Fig Jam

Having a sweet tooth simply means, it is a daily struggle to keep your hands mouth away from anything and everything that has sugar = these days anything that is processed. Even products that are sold as savory or healthy options have sugar in them. Think Fat Free means Sugar Full :) Store bought jams and jellies for morning breakfast means you are consuming 4-5 tsp of sugar right in the morning. Fruits are good but store bought jams and jellies, I am not so sure. I'd rather save the sugar for savoring some dessert later in the day. Homemade jams/jellies gives you the option to control the sugar and what else goes into it.

Should I grow Fig Trees?
Having fruit trees at home gives you the option to have fresh fruit right away :) If you live in a tropical, semi tropical or an area where you do not get sub zero temperatures, there is no excuse not to grow them. They are no fuss and do very well with fairly minimal maintenance. We get freezing temperatures in the winter, early morning frost and copious amounts of snow some years but even in these conditions figs do very well for instance near a south facing wall. The wall gives protection and some warmth. In much colder places they can be grown in containers which can be brought indoors during the cold months. Your local extension might have advice on how and where to grow and what varieites. Here is a link to what grows best in for us in Maryland.

End of August is when we start harvesting figs. This year the first fall frost was 2 weeks late so we enjoyed figs for a bit longer. If you are hard pressed for time to do anything with them, you can always eat them fresh and freeze the excess for use in smoothies. With the season extended I got some time to savor the figs and make some jams. Just 3 ingredients and I have resorted to cooking jams/jellies in an Instant Pot and that makes it even more easier to do.

it is just as easy on the stove top and should take the same amount of time or lesser. I use an Instant Pot because the saute mode provides constant heat and there is no danger of burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. I have added far less sugar than the usual jelly recipes call for. Usually the ratio of fruit to sugar 2:1. That is a lot of sugar for a fruit like fig which is itself extremely sweet when ripe. All I needed was 1/4 cup of sugar for 2 cups of figs. So adjust for your needs accordingly.

Get the ingredient for the fig jam ready. Chop the figs.
Transfer the figs, sugar and lime juice and gently mash.
Cook the figs mixture till the liquid evaporates and the jam coats the back of the spoon.
Transfer to sterlized containers.

Fig Jam
Preparation Time:5 minutes
Cooking Time:15-20 minutes
Ingredients

1. 2 cups of figs (about 15-20)
2. 1/4 cup of raw sugar
3. 2 tbsp of lemon/lime juice

Method

1. Wash and pat dry the figs, remove the top step and cut the fig into smaller pieces.
2. Transfer the cut figs into a saute pan if cooking on stove top or instant pot, mix in the sugar and lemon juice into the cut figs and gently mash with a potato masher.
3. Place the saute pan on the stove or if using Instant Pot set it to cook in saute mode.
4. Stir continuously till the liquid almost evaporates and the jam coats the back of the spoon. Do a water test, take a small plate with some water in it. Add a small bit of the jam on to the water and if it does not dissolve the jam is ready.
5. Transfer to a sterilzed glass jar once the jam is coolerd down to room temperature.

Jam is ready for toasts or to sppon over ice cream and enjoyed. Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

Red Jalapeño chili sauce with vinegar or Jalapeño thokku (Farm to Plate)

I grow several kinds of chilies, some of them spicy and used for cooking, some are not so spicy and used for making fritters and jalapeño wghich I grow mostly for making pickles (in vinegar) and also for making stuffed jalpaenos or even making a gravy.

In the height of summer, when everything needs to be harvested, peppers seem to be the ones left behind because they don't go bad. While most of the hot green chilies are harvested while green, sometimes I let them get red or ripen. I heard somewhere that they lose their heat as they start to ripen but the opposite is true. Some of these peppers start to get hotter (spicier) when they turn red.

I had left some of the jalapeño without harvesting for a while and I realized that they had ripened. I now have developed this habit of thinking like folks in Andhra do almost naturally is to wonder if I can make some kind of pickle with them. I tried to make Szchewan sauce with the ripened jalapeño and they turned out so much more milder than the hot red chilies and they were mistaken for a spread. So I decided to reduce the vinegar and eliminate the soy sauce and try making a spread with them.

Since these jalapeño also carry an underlying fruitiness to the taste they seem to be perfect for making a thokku or a spread to be used on breads or sandwiches. While they are really good as a spread they can be used as a chili sauce for sauteing vegetables or chicken.

A typical Indian version of the jalapeño thokku is here.

Recipe in pictures.

Cut the jalapeño into halves and removes the seeds and ribs.
Take the jalapeño in a blender jar and blend to a paste.
Cut onions and garlic. Heat oil in a wide mouthed pan and when hot, add the onions and garlic.
Saute the onions and garlic till they turn brown.
Add the blended jalapeños and cook till oil separates. Add salt. Add more oil if required. Finally finish with vinegar.

