REAL JAM RECIPES!

These spice-cakes are cooked every year in autumn for Chinese Moon celebration. You can bake them any time you want to, but you should have special baking cups.

1 ½ cup treacle
½ tbsp baking soda
½ cup corn oil
1 ¼ pound flour
1 ½ tbsp alkaline water
some drops dark soy sauce

For filling:
4 ounces walnuts, sliced
3 ounces almonds
3 ounces melon seeds, sliced
2 ounces tangerine-peel
3 ounces sugared melon, diced
3 ounces sesame seeds
¾ cup sugar
2 tbsp brandy
¼ tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp cold boiled water
¼ cup corn oil
2 ½ ounces rice flour

1. Combine soda, treacle, water and oil, whip with a spoon and leave for 4 hours.
2. Add soy sauce and flour, stir and make pastry. Leave for 6 hours.
3. Make balls weighing 2 ounces each.

4. Combine all filling ingredients except flour in a bowl. Then add flour and mix well. Make equal portions weighing 2 ½ ounces each to fill spice-cakes.
5. Put filling inside of cakes. Sprinkle with flour and place every cake into baking cup.
6. heat oven to 180 C and bake spice-cakes 8-10 minutes.

 Noodles impart a bit Italian relish to this exotic soup, but you can always add Chinese egg noodles.

1 pound chicken fillet, sliced in thin bands
2 pints chicken broth
½ cup cream
3 ½ ounces noodle
1 tbsp starch
3 tbsp milk
6 ounces corn
salt, pepper at taste

1. Place chicken fillet, chicken broth and cream in a large pan. Bring to a boil over a gentle heat. Boil for 15 minutes, add salt and pepper.
2. Cook noodles in another pan with boiling water.
3. Combine starch and milk in a small bowl. Add this mixture in soup and boil until it thickens.
4. combine with noodles and corn and cook for 5 minutes. Ladle into plates and decorate with sliced spring onion.

Artichokes have wonderful taste, but cooking of this dish is a quite laborious work. Still be sure your effort will be rewarded.

1 liter water
2 artichokes, peeled
6 ounces shrimps, shelled and cooked
4 tomatoes, diced
1 lemon peel and juice
1 big clove garlic, grated
3 leaves spring onion, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper at taste

1. Fill a big saucepan with water and add lemon juice. Bring to a boil and put artichokes inside. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, until the leaves are easily separated from the stalk.
2. Take artichokes from the pan, allow them cool and water flow down. Cut the top and remove inedible pith.
3. Heat olive oil in a deep pan, place garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes over a medium heat. Combine with onion and cook for 2 minutes more. Combine with shrimps, tomatoes, lemon peel, salt and pepper and fry for 2-3 minutes over a strong heat.
4. Stuff artichokes with shrimp mass, spot with olive oil and trim with lemon peel.

Chinese art of cookery was improving through the ages. It includes all knowledge and skills that make Chinese dishes ones of the most healthy and tasty in the world. The first detailed cookery book appeared in China about 1500 years ago, what can confirm the fact that Chinese art of cookery was a serious subject matter for ancient people.

Traveling through Peking I was watching oriental women: so slender, lissome and elegant. A fat Chinese is a rarity, though all Asiatic people are known as foodies, at times even gluttons. What is the reason of this contradiction? Chinese canons of cookery demand from a cook not only tasty food, but also health-giving one and sometimes medicinal. For example, some spicy dishes widespread in south regions are regarded as strong aphrodisiacs cheering up a person.

Talking to a polite and always smiling guide I got to know that Chinese believe the food was sent from heaven. They have no notion of taking a bite – mealing means joining to the culture of the nation. Among dishes prevail fluid and soft ones. The meal begins with putting food components on the plates. Green tea without milk or sugar is drank first; after that dishes with cold collations are served: usually they consist of liver, meat, fish or vegetables, finely sliced. Chinese never hasten while eating and enjoy the process. Then comes rice, which is eaten combined with sauce. And in the very end Chinese prefer broth or tea again – exactly these types of food and their order are considered to be the most auspicious for digestion.

