Homemade Roselle Jam

I'm very fortunate that the current company where I'm working has a big courtyard growing organic herbs, vegetables and roselle flowers. Basil, pandan leaves, "black face general" or Strobilanthes crispus, mulberry, brinjal, lady finger etc. Glad to have some of the bountiful harvests occassionally.

Obtained from sources, roselle is extremely healthy and has a ludicrous amount of vitamins and minerals, ranging from vitamins for your nervous system to immune system boosters and natural fats.  According to a recent study, those drinking roselle tea tend to have lower blood pressure and a healthier cardiovascular system.

With the given roselles, I love to boil them to make roselle drinks. Relax with a cup of  warm drink served with some honey.

My favorite roselle tea

This time round, I tried out some roselle jam.

Homemade Roselle Jam
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30-35 minutes

Ingredients
285g roselle calyx (remove seedpods and washed) (25 small & medium roselle flowers)
125ml water
120g - 150g  granulated sugar (adjust sweetness to your liking)

Fills a 300ml jar

Instructions :
1. Soak the roselle flowers in water for about 5 minutes. Remove the seedpods with a stainless steel core seed remover (twist & push from the bottom). Wash roselle calyx clean with water. Drain water off. Tear the calyx into smaller pieces.

2. In a saucepan, combine water and roselle and cook with medium flame. Stirring occasionally. Once the mixture heats up and begins to boil, turn to low flame and use the electric hand blender to blend. Simply stick it into the saucepan and blend the mixture for about 1 minute or till thick smoothie texture.

3. Add the sugar.  Stir occasionally, making sure that the sugar has completely dissolved. Cook for about 20 more minutes until jam has thickened.

4. Off the flame. The mixture will continue to thicken as it cools. Once cooled, transfer the jam to a jar or airtight container and refrigerate. Fridge for up to 2 weeks.

My colleague harvested these organic produce :

Snapped a few pictures while taking a quick stroll ... so lovely!

For once, I'm immersed in a tranquillity and serenity of rural life!

Blackberry Chia Jam & $500 Paypal CASH Giveaway!

Although I've made Pumpkin Kaya and Mango Jam (but didn't post) sometime ago, I've never imagine myself making homemade fruity jam could be that easy ^-^! What I love about this is the use of all natural fruits/juices with no sugar added.  With the added Chia Seeds (packed with omega 3 fatty acids), these tiny chia seeds thickened the mixture and transformed a jar of spreadable healthy jam ... fast & easy, no sweat !

Spread on bread, rolls, digestive biscuits, pancakes ... anything that you could find at home to make some healthy brekkie, tea/coffee snacks with this Blackberry Chia Jam.
Enjoy !

Recipe source : Thekitchn
Below my slightly adjusted version on the ingredients.
Blackberry Chia Jam
Fills a 250ml jar
Ingredients A
170g Blackberries (nett weight of a punnet bought)
1 medium Peach - peeled, cored and diced
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice - from half a lemon

Ingredients B
1 to 2 tablespoons honey (adjust the sweetness to your preference)
1.5 tablespoons Chia Seeds

Method:
In a small saucepan combine all the Ingredients A and cook with medium flame. Stirring occasionally.

Once the fruit mixture heats up and begins to boil, mash the fruit using the back of a fork till they break up. This takes 3 to 5 minutes.

Sweeten the mashed fruit with 1 to 2 tablespoons of honey. Lastly, add the chia seeds and stir once. Off the flame. The mixture will continue to thicken as it cools.



Once cooled, transfer the fruit mixture to a jar or airtight container and refrigerate. Fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Of course, mixed berries or just strawberries would be my next "Berry Berry Chia Jam" !
But before that, here's a gentle reminder ... a chance to * win a $500 Ang Pow as we usher into CNY2016 ^-^!

To welcome the Year of the Red Fire Monkey, 10 cooking bloggers have come together to bring you the chance to *win a S$500 ang pow! (Terms and Conditions Apply).

To enter, please complete the Rafflecopter below : 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


This giveaway is brought to you by :

Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids

Alvin from Chef and Sommelier

Ann from Anncoo Journal

Amy from Amy's Baking Diary

Charlynn from My Baking Cottage

Karen from Luvswesavory

Sharon from Delishar

Victoria from Victoria Bakes

Weilee from Wei Lee's Passion

*One Prize of SGD500 will be sent to one winner via Paypal (or bank transfer within SG). An email will be sent to the winner to notify him/her of the win. Should the Organiser (Diana) not receive a reply within 48 hours, another winner will be selected.

