Strawberries .... strawberries ...every where

The strawberries have arrived in the markets of Mumbai ... they seem to be every where ... I am so sure the strawberry crop this year at Mahabaleshwar, has again been very good.I can almost smell them in the air.
In our house, we wait all year for the strawberry season to begin.Guess, we are a very -berry family ... the first pack that arrives ... is completely devoured up... with no trace except for the loud clicking of tongue ... and sour taste glands declaring... cease fire.
Wonderful Strawberry recipes ... soon follow. Here is a very simple recipe to use your strawberries.
1.Chop your strawberries... (say a small container of medim size 15-20 strawberries)
2. Add sugar (1-2 tsp) add an extra tsp. if you feel fruit is still tart.
3. Allow to stand for 10-15 min.'s and its all done.
You have a wonderful strawberry mix... to enjoy all by it self.It tastes fabulous with chocolate icecream ... chocolate cake(with a dollop of fresh cream)...
Hope you enjoy some fresh fruits of the season and if like our family you are a strawberry buff... do let me know... share your recipes with us ... or write in to know few of ours ...

Chinese Orange Marmalade Recipe...

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)