I have been quiet about inviting my blogger friends and co-bloggers for guest posting. Now, after a long gap I have a guest over to share a lovely recipe with us.
She was the first one who dropped a comment on my blog and my first blogger friend. Though I met her here in the blog world, it feels like we have known each other for ages. A friend I dot on for every little thing be it about blogging, photography or where to download new fronts from. She has been always there to help.
It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Meena from elephants and the coconut trees, a blog featuring some mouth watering recipes with very crispy & creative photography. I truly admire her style and the way she plates her dishes. Her food stories that are woven around her childhood/growing up years sure takes you through the memory lanes.
She was the first one who dropped a comment on my blog and my first blogger friend. Though I met her here in the blog world, it feels like we have known each other for ages. A friend I dot on for every little thing be it about blogging, photography or where to download new fronts from. She has been always there to help.
It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Meena from elephants and the coconut trees, a blog featuring some mouth watering recipes with very crispy & creative photography. I truly admire her style and the way she plates her dishes. Her food stories that are woven around her childhood/growing up years sure takes you through the memory lanes.
All her recipes get me drooling, yet here’s a few of my favorites from her blog that came quickly to my mind. Do Visit her blog for great recipes.
- Coconut chutney powder
- Milk fudge
- Fish pickle
- Raspberry and Chia seed pudding
- Nadan konju theeyal
- Spicy chicken varuval (oh! this is really delicious and I make it quite often)
- Mango icecream
Meena, I can’t thank you enough for doing the guest post and so excited about sharing this wonderful recipe and so so beautiful pictures with my dear readers.
Now, over to Meena…
Hello lovely people,
This is Meena, the hand behind the blog elephants and the coconut trees . I am from Kerala, India currently living in California with my techie husband and tween. I am a big time foodie and enjoy most cuisines barring a few meats.
My cooking is the reminiscent of the comfort food I grew up eating and some that are newly acquired .The blog becomes my food memoir in the making where like minded people come , we laugh and we literally converse which I think is the best part of having a blog. Never thought I would make so many friends virtually.
Love spending time photographing food , a learning process and a challenge I happily take up. I click until I am pleased .Sometimes a post can wait for months to get the right set of pictures .I am self taught and not an expert in food photography but I judge my work I should say very harshly.If it is not appealing to me then the blog does not see it. I think that pushes me a lot. I am very passionate about the blog and love to write what is in my heart and not go by dates,deadlines or keep up with Joneses:).Perhaps that is the reason so many of us are having a blog, nothing dictates right!
Coming to the recipe, I have never made jam till this year nor did it ever strike me to make at home until my daughter repeated asked for a bottled one every time we were in store I was reluctant as I knew jam would be the main meal and bread would be name sake :)).. So just decided to make some without preservatives,dyes or additives. This is my third attempt of jam making u see here :). I totally understand why women in the West brag about the homemade jams and preserves I mean it tastes awesome when compared to store bought ones.
My ancestral home in India has big backyards and large farm lands so every year summer vacation was spent eating jack fruits, mangoes and tamarind. Can you imagine the state of the stomach !:))) Tamarind pods would leave the mouth so sore that finally even water burns :)). It was beyond our capacity to finish all this in raw state so only those went for preserves and pickles.We were also sent a large chunk of those in every form possible :))
At home mango,guava,banana, rose apple, mulberry etc were eaten only fresh.There was no excess… come on! what are friends for, to share the produce right !! More over my folks never approved of bread and jam as a satisfying breakfast. Bakery bread used to be served only with stews.Indians by large go for a savory breakfast, their preference of fiery spice could be the reason behind the wide variety of pickles available there than jams.
How about some bread, butter and homemade jam!! Ya !there is a glass of milk in the background but you will need a torch to see that lol..
Apple is used here to get the jelly like end product as it contains high amounts of pectin..Use just ripe fruits for best results.
Ingredients:
White nectarine-5
Apple -1(any kind)
Sugar- 3/4 – 1 cup
Lime juice- 1/2 of 1
Method
- Wash and wipe the fruits . Discard seed need not remove the peel as it becomes soft and not visible in the jam.Slice nectarines into bigger pieces and chop the apples as nectarines cook faster than apple.
