The Punjabi Food Festival at Jamavar, Leela Palace, Bangalore

                         

Some of us bloggers and food writers were invited for the Chef's tasting table on occasion of the Punjabi Food Festival at the Indian restaurant, Jamavar, the Leela Palace. Chef Farman Ali, the Corporate Indian Chef at The Leela Palace Bangalore had designed the menu using his innovations on traditional Punjabi cuisine. 


The menu was selected from the vast special menu that's out for the two week Punjabi Food Festival from 13th May-26th May. Jamavar has four food festivals in a year, two showcasing North Indian cuisine & two from the South.

The current festival gives the food connoisseur a wide range of Punjabi dishes to choose from - both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. We started the meal with a refreshing Ambi Panna- a raw mango drink before moving on to starters. There's also the thandai and a variety of shorbas to start the meal with.

The vegetarian spread of starters comprised of  palak di tikki,  paneer amritsari, and gande di bhaji (onion fritters). This Palak tikka was like no other I've ever tasted. Soft inside with bites of corn for texture, crisp on the outside and the roasted tomato chutney on the top not only provided a brilliant contrast of colour but also of flavour. 

Palak Di Tikki

Tomatoes roasted in the tandoor and ground with a mix of spices for the perfect balance of sweet, sour and spicy was what made this chutney extra special with great depth of flavour. If there is one thing you must taste from their special menu, I'd recommend this one. The other starters recommended by the chef are tandoori kukkad di chaat (tandoori cooked chicken tikka tossed with chutney and vegetables), jheenge de pakore (tiger prawns marinated in a tangy masala coated with gram flour & deep fried), machhi de tikke (fish tikka). 

In the vegetarian main course, we got a taste of curries showcasing different flavours and textures. Amritsari vadi paired with potatoes in a spicy-tangy sauce, the legendary sarson da saag with generous quantity of white butter (they didn't leave out the extra butter and jaggery when serving this), and the simple home style gobhi mutter where big florets of cauliflower mingled with plump green peas in a delicately spiced mix. Some of the other options from the extensive festival menu are Jheenga kadai, Kukkad Sarson da, Lobster masala, Bharmay Kareley and Bharwaan Guchchi Kesari. Of course, no self respecting Punjabi menu is complete without the ever popular Mah Ki daal, tasted as luxurious as the silver cups they were served in.

What's a festival meal without some sigh-inducing desserts! Punjabi cuisine has some lesser known desserts like badam te gurh da halwa (almond-jaggery fudge), Pinni Nabha Di (sweet made using udad dal & dried fruits which were served as a part of the tasting plate. Also served were the ever popular desserts like kesar pista kulfi, jalebi-rabdi and a slice of fruit. Chef Farman Ali was also talking about Haldi ka halwa something I've never heard of, where fresh turmeric is ground and roasted in ghee before proceeding to make a halwa with it. This is not a part of the menu, just the constant innovation the chef tries to bring in by introducing ancient foods to the modern palate.

The special menu also has set menu options at INR4000/person comprising of 3 starters, 4 mains, roti, rice and desserts.
To check the whole bunch of pictures from the Chef's table I attended - click here (Facebook album)

Details:Jamavar, Leela Palace, 23, Airport Road, Bengaluru
Punjabi Food Festival from 13th May-26th May 2013
Open for lunch & dinner
For Reservations, call 080-3057 1344 / 1234
Meal for 2 - Approx INR5000

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Molaga Maanga - an instant raw mango pickle

This was the only pickle I liked as a kid, which I had fondly christened- 'square maanga' because it was cut in a square dice. In the hot summers of Bombay, curd rice would taste divine anyway. A tiny bit of this square maanga with the curd rice would always take it to another level of divine. Often, my granny would mash the rice and curds until smooth and give one big spoonful of this in my hand with a small bit of this pickle on top of it, all ready to be gobbled up. No chewing required. I can guarantee you that using the above tactic, a small mountain of thairsaadam (curd rice) can be easily demolished even by someone who claims to hate this Tamil comfort food.

In weddings, this pickle is usually made fresh on the morning or the previous day and when served with the wedding meal, it is still crunchy. The caterers often give the leftover pickle to the family and it actually tastes a lot better after 4-5 days of soaking in the spices, gets a lot more softer with more rounded flavours.

