Curries & Stories: Mulberry Chilli Jam

March 16

The other day I had gone to an old bookstore in F C Road. I keep visiting that place whenever I am in the area. It reminds me of the old book stores back from the IIT Campus where I was born and brought up. We only had a couple of book stores back then in the market. Mostly we used to visit those shops for buying school books or supplies. But one day I happened to rummage through the back shelves of one of the store and found a treasure trove of old comics books - Dennis the menace, Archie, Ritchie Rich and many more. The book shop uncle had disapproved of me getting interested in comics. He advised me to come and buy them when I was older. Goes without saying that I wasn't too pleased at that. But little did he know that my mom herself got me addicted to the world of comics. And the general love for reading developed as a hereditary trait, because my entire family from both sides are avid readers. So till date whenever I come across any bookstore I cant stop myself from spending some time in them. When I was at this store in F C Road, I spent time around the old books section. My eyes fell on the Enid Blyton books stacked in the kids section.

I was always a sucker for good mystery stories ( I think its a trait inbuilt into the Bengali genes because they grow up reading some of the cult detective stories ever written by famous Bengali authors) and hence the Famous Five by Enid B was one of my favorite reads as a kid. Mom also loved reading them and would usually get those books from the IIT library we had. During this early period of my life, I always expected to find secret treasure chests or lost manuscripts or some shady character lurking around the corner hatching a devious plot whenever we went on holidays. Enid B's books also gave me an impression that children could show up on the doorstep of any farmhouse and easily obtain bacon, eggs and other supplies for a campfire meal. I thought all children craved ginger beer and constantly went on picnics. I think I took an instant attraction to farm life from those reads only.

Soon they were all sitting on the rocky ledge, which was still warm, watching the sun go down into the lake. It was the most beautiful evening, with the lake as blue as a cornflower and the sky flecked with rosy clouds. They held their hard-boiled eggs in one hand and a piece of bread and butter in the other, munching happily. There was a dish of salt for everyone to dip their eggs into. ― Enid Blyton, Five Go Off in a Caravan

When you read this kind of a description it honestly makes me think who can resist an urge of having a buttered bread and some boiled eggs? I for one get lured easily whenever there is any food description in any story. And as a kid the temptation was more fierce.

Anyone who has ever read an Enid B book, will agree that she possessed the magical power to transform the most simple fares into something irresistibly mouth watering. And then of course, she wrote about some gorgeous food as well, and some that, its suspected, she had invented.

Picture this, the Famous Five are sitting for dinner with Mrs. Andrews and there is a big meat-pie on the table, a cold ham, salad, potatoes in their jackets, and homemade pickles. After the first course, there are plums and thick cream, or jam tarts and cream.

The table at Mr Pink-Whistle’s tea party was filled with macaroons and golden syrup and the children of The Faraway Tree devoured blueberry tarts and jelly treats by the dozen.

In Upper Fourth at Malory Towers , she writes, "There were great chunks of new-made cream cheese, potted meat, ripe tomatoes grown in Mrs Lucy’s brother’s greenhouse, gingerbread cake fresh from the oven, shortbread, a great fruit cake with almonds crowding the top, biscuits of all kinds, and six jam sandwiches!" Now tell me honestly who on the earth can resist that? I cant and I just cant. Pictures of luscious strawberries and cream, tinned sardines, quivering blancmange, succulent pork pies and hard-boiled eggs crowded our dreams. In a way, Blyton was the food blogger of her times, she didn’t even need Instagram, just her descriptions.

During those days neither we had the internet nor the luxury of buying jazzy recipe books. It always made me feel that Enid B should have had a recipe section in her books so that we could at least know what went into those amazing dishes that she had mentioned in her stories.

There was a contest going on in Instagram which asked to recreate one recipe inspired from the children's books. When I started thinking about it, it brought so many food memories including the stories of Enid B, that I wanted to make something which reminded me of that farm life - fresh and homemade. I decided to make a homemade jam with some mulberries I had in the pantry. I wanted to recreate the flavors that Enid B's characters might have enjoyed when they had those jam tarts or jam sandwiches.

I never really tried my hand in making jams before the lockdown last year. The first batch of Alphonso Mango Jam that I had made gave me so much happiness that I really took to this jam making process. Its really easy, quick and you can enjoy the seasonal flavors just the way you want. This mulberry jam is super easy to make and spiced it up by adding some hot Thai chilli pieces. The sweet and spicy jam was a hit at my home for sure. However, if you don't love a spicy jam, just omit the chilli and go ahead with the rest of the steps.

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Mulberry - 1 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Lemon Juice - 1/2 lemon
Bird's Eye Chilli - 1

Equipment:

Non stick pan
Spatula
Knife

Procedure:

1. Wash the mulberries well. Discard the small green stem with a kitchen scissor from each Mulberry.

Note: This might seem like an uphill task but you need to do this otherwise you will end up with a jam which has stalks. And then if you strain it you might loose on the beautiful texture of the jam.

2. Take the cleaned mulberry, sugar and lemon juice in a non stick pan. Over low heat cook the mulberries for about 15 minutes or until it thickens. While it cooks, smash the mulberries with a spatula ( you can also use a masher), it will give the jam a nice thick chunky texture like that of a preserve. Once the mulberries are mashed, throw in the chopped chillies.

Note: I wanted to make a spicy sweet jam hence I added the chillies. If you want the regular jam then you may skip it. Also you can vary the chillies as per your spice tolerance.

3. Keep a metal plate in the fridge to chill. after about 12 minutes of cooking the jam, you need to do the consistency check. Take out the chilled plate from the fridge and put a few drop of jam on the plate. Tilt the plate, if the jam is runny then cook it more. If the jam has a slow descent, then its almost ready.

4. After it reaches the desired consistency, remove from the heat and let it cool down.