This giveaway is opened to ALL participants! So, what are you waiting for ?! Take part and maybe you will be the lucky winner ! 猴年行大运, 发大财 ! "Huat ah" !

Easy Danish Lemon Curd Puff Pastry

I made some lemon curd with the intention to try out baking some lemon tarts the next day.  Somehow ... hee ...hee .. lazy bug crawled into my nerves ...
Aha !  I've got a sheet of the frozen puff pastry in the freezer and turned them into some quick & easy dainty Danish pastries instead for our afternoon tea.

Easy Danish Lemon Curd Puff Pastry
Ingredients :
1 sheet ready frozen puff pastry
3 - 4 tablespoonful of homemade lemon curd (recipe below)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar (to sprinkle)
1 small egg - beaten for egg wash

Method :
Preheat oven to 180°C.  Prepare a baking sheet with lightly greased parchment paper.

Sprinkle some flour on the work surface. Place the pastry sheet on the work surface.

Using a pizza cutter, cut the puff pastry sheet into 9 even squares. Put the squares on the baking sheet, with space apart.

On each square, cut a 1 inch cut (using a pizza cutter or knife) diagonally towards the center from each corner.

Dollop 1 teaspoon lemon curd filling into the center of each square. Fold every other tip in towards the center (pressing firmly with a fork), forming the pinwheel shape.

Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle with the granulated sugar.

Bake for about 18 - 20 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.

Feel free to cut and shape the pastry dough into any shapes & sizes you like.



Lemon curd recipe adapted from Joy Of Baking - Lemon Curd

Method :
Half-fill a cooking pot with water and bring to a simmer. In a stainless steel bowl placed over a pot of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended.

Cook with low flame & stir constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) around 71 degrees C, approximately 10 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the simmering water.  Whisk in the butter until completely melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool.

Pour the curd into a bowl. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Refrigerate the curd for up to a week.

Freshly baked ! They are best eaten warm on the day of baking.  Teatime! Some flaky dainty tangy sweet lemon curd Danish pastries!

Enjoy ! Have a great week ahead :D

Pumpkin Kaya

Many years ago, I'd tried making the traditional pandan coconut jam or kaya ... Wa ! The making process was too tedious for me ... hee ... hee.  Since then, I didn’t attempt anymore homemade kaya.

But I love pumpkin and I saw many blogger pals shared the fragrant silky smooth Pumpkin Kaya ... pretty easy to attempt ^-^! Linking a few here and thanks to their sharing :
Joceline
LY's Kitchen Ventures
Eileen
Sunflower Grace

Recipe reference from the links above.
Pumpkin Kaya
Ingredients :
200g Pumpkin Puree
100g Coconut Milk
60g *Gula Melaka/Palm Sugar
2 pieces Pandan Leaves (tied knots)

Method :
1) To make pumpkin puree, peeled and deseeded, cut roughly in small pieces and steam the pumpkin till softened. Drain any water and mash the pumpkin with a fork while still hot. Blend the puree with blender for a smoother texture.

2) Chop the palm sugar into smaller pieces. Cook with coconut milk in a small pot with low flame until sugar dissolved, sieve the mixture into a bowl.

3) Combine all the ingredients to a heatproof bowl. Half-fill a cooking pot with water and bring to a simmer. Set the heatproof bowl in the mouth of the pot and cook with low flame. Stir the mixture occasionally.  Cook for about 15 minutes or until the mixture thickened.

4) Discard the pandan leaves and pour the pumpkin kaya into a container or jar. Cover the container once it's completely cooled.

My notes:
*can use granulated sugar or rock sugar and adjust the sweetness to your preference.

as there are no preservatives added, advisable to keep in refrigerator and to consume all within 3 days.

Finally ! I've made a small jar to enjoy this wonderful homemade spread cos I've yet to find any commercial pumpkin kaya available from the bakeries or supermarkets.
Enjoy our brekkie :D

Linking this post to the Best Recipes for Everyone

 July 2015 Event : I have a date with "Pumpkin"

organized by Fion of XuanHom's Mom and co-hosted by Rachel