For this, use fresh, raw mangoes, with a very firm flesh. No need to peel the skin. I've used mangoes from the tree in our Chennai house. I don't know the exact variety, but this one has a very small stone and plenty of flesh. 3 mangoes yielded roughly 10 big ladles of finely chopped pieces- I'd assume this would be roughly 7 cups in terms of metric units. I'm sure different families have different recipes for this, but this one is from my amma & chithi, joint instructions provided over the phone. Make sure all the utensils used for pickling and throughly clean and dry or the pickle has a tendency to spoil quickly.


Wash and dry well 3-4 raw mangoes. No need to peel the mango. Chop the flesh into a fine dice. I've cut them into thin strips this time, but I prefer them to be cut into tiny cubes. Remove as much flesh as you can from the stone and dice it. Collect this in a large bowl.

Use a dry ladle, katoris or measuring cups to check the quantity of diced mangos. You can use any such utensil to measure the diced mango, just that you need to use the same utensil to measure out salt, red chilli powder and other spices. The main measurements are those for salt and red chilli powder, the rest can be adjusted easily.

10 ladles of finely diced raw mango ( 3 big raw mangoes ~roughly 1.2kg~7 cups of diced mango)
1 and 1/4 ladle of salt (roughly 3/4 cup iodized salt)
1/2 ladle red chilli powder (roughly 1/3 cup)
1.5 tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp mustard powder (take mustard seeds, lightly roast and powder in small jar of mixer or with a rolling pin, measure out 3 tsp)
1.5 tsp fenugreek powder (similar method as above)
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 cup gingelly oil or regular rice bran / sunflower oil

Heat the oil. Just before it starts smoking, remove from heat. Add the salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, mustard powder, fenugreek powder, asafoetida. Stir well with a dry spoon.
Place the diced raw mango in a nicely dried large bowl. Pour the oil with the spices on top of this and stir well to mix with a dry spoon.
If you have an earthen pot, keep it in the sun or microwave it until it is thoroughly dry and sterilised. If you dont have an earthen pot, use a glass bowl or ceramic bowl.
Add the raw mango dice with spices into this. Cover with a tight fitting lid and then tie a muslin cloth around this (optional).
Keep this in a clean, dry place in the kitchen. Once everyday, give it a good stir and mix up for the next 3-4 days.
No need to keep in sun. After 4-5 days, fill into 4-5 clean and dry glass bottles or ceramic jars. Place the pickle in refrigerator, where it should last for 2 months or so. Always use a clean, dry spoon while serving.

{i know you want to ask me where I got that cute barani (pickle jar) from. I got it from Grand Sweets, Adayar- they sell it for INR 50 a piece}

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Saffron Trail Food Times Edition 02

It's turning out to be quite a task to keep track of the food scene in Bangalore. New restaurants are opening almost every week. Restaurants are coming up with the idea of food festivals and new menus to introduce their patrons to new flavours. Here are some of them being featured in the second edition of my food news post.

Some of foodbloggers were invited to a chef's table at Saffron, Park Plaza, famous for its kababs & cuisine from the NWF Province for a tasting from their new menu.

Bhunee chaat, palak shorba, chutneys & condiments, raw papaya launji

 The menu for was planned meticulously by Chef Mohd. Ishtiyak, who is fondly known as Master Chef – India of the restaurant. Right from the condiments platter which had pickled shallots, raw papaya launji, mint chutney, hung curd chutney among other mouthwatering items, his deep Indian traditions and attention to food preparation was evident.

Panchrattan seekh kabab, Blueberry cocktail, Mutter aur corn ki shammi

 The aim of the menu was to showcase Indian spices- a few preparations had over two dozen spices ground for the marinade. The simple style of preparation, whether meat, seafood or vegetables marinated and cooked in the clay tandoor at high temperatures was the hallmark of the menu. This focus on rustic cuisine preserving the flavours and ingredients can be experienced at this restaurant. The Bhunee chaat (using a mix of fruits & veggies) and the panchrattan seekh were my favourites!

Bread basket-Bhutte tamatar ki subzi-Subzi Abir

Saffron, Park Plaza, 90-4 Outer Ring Road, Marathahalli, Bangalore.

Meal for two - INR 2000 plus taxes

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 And 100 ft Rd Indira Nagar gets one more restaurant. This is La Tagliatella, an Italian restaurant chain from Spain which opened its first Indian outlet in Ambience Mall, Delhi. Their focus is on cuisines from the regions of Piamonte, Liguria, and Reggio Emilia of Italy.

