CURRY AND SPICE: PEYARAR JELLY

A CHILDHOOD, TEEN LIFE TO ADULTHOOD; TALES OF FRESH FRUIT JAM, JELLY, ACHAR, HOMEMADE VEGETARIAN CONDIMENTS!

If I look back as far as memory can take me to, it is about a home meticulously run by a short statured, thin framed woman to whom her home and it's people and the things meant everything. From early morning to 10pm at night we saw her working and working harder. The major part of her young age was spent in a rented space; yet, not for a single day she failed to take proper care of it. Each in the neighbourhood including our unhappy landlord's family would wonder where this woman derives her 1000 horse power energy from; from her mother off course. I did not inherit 1/10th of their love and expertise in household chores; but I live to tell their stories. So many times, our landlord's family denied our mother access to the terrace, yet they could not stop her from preparing bori / vadi / dried lentil balls and achar / Indian pickle, amshi / dried mango pieces, every season. Whatever little sunlitted space she got, she would utilise it. If one loves household chores, home way too much, they can be this dedicated. She did not have the facilities I enjoy; a full time help, few electronic gadgets, readymade stuffs. I do not even compare the situation; she did all these after handling two demanding kids like me and bhai. My son or the man are not even so fussy; out father did not even understand how a home works, what Herculean task our mother had taken upon her shoulders. Perhaps, she started preparing HOMEMADE JAM & JELLY for two reasons. Both of us siblings were too fond of biscuits; we ate 12-13 biscuits at one go but we were allowed only few varieties; Britannia Marie and Cream Cracker. We demanded for cream biscuits; they did not allow, instead she started making JAM & JELLY at home. Of the few varieties she made, this GUAVA JELLY / PEYARAR JELLY was one. I think there was an economic angle, the way I finished off biscuit packets & jam, jelly, it can be referred to a demonic volume. Our son too inherited this love for biscuits & cookies from me and his mamu jaan but our mother did not have the same amount of spending power as I have. Then, I belong there, hence have a natural affinity towards cooking and thoroughly enjoying the activity.

HOW IS GUAVA JELLY / PEYARAR JELLY MADE IN OUR FAMILY? ITS ALL ABOUT FRESH FRUITS!

So far I can remember, our mother never used artificial colours or flavours in her JAM & JELLY, be it of GUAVA, MANGO OR PINEAPPLE. She used acetic acid she told me the other day, I do not even use that. If you ask our boy, he hopefully would say he likes how his mumma makes her's and for him. I very much wanted to share a FAMILY RECIPE for this X-MAS and here it is. I talk to my mother so often, but forgot to ask her one more time and got over ripened GUAVAS, then she told me that she used unripe, green guava for making jelly because it's sap helps the jelly to thicken. However, my venture did not spoil. I had bought about 600gm of ripened, pink flesh guava not wanting to use any artificial colour. My purpose was served. I purposefully kept it less thickened because I will be refrigerating it until summer; I may have cooked it now to share it on CHRISTMAS EVE, but it will serve it's purpose coming summer. The refrigeration will thicken it further. It's pink colour you see is purely natural. The mother asked me to add some raisins to it as she did, but added some chopped dry fruits instead.

CHRISTMAS IS VERY MUCH ABOUT CAKE I KNOW; BUT YOU ALSO BAKE A FRESH BREAD AND HAVE WITH MY GUAVA JELLY, A VEGETARIAN GLUTEN-FREE CONDIMENT!

We are Hindus, but we must eat our piece of cake during X-MAS. I am pretty busy today, in fact for the past few days. This morning I had to go out, locally though. Once done, Cristine came back and I did some walking, had my lunch and headed back home. I have some cooking now, simultaneously I am writing this blog post. In between, I had to manage three of those Oreo Cookie & Walnut Microwave Mode Cake. One Cristine would take for her friends tomorrow, she has taken leave tomorrow. The rest of the two are not for this home. Once I am done with the BLOG POST, I will bake a cake for this home as per my choice.

Yes, the heart indeed yearns for the son, there are thousands of questions on my mind, did my child buy a cake for himself? Is he maintaining proper hygiene? Is he eating well? How is he coping with the cold? We are here, our heart is there, oceans apart. At times it feels horrible, then, what else to do except for waiting for his long holidays? Mumma did taste the GUAVA JELLY, Babai won't, it will go for refrigeration now, mumma is a diabetic.

INGREDIENTS :

RIPE GUAVA : 600 GM [I USED THE ONE WITH PINK FLESH]

SUGAR : 2 TBSP [I USED BROWN SUGAR]

HONEY : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP SIZE [SKIP AND USE MORE SUGAR IF YOU WISH FOR A VEGAN VERSION]

LEMON JUICE : 4-5 TBSP

CINNAMON STICK : 1 BIG WHOLE

CHOPPED DRY FRUIT : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

We will discard the two ends of each guava / peyara, peel them, wash and chop finely the flesh. I did one and Christine did the rest.

I kept them in the rice container for two days to ripen more.

We have taken the washed and chopped guava flesh in a deep vessel and added 2-3 coffee mugs of water to it.

We will put it for boil and cover 80% of it, else the water may spill over.

We will simmer it at low heat for 10-12 minutes; open cover to discard the scum, foam that has formed atop.

We will keep simmering the mixture for 15-16 minutes at low flame until it thickens. We will let it cool.

Once cool, we will take it in a clean, white, thin piece of cloth and squeeze with all our power to extract the water, juice.

In the second round, I added 1/2 a coffee mug of water and extracted another round of juice.

We will use the extracted water and boil it taken in a fresh bowl. I had added a cinnamon stick for fresh flavours.

After 10-12 minutes, I had added the honey and the sugar. Use only sugar if you want a vegan version.

After 8-10 minutes of boiling, I added the chopped dry fruits and started simmering at minimal heat now. I add the lemon juice too now.

At this stage, we have to continuously stir as we simmer.

It will take 10-12 minutes to reach a thick consistency. We can thicken it more but I will refrigerate it for later use, which will thicken it further.