I’ve made it sure from own experience that in most cases the originality of Chinese cuisine is the result of a skilful processing of the feedstock, and not the food itself. One of the main rules is that the course is to consist of small pieces, so that it doesn’t require additional effort to cut the food. A cook of the hotel where I lived, revealed me a secret of Chinese cuisine: to cut and fry properly. Small, equal in form and size pieces are cooked very fast in burning hot oil. But for all that dishes are never too fat or insipid. As regards the first question, a mistress from China spends three-quarters of the whole cooking time on preparing food: washing, slicing, bones removing and so on. As for frying – quick cooking in a large pan over a strong heat, each component is cooked separately from another. It helps getting top-quality foods.

If you’ve been in Chinese restaurant, you could note that dishes there contain of many components that frequently seem incompatible, like pork that smells like fish or sweet-sour cucumbers. It’s another characteristic property of Chinese cuisine, that has it’s own authentic relish if you pay enough attention to savouring.

Now let’s touch upon a subject of names of Chinese dishes – they often look like a rebus when you see them in a menu, for example “Ants clime up the tree”. I was perplexed for some minutes until I found out that it’s just fried rice with hot meat gravy. But “Battle of dragon and tiger” turned to be a soup with meat of a snake and a special well-fed cat. I denied myself at once this dish and was glad that I got to know the ingredients first.

The same way as in Indian cuisine (and I think any other oriental cuisine), Chinese dishes can’t do without spices, kitchen herbs and sauces. About 300 types of spices are of use in Chinese cuisine. Soy sauce is an essential part of serving: it’s a substitute for salt and vinegar.

Chinese cuisine is tightly bound not only to history, but to holidays as well. When it’s a birthday, Chinese cook long noodles – a symbol of longevity; main dish of the New Year table is dumplings; when it’s “Summer beginning”, they prefer sweet rice rolled into reed leaves. Every season has its special dishes, just like each province of China has its own cookery school. The most popular of them are: Cantonese cuisine, which fresh courses are very tasty and cooked with using rich fantasy; Szechuan cuisine with a lot of spices including red cayenne pepper; Fujian cuisine, that is notable for its “paradise” soups; Shandong cuisine, which has many dishes with crabs and garlic; Hunan cuisine – sour-sweet dishes with river fish.

But still, what are the main traditional components of Chinese cuisine? After rice it’s fish, and it’s nonrandom – Chinese know more than 10 thousand of fish and anthozoan species, the most of them are edible. They are usually served almost raw (sashimi). Besides, they use for food all kinds of vegetables, fruits, beans, beef, pork, noodles, which was spread in Japan as well, algae and even insects. In other words Chinese can be called omnivorous, the main thing is how to prepare and serve food.

I hope I’ve shed some light on unique features of Chinese cuisine and exited in you the interest to try cook something Chinese yourself.

Alupatra is a variety of samosa with potato filling. Once I’ve tasted it, I understood why it’s one of the most popular Indian dishes nowadays. You can add also some fresh panir cheese for diversity.

4 potatoes
2 tbsp grated coconut
2 tsp ginger, grated
2 pods hot pepper, sliced
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
2 cups wheat flour
2 tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp garam-masala
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp red Cayenne pepper
½ cup water
2 tsp ghee butter
ghee or oil for flying-up in deep fat

1. First of all make a filling. Boil potatoes in their jackets and peel them. Mash potatoes together with grated coconut, all spices, hot pepper, sugar and 1 teaspoon salt.
2. Combine flour, turmeric, Cayenne pepper and ½ teaspoon salt in a big bowl. Rub ghee into flour. Pour in water and make dough. The dough must be tender and springy.
3. Roll out dough in shape of rectangular flat cake 3 mm thick. Place evenly potato blend on top. Collar dough.
4. Slice the roll: the slices should be ½ inch (1 cm) thick.
5. Heat ghee or oil in a deep-fryer or deep pan. Immerse slices into the fryer and cook 3-5 minutes until goldish color.