 Their portions are quite large (serves groups of 4 well) and their salad is actually a 'big' salad too. While the pricing seems somewhat steep at first, one look at their portions and quality ingredients used, they seem to be justified. Almost all ingredients such as flour, cheese, tomatoes etc are imported to maintain the same quality across restaurants in all countries. We tried this place pre-opening and I can say it has a lot of scope. Their pizzas are made in Morello Forni pizza oven which simulates the wood-fired oven & is very eco friendly as compared to the wood-fired oven. The decor totally transports you from a high street shopping place in Bangalore to a quaint cafe in Italy. A word of caution-make sure you leave sufficient space in your tummies for dessert-their tiramisu & Mascarpone-cream are truly sublime.

766, Amrest Bunglow, HAL 2nd Stage, 100 feet road, Indiranagar, Bangalore

Meal for two-Around 1800 plus taxes | Valet parking | Only wine served

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A couple of ongoing food festivals are the Beer & Burger festival at Windmills Craftworks, a microbrewery-restaurant and a jazz theatre with live performances on weekends. You'll find a range of vegetarian, beef, pork, chicken and seafood burgers paired with beer of which you get a complimentary 1/2 pint glass. 331, Road No. 5 B, EPIP zone, Whitefield, Bangalore, India 560048, (80) 2569-2012, +917259024652

St.Marks hotel is celebrating a Maharashtrian Food Festival, vegetarian food buffet at 499 per person. It's on until 5th May, so hurry if you are a fan of regional cuisines. My friends tried this yesterday and have given it a big thumbs up. They are open for lunch and dinner. 
Curry with a 'K', St. Mark's Hotel, Lobby Level, Plot No. 4/1, St.Marks Road, Bangalore.
+919019150966

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A Vegetarian Mediterranean Brunch menu

So I was up early this morning (if you consider 6.15 am early for a Sunday morning). I was going to have some relatives over and I had no clue what to cook, except for the fresh vegetables and ingredients I had for inspiration. Since 'what to cook' and 'how to plan the menu' is pretty much the biggest problem for most cooking enthusiasts, I've decided I'll share my menus whenever I end up cooking something fun like today.

I shopped for some of the ingredients at Total Mall (Sarjapur) picking up some interesting stuff from the Pesticide Free section. The baby carrots and baby bell peppers in bags were pretty much the inspiration for this menu. Then I decided to add a simple pasta dish to the menu. The unbelievable heat at this time of the year was the inspiration for the juicy watermelon-grape-feta salad. And because I have a no-fail Focaccia recipe that I often fall upon, and I had some extra time on hand and I knew the oven would be running for the other dishes anyway, I added that to the list. The dessert was an after thought, but there's a divine eggless chocolate dessert on Aparna's blog that doesn't involve much effort or ingredients, but is sure to be a win. I tried it for the first time today and it sure wont be my last. I wish I had taken pictures of them all, but apart from a couple of pics during prep, I don't have any to share.

Menu

Rosemary Onion Focaccia

Watermelon-Grape-Feta salad

Baby bell peppers stuffed with herb garlic millets

Roasted baby carrots with shallots

Penne in Marinara sauce with hidden veg

Chocolate Creme pots for dessert

Rosemary Onion Focaccia 
Adapted from this Bon Appetit recipe, I skip the chilling overnight step.

Watermelon-Grape-Feta salad with fresh basil
Follow my recipe, but add sweet red grapes and use basil instead of mint

Baby bell peppers stuffed with Herb & Garlic Millets (can be made vegan)
Cut out the tops and scoop out seeds and membranes from bell peppers. Cook millets as per this recipe. Saute finely chopped garlic, onion, carrots, sprouted moong in olive oil. Add plenty of fresh basil and the cooked millets. Season with salt, pepper, chilli flakes and dried basil. Stuff the bell pepper halfway with prepared millets. Add a chunk of mozzarella cheese for a surprise and fill it with millets till the top. Cover with the cut out bell pepper tops which will serve as a lid. Brush with oil and bake at 200C for 20 mins. This recipe is vegan if you omit the cheese.

Roasted baby carrots and shallots (vegan)
Follow this recipe  adding shallots along with the carrots. Toss with olive oil infused with sea salt, fresh or dried rosemary and black pepper. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes. These carrots were really small so didn't need longer baking time.

Penne in hidden veg marinara sauce (vegan)
Adapted from this video 

Chocolate Creme Pots (eggfree, vegetarian)
Eggless dessert from Aparna's blog

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The secret to making fully loaded Nachos

It's been unbearably hot this month in Bangalore. And being the good girl I am, I have been focussing on making the most of the sun, such as sun drying tomatoes, making sun tea and getting my daily dose of vitamin D. 

