Strawberry Jam!

I have always been a strawberry lover...I just love its smell because there is something magical about it. Surprisingly I got hold of real strawberries when I moved to Mumbai before that I had eaten it in various forms like Ice cream, Milkshake etc. During my pregnancy I had gorged upon many a glasses of fresh strawberry milkshake. Unfortunately Hubby has never been a fan of the lovely fruit & fortunately Arnav also loves them.

 

That is why when I saw this post from Revati I knew I had to try this Strawberry Jam for two reasons

• Arnav is a jam fanatic
• The recipe was so very simple that it is criminal to not try it.

Such was my excitement that I forgot my throat pain & tiredness. But as is said all is well that ends well because my brat loved the jam so much that he just couldn't keep his fingers off it.
 

Ingredients

 

Fresh Strawberry Approx 1.5 cup

 

Sugar                 In exactly the same proportion as Strawberries

 

 

Finely chop the Strawberries, measure it & take the same amount of sugar.

 

 

Put the both in a heavy pan and switch on the gas. Keeping it on a medium flame, stir till the sugar dissolves.

 

 

Put the gas on sim now and keep stirring the mixture. Keep stiring so that the sugar doesn't get burnt & it doesn't stick also. The Jam should be ready in 15-20 mins. Check the consistency of the jam, when it forms a neat unbroken string between your thumb and index finger consider it to be done.

 

 

Notes: My Jam was a little overcooked and getting it out is a little mehnat but for first time It was good! Thanks Revati for thuis lovely recipe. As you can see my brat cannot have enough of it.

Bathua Raita

One thing that I love about winters is the plethora of vegetables it brings in with it. There is a huge array of colours & variety to choose from. I love the greenies and use them informatively (which I actually learned from my Mom). So here I am presenting to you a raita made of bathua which is also known as chenopodium in english.

 

 

Bathua Raita

Bathua                  1 small bunch

Curd                      300 Gms

Salt                       To Taste

Jeera                     1 teaspoon                                               

Heeng (asafoetida) 1 pinch

Red Chilli Powder   To taste

Oil                        ½ teaspoon.     
                      

Bathua is a green leafy vegetable mostly eaten in Northern India but is now thankfully available everywhere. Here is a picture of it.
 

You need to wash & cut the veggie and par boil it i.e. put the leaves in boiling water and turn off the gas in 2-3 mins.
 

Let it sit in the hot water before taking it out after say 10 mins. Pour it out in a strainer and put it under water. Let it cool before making a paste of it in either in mixer/ blender. Mix the curd and the paste with a Rai/ mathani/ whisker. Add a little water if you feel the raita isn’t liquid enough.
 

Take the oil the ladle and put it on the flame, add the jeera & Heeng to the oil. Once the jeera catches flame take it off the gas, add the chilli and put it in the curd and cover it. Trust me when you open the utensil you will be treated with the most heavenly smell of heeng. Add salt to taste and the raita is ready to be served.

 

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the final product but the last image is very near to what it looks like. The best part about this raita is that it is healthy giving you loads of fibre and most importantly it looks so beautiful all green green. My Mom used to make this specially when had guests at home and they used to be surprised with the color of the dish so despite this being something very simple & run of the mill it used to be the star of the evening.