i was searching one day.. i thought oranges will indeed grow in bangalore if they do in a place like delhi.
If you could please put across a request i would be grateful..Regards,
Gayatri
Hi Gayatri,
It was really wonderful that you thought of asking me ... well I willput it across to all other blog readers of mine ... especially from Bangalore ... definitely hope to help you out. You can also find me on face book (don't know if I mentioned this to you before)... thats what I use as my network. Well, you'll sure here back from me.You can either check out this post comment box or leave me your e-mail at the e-mail I have mentioned on the blog ... :)
Hi Gayatri,
I was pretty sure I would be able to help you out through my blogging circle of friends ... well here goes ... a dear reader from Banglore said she got hers from Lalbagh nursery ... I am told it is a landmark in Banglore so that should not be difficult to find for you ... check if they call it chinese oranges or some similar local name ... all the best and do let me know if you find your plant ... :)
Do you put the cooker on pressure or are you using it just like one would a thick-bottomed pan?
gouri
Post a Comment