Those who follow me on Instagram might have seen my gleeful updates on restarting my kitchen garden. We sowed a ton of seeds 3 weeks ago and each morning, I would take my coffee up there to talk to the little seedlings and watch each one come out from the soil and take head count (just kidding there!). As usual, I jumped too soon. There's this nut-job of a stray dog who climbs up on our terrace garden every single night and he has taken it as is life's singleminded motto to dig out every inch of soil in the garden, and along with it every thing that I sow. It is such heart ache for me that I cannot bear to step into the garden and see the mini earthquake unleashed by that 10 kilo dog. He sure was an earthmover in his previous birth! Now that I've vented my anger and frustration, I can get back to talking about good food things. 

Since the last few Fridays, I've been making a big platter of these fully loaded nachos for dinner. It's like a big salad with lots of veggies, beans, cheese and of course tortilla chips. If you get down to baking these chips, then you have a completely healthy, high fibre, high protein snack ready to serve for a house party. I plan to bake these chips in advance for this weekend.

This is the perfect party dish, easily scaled up. You can assemble these in smaller foil containers, sprinkle cheese and bake so it can be shared between two people. 

Preparing the beans:
These are not exactly refried beans because in the former, they are mashed to a coarse paste. Here the beans are pressure cooked until soft but each holding their shape and not mushy. They are then sautéed with some seasonings and kept aside for use in the nachos. You could  make these ahead of time and refrigerate up to 10 days in an airtight container.

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw rajma ( I use the smaller Kashmiri variety) 
pinch of baking soda
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp cumin powder
1 chipotle chilli or a regular dried red chilli, finely chopped or 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
3/4 tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander

Directions
Soak the rajma overnight with a pinch of baking soda.
Drain, wash well and add 1 cup water to this or enough water to completely immerse the beans in a utensil that goes inside the pressure cooker.
Pressure cook the beans for 10-12 minutes. (After two whistles, keep on sim for 10-12 minutes) The cooking time depends on the size of the rajma, for bigger sizes you may have to cook for slightly longer time. You want the beans to be cooked thoroughly, pressing with the back of the ladle or the thumb should mash it to a paste but it should hold its shape. Drain any excess water and keep aside.
In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt until the onions are soft. Add the drained cooked rajma, cumin powder, chipotle, salt, coriander. On a low heat, gently saute and let all the seasonings coat the rajma for 5-7 minutes. Once this is done, keep aside until use.

Fully Loaded Nachos
Printable version here
Serves 4

Ingredients
200 grams Tortilla Chips - salted or flavoured (I use the salted variety of this brand and find them extremely crisp with good taste) 
1 big onion, finely chopped
2 medium tomatoes, deseeded and finely chopped
1 large green capsicum, deseeded and diced
1/4 cup cooked corn kernels (optional)
some sliced pickled jalapeño (how much or how little, depends on your preference)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup of seasoned rajma beans (method above)
Fresh coriander, chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 200C. If you are using an OTG with heating coils on the top and bottom, make sure the top heating coil is on, for the cheese to melt.

In a large oven proof dish place half the chips in one layer. Top with half the onions, tomatoes, capsicum, corn, jalapeño, rajma and cheese. Place the remaining chips in a single layer over this and sprinkle all the remaining ingredients with coriander and half the cheese right on top.

Place this in a hot oven for 7-8 minutes until the cheese melts.
Remove from oven and eat right away. If serving young kids, make a small portion separately minus the jalapeños and use plain boiled and salted rajma in their dish.


Some tips:
Use fresh and crisp chips for a crispy crunchy dish.
Once you top with all vegetables, do not waste time. It needs to go into the oven immediately or the tomatoes will start making the chips soggy.
The more cheese you use, the more delicious it will be. Use a sharp tasting cheese for a tastier dish.
If you dont have an oven, this dish will taste good as it is, only the cheese wont be melted :)

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SaffronTrail Food Times Edition-01

This is the first edition of the SaffronTrail Food Times, where I'll try and share food news in and around Bangalore- be it new restaurants in the city, food workshops that enthusiasts can participate in, food festivals hosted by restaurants and so on. I'm thinking of having this a fortnightly or monthly column. If you have anything interesting for me to share here (Bangalore based), do mail me at saffrontrail [at] gmail. Please understand that I shall use your information at my discretion and cannot promise to post everything that comes my way.

SAFFRONTRAIL FOOD TIMES EDITION-01

Weekend Breakfasts in Bangalore

We found two breakfast places which couldn't be more different from each other. 