- In a heavy bottom pan combine all the ingredients and cook on a low to medium flame till the juices from the fruits come out then reduce flame and allow it to thicken by stirring often.If u stir for too long then the jam will lose its thickness and become watery. See all the water!all that came from the fruit!So don’t be tempted to add even a drop of water.
3. Do not mash the fruit too much as the elasticity of pectin is lost and tends to become watery.
4. A good rule of thumb is when you separate the jam with the spatula it should part in the middle and form a path (see bottom pic)then the jam is ready.
5. Pour the jam into a clean dry jar while it is still hot and let it cool then put the lid and enjoy for breakfast or like my daughter does scoop whenever she wants some 🙂
Note:
- Any fruit that you like could be used to make jam.
- As the jam cools down it will thicken a bit more.
- It tastes best when made in small quantities.
- Since no sealing and canning is done store the jam in the fridge after 2 days for up to 3 weeks.
- Make the jam on slow flame only .Don’t hurry up:)
Thank you Meena for a wonderful recipe and I can’t wait to make this 🙂 Here’s wishing you all the very best and stay blessed always.
Dear friends/readers, hope you liked the post and recipe what Meena has shared. We are looking forward to hearing from you and thank you for your time.
See you soon with a new recipe.Till then…
Take care
Foodolicious Pictured 
Thank you so much Rekha for being such a lovely friend I can always count on.I am so happy to see my post featured here thank you for the opportunity dear.
so so tasty and nice guest post
Wow lovely…nicely explained and beautifully pictured recipe…
wow,wonderful post.nice clicks.superb tips ,shld try sometime.
Ohff Rekha, such a lovely person and such a lovely guest post. You said it right, Meena is really a darling, something that I too cherish of hers is the way she takes you down her memory lanes thereby leading us to our memory lanes. Frankly speaking sometimes i just read through her writings, and then drool over the masterpiece pictures..just run through the recipes..hehehe…but now you have reminded me to try out her recipes as well..especially the chicken varuval..going to make that soon!!!!
And loved your aditi greeting statue:))))
I am loving the home made am which looks so superbly great. Meena's space is so good and I am always checking her recipes.
Very interesting post and its good to know about you both.
Nice to meet you Meena, a Californian..wow.
It's always nice to see friends guest post and a budding friendship happen in the blogging world. A beautiful guest post and a great recipe.
Thank you so much dearies for all the lovely words.I hope you all enjoyed it as much I did bringing for you.
Thank you all for sure wonderful words and so glad you liked this post 🙂
I grew up in the midst of jam and pickle making 🙂 Your post is so tempting me to make one Meena 🙂 It has been ages since I made a jam! And as usual, loved reading through the post Rekha and Meena 🙂
I regularly follow Meena and this post is another wonderful recipe from her.
Lovely guest post ladies…The jam sounds delicious and the pics are absolutely stunning. Well done Meena and thanks for introducing me to Rekha 🙂
nice guest post…I regularly follow meena's blog and I love her photography…jam looks really yummy, nice clicks…
Very nice guest post.. love the clicks..
Seriously Meena speaks a lot with her incredible clicks..Am a die hard fan of her creations and her food photography.. Glad to know more about her..
Very delicious and incredible combo for the jam, can guess the aroma of this jam.. Fantastic guest post by Meena,kudos to both of u..
Nothing beats homemade jam and loved your version of Apple and Nectarines jam!!! They are ton better than the store bought ones 🙂
Delicious guest post, homemade jams are always tasty. Great job Meena and Rekha.
this is awesome… such a droolworthy jam… lovely guest post by meena and awesome snaps as usual… 🙂
Lovely guest post Meena and Rekha.. I never realised how easy jam making would be.. I might have to try my hand at making some jam now dear 🙂
Yummy and wonderful jam. Nice guest post.
wow meena its very yummy ….once i tried apple jam…will try with nectarine too…nice guest post…