Works great as a spread.

Red Jalapeño Relish or Jalapeño thokku
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Cooking Time:35 minutes
Ingredients

1. 3 cups of jalapeños
2. 1 cups of chopped red onions
3. 1/4 cup of chopped garlic
4. salt to taste
5. 2 tbsp of white distilled vinegar
6. 1 cup of oil (i used sesame oil)

Method

1. Slit the jalapeños in half and remove the seeds and ribs (use gloves while doing this).
2. Take the cleaned jalapeños in a blender or nutribullet and make a farily smooth paste.
3. In a wide mouthed pan (i used a clay pot) add about 1/2 cup of oil and when hot add in the garlic and onions and saute till they start to turn brown.
4. Add in the blended paste and cook till oil starts to separate and mixture looks shiny. Add salt and vinegar and cook for a few more minutes.
5. Cool and transfer the pickle to glass jars. Glass jars can be sterilzed by putting them in the microwave for about a minute.

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Stuffed Peppers with red rice and black beans (Farm to Plate) (Vegetarian)

During spring, summer and early fall we eat mostly what is grown in the farm. Fall is when everything is finally done for the year and we are harvesting what produce is left before the frost and freezing temperatures hit.

So I harvested all the peppers and the beans that I could before our frost hit in early October. I had a variety of peppers and the one I chose to do this stuffed pepppers is what I thought was Poblano peppers but these were bright green and long so they might have been some other kind of bigger milder eating peppers.

Recipe will work fine with bell peppers, banana peppers, poblano peppers or any slight larger and not so spicy peppers.The biggest find of this season was growing black beans. While dried black beans which we all are very familiar taste pretty good, freshly shelled black beans elevates it to a different level.

I tried a few different kinds of beans this season and to shell and cook these fresh beans right away is a pleasure for me as well as our taste buds :). The special thing about this recipe is that most of the ingredients that went into it travelled less than 25 steps total. They were all grown in the farm.

I am using a Srilankan red rice called Madathawalu which when cooked is slightly nutty. You could use brown rice or wild rice or any rice that is nutty and has a bite to it.

Recipe in pictures.

Cut the pepppers in half vertically and remove the seeds and ribs.
Brush the back of the peppers with oil and spread them in a layer on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes.
Set the roasted peppers aside. Cook and drain the black beans.
Prep the ingredients for the tomato sauce. Set a pan and add oil and when hot add the onions, peppers and garlic.
Get the tomatoes ready. Let the onions and garlic get some color on them.
Add in the tomatoes and let it completely disintegrate. Add coriander leaves, salt and cumin and red chili powder if needed. Set most of the sauce aside.
To the sauce left in the pan, add the rice and beans and mix it in gently.
The rice is ready for being stuffed. Grease a baking dish.
Add some of the rice and bean mixture into each of the roasted peppers and arrange them in the dish.Pour the saved tomato sauce on top and sprinkle the cheese.
Bake in a 350F oven for 8-10 minutes or till the cheese melts on top.

The process sees elaborate but it is fairly a simple straight forward process
Once done, cut into squares and serve with wedges of avocado and some sour cream.

Stuffed Peppers with black beans and rice
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Cooking Time:35 minutes
Ingredients

1. 15 -20 small to medium sized long green peppers, slit in half vertically and the seeds removed
2. 1/2 cup of Red Rice (Madathawalu Rice) or any slightly nutty rice works
3. 2 cups of black beans (I used fresh) if using dried soak for at least 4 hours
4. 1/2 cup of chopped red onions
5. 4 cups of chopped tomaotes
6. 2 jalapenos chopped
7. 4 garlic cloves chopped
8. handful of chopped coriander leaves
9. 2 tsp cumin powder
10. 1-2 tsp red chili powder (or to taste
11. 1-2 cups of grated cheese (I used Pepper Jack)
12. salt to taste
13. 2 tbsp of oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven (airfryer works just as well) to 350F. Brush a cookie sheet with oil and layer the pepper cut side up and roast for 15-20 minutes till the outside starts to blister.
2. In the meantime cook the black beans, they should hold their shape.
3. In a pan heat oil and when hot add the chopped onions, jalapenos and garlic and saute them till they turn translucent.
4. Add in the tomatoes and cook them till they turn mushy. Add salt and check to see if it is hot enough and add the chili powder if needed. Add the coriander leaves.
5. Spoon out most of the sauce into a separate bowl and leave about 1/4 cup in the pan.
6. Add the cooked rice and the cooked and drained black beans to the sauce and mix it well. It should not be watery. It should have a drier texture like fried rice.
7. Grease a baking dish, spoon about a tbsp of the rice mixture into the roasted peppers and layer them in the baking dish, slightly touching each other and tightly packed.
8. Add the tomato sauce on top and sprinkle with cheese.
9. Bake in the 350F oven for about 8-10 minutes or till the cheese melts.

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