One serves up the Full English Breakfast, cocktails you can feel less guilty about over drinking in the morning, absolutely sinful Red Velvet waffles and thick French toasts. I don't know if you've guessed, we're talking about the 'Breakfirst' at Monkey Bar. Apart from eggs, waffles and toasts, vegetarians have a few other choices like the Handwo, Chilli Cheese Vada Pao and a really big croissant called the Mobar Maxi Croissant. There's a Big Bang breakfast specially for vegetarians called the Garden City which comprises of gratinated vegetable crepe, feta stuffed mushrooms, hash browns, grilled tomato, baked beans and jumbo toast. Mobar has tied up with theindianbean.com to serve up a specially formulated single estate coffee blend, so you can be sure that you're in for some good coffee.

Expect to be put behind by INR1500 for two people. There's good music and the company of breakfast loving enthusiastic morning crowd and one must give them points for innovation (Red Velvet Waffles, Pita with Pandi etc.). The good part is you can skip lunch altogether and have a long snooze after filling up here.

Monkey Bar, 14/1 Krishna Manere, Wood Street, Richmond Road, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru - 560025. Phone: 080 41116878/ 79 | www.mobar.in

Weekends 9 am-12 noon

The other breakfast we loved was the all you can eat spread at Kamat Yatri Nivas (Hoodi). The  South Indian breakfast serves all the usuals. The Masala dosa, vada, kuzhi paniyarams are freshly made in small batches. The other items served are masala idli, puri-chana, khara-baath, bisi bele baath, mangalore buns, akki rotti, watermelon juice, fruits, rosogulla, coffee/tea. They also had bread, butter, jam and some other things I may have missed. The buns were delicious, and our friend said that the kuzhi paniyarams were as good as the ones he had eaten at a small eatery in Coimbatore. I don't think there's any other breakfast in Bangalore that can beat the 'VFM-ness' of this one. If you live in and around Whitefield, don't miss this. It is a steal at INR 125/adult, 75/child. 

Kamat Yatri Niwas, Graphite Road, Hoodi Circle, Whitefield. Phone: 080-28459075 | kamatyatri.in - Weekends 7am-10am, no reservations required.

CBTL celebrates 50 years with a new menu

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has introduced a new menu with more focus on healthy and gourmet options. 

We liked their Japanese Cherry Green Tea and Swedish Berries Tea, both made using loose leaf tea bags. These are a perfect choice for those who want to spend time in a cafe without loading up on calories. For those who like their high calorie drinks, they also have a Hot Double Chocolate  with Caramel Swirl and whipped cream :)

Among their healthy eating options, I liked their Roast Vegetable with Hummus. Their Greek salad however was a disappointment because of tons of fake feta. Even if it was paneer, it was a stale one. Their muffins are the giant American size, I'd recommend it be shared between 3 people! Their Chocolate Chunk muffin was loaded with chocolate chips. Try their signature Ice Blended coffee in your favourite flavour. 

http://www.facebook.com/TheCoffeeBeanIndia

Branches: Koramangala, 1MG Rd Mall, Inorbit Mall (Whitefield), Phoenix Market City

A cozy cafe inside a mall- Plus 91

Photo courtesy: Aravind Balakrishnan

Newly opened at the buzzing Phoenix Market City mall at Whitefield, they are the modern upmarket version of a multicuisine restaurant with a bar. From chaats to steaks, they have it all on their menu, along with an extensive alcohol and drinks menu. Theirs is a cozy ambience of a street corner cafe, with a little outdoor section. The indoors nearly makes you forget you are in a mall. The fact that they have a jukebox gives them extra points from my side. We were invited for their pre-launch Sunday lunch and they were playing vintage disco for which I'll give them two thumbs up. We tried the radga patties, a modified version of sev puri (using baby papads instead of puri), paani puri, frankie, paneer tikkas and the sizzler. While the penne pasta in tomato sauce was perfectly made, the chaats needed some help from the roadside chaatwala in terms of textures and flavour. The feedback was passed on and I hope they'll get better in that department. As they have an extensive appetisers menu, I think this will be a good place for a couple of after work drinks and small bites, for those working in and around ITPL. Their dessert menu is limited to three items. In case you're wondering about the origin of their name, it indicates India's phone code :)

Plus 91, Phoenix Market City, 1st Floor, Mahadevpura, Whitefield Road, Bangalore-48.

Phone- 80-65995666 | https://www.facebook.com/Plus91India

Hours: 12 noon-11.30pm, walk-ins welcome

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A Jammy Weekend: Recipes for Strawberry-Balsamic & Fig-Vanilla-Black Pepper Jam

A little cafe surrounded by a kitchen garden - windows with fluttering lace curtains - a big oven on one side - cinnamon, yeast, vanilla scents in the air - sounds of happy chatter - the aroma of fresh coffee brewing - people waiting in anticipation of a simple good time - a cup of good coffee or choice of tea with a scone or a muffin topped with some homemade jam - A girl can day dream right?

On Thursday, I ordered more fruit than I usually do for a week, especially strawberry and figs, with the intention of making jam. I'm not much of a jam sandwich person. Give me a Mumbai style coriander-mint chutney and cucumber sandwich any day. But when you have a little boy at home who'll say 'I'm hungry' at the most unpredictable times of the day, it is good to have a loaf of bread and some spreads handy to make a snack in 2 minutes. He likes my 'Chocolate coconut Peanut Butter' - well, I like it a lot myself and each batch gets over in a matter of 2-3 days. So I decided to make some jams anyway. What better way to preserve the goodness of seasonal fresh fruit for a couple more months?

There's a lot more I'd like to write about on 'jamming' but the weekend chores beckon and I promised a few people that I'll be sharing the recipe on my blog before the end of the weekend, so here are the recipes for the two jams.

 If you always wondered what the difference was between jelly, jam and preserve, read this. 

I'd say my recipes are in between a jam and preserve, because while they do have a chunky texture, it is not 'that' chunky because the fruit was fairly finely chopped to begin with. Contrary to popular belief that jam making is the job of old matronly housewives who wish to slave in the kitchen all day and night, these jams don't take more than 30-45 minutes each, including fruit chopping time, especially because we're making only a small quantity at a time. Also, in both these jams, we don't need any added pectin because both fruits are full of seeds inside them which are a natural source of pectin. As for fig jam, most recipes from international websites don't ask for the fruit to be peeled, but Indian figs are very thick skinned, therefore better off peeled.

Strawberry Balsamic Preserve
Recipe adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients
750 grams strawberries (washed, patted dry and tops removed- I bought 1 kg and this was what I got after eating a few and removing the tops)
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp water
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp butter

Directions

1. Finely chop the strawberries-you'll get roughly 2 1/2 cups of chopped fruit
2. In a heavy bottomed steel or anodised pan, put all the ingredients together, on a medium flame, bring this to a simmer.
3. The butter prevents the mixture from foaming and splattering too much. In fact, mine didn't splatter at all. 
4. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the mixture is thick and translucent. Keep stirring off and on. Don't worry if it's still a bit flowy and it will thicken further on cooling. So, switch off before the jam turns thick.
5. Remove pan from heat and cool thoroughly.
6. Meanwhile place two empty clean and dry glass jam jars  bottles without their lids in the microwave for one minute. This is to quick sterilise the bottles.
7. Once cooled to room temperature, spoon the jams into the two jars. I'd say I got roughly two jars of 300-350 grams each.
8. Close them tight and keep in fridge. Use within a month.

Recipe for Fig-Vanilla-Black Pepper Preserve
Adapted from Taste

Ingredients
Roughly 1 kg fresh figs
1 cup sugar
half a vanilla pod (or use a cinnamon stick + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice or balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp butter

Directions

1. Wash, dry and remove stems of figs. Peel and chop finely.
2. Slice the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds with the end of the knife, add this to the chopped figs. 
3. In a large bowl, add all the ingredients, including the scraped vanilla pod, cover and keep overnight. [at this stage you could either keep the bowl of ingredients covered in the refrigerator overnight and proceed with jam making in the morning or proceed with the process immediately. I left it in the fridge overnight] 
4. After the mixture has sat in the fridge overnight, transfer them to a heavy bottomed steel pan or anodized pan, bring to a simmer on medium flame.
5. Keep stirring off and on so that the sugar does not stick to the bottom and burn.
6. In around 20 minutes, the mixture will start to thicken. Remove from flame. Cool thoroughly. 
7. Meanwhile place two empty clean and dry glass jam jars  bottles without their lids in the microwave for one minute. This is to quick sterilise the bottles.
8. Once cooled to room temperature, spoon the jams into the two jars. I'd say I got roughly two jars of 300-350 grams each.
9. Close them tight and keep in fridge. Use within a month.

P.S. Sorry for the longish title. I didn't want you to think that my jammy weekend had anything to do with Rahul Dravid.

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