Today I want to say some words about Indian appetizers and snacks. They consist of many ingredients, such as potato, onion, spinach, chili, and can be called by right vegetarian dishes; they are cooked in rich spices and look very decorative. Indian appetizers can be served as a main dish or an addition to other courses. They will perfectly suit you if you want to snack between dinner and supper. I like to cook it for my children because they always want to filch something dainty from the kitchen. They are simply enraptured with these fragrant snacks; in my turn I’m glad to offer them more than a usual sandwich or even worse harmful chips.

A lot of Indian snacks are taken with chutney and tea. Some of them, for example pakora and seeval, can be cooked right away; samosa and kachori take more time, but no sooner you taste it than you forget a long cooking process at one stroke.

Many appetizers of Indian cuisine cannot be done without ghee, anyway I usually use it for frying-up. Once I tried to replace it with vegetable oil, but I’ve drawn a conclusion that snacks with ghee have much more exquisite taste.

Another component commonly used for Indian snacks is chickpea flour (also known as gram flour or besan). It has a special taste, and it’s easy to find in any oriental grocery.

I’ve found another chili jam recipe in my cookbook. Moreover, this one contains tomatoes and apple, and I think I like this recipe even more, because jalapeno chili pepper has an exquisite tender-burning taste. You can use it with any dishes to your taste. Experiment!

10 jalapeno peppers, seeded
2 tomatoes
1 green apple, grated
1 big onion, chopped
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup red wine vinegar

1. Bisect the peppers, put them on a baking sheet and place under the broiler until skin turns black.
2. Remove the peppers from the oven and let them cool.
3. Scald tomatoes and peel skin from them. Remove skin from peppers as well. Chop veggies finely.
4. Combine apple, onion, sugar and vinegar in a pan. Add tomatoes and chili peppers and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
5. Bring the mass to a boil and reduce heat. Allow it simmer for 20-30 minutes.
6. Store in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Don’t be afraid to start home jam canning, because it’s not so hard as it seems on the face of it. There are two main methods to kill molds and bacteria in the jars and caps: boiling water method and steam-pressure method. Don’t use the first one to process low-acid foods – they require super-heating in a steam-pressure canner with a weighted gauge. Yes, it will be much better if you have a special canner. After you fill the jars with jam, adjust the lids (two-piece caps) and screw the band without using too much force. Your jars are ready now for canning.

Boiling water method

1. Fill canner half full with water and set the rack above water.
2. Heat the water to 80-90 C and put the jars on the rack. Lower them into the water, cover the canner with the lid.
3. Bring the water to a boil and keep it gently boiling during the canning process. Set timer for the definite number of minutes and process the product until the time is over.

4. Turn of the heat and remove the jars. Let them cool naturally 12 to 24 hours before checking for a seal.

Steam-pressure method

1. Add 2 or 3 inches water into canner and heat it to a simmer (about 80 C).
2. Place the rack on the bottom and put the jars on it. Lock canner lid and open the petcock. Increase heat until you see steam flowing and process the jars for 10 minutes.
3. Close the petcock and go on processing for 5 minutes.
4. When the gauge indicates the recommended pounds of pressure, set the timer and maintain the correct pressure, varying the heat if needed.
5. Turn of the heat and let the canner cool. Don’t open the petcock until the gauge shows zero pressure, then open it and wait for couple of minutes.
6. Open the canner and wait again for 10 minutes. Take out the jars and allow them cool down as in the first method.

Now I can tell you how I usually check for a seal to get to know if there is an air inside. I press the lid center: if it doesn’t flex then there is a good vacuum seal formed.

Let’s go back to jam cooking. Is it of current importance nowadays, when you can simply go to the shop and buy everything what you can permit yourself? I say yes, of course, why not to try? You lose nothing, only gain cookery experience. Especially if you’re a housewife and have enough time to give up to this tempting occupation. Believe me, home-cooked jam is not to be compared with the bought one. It has its own natural taste and contains no preservatives. Speaking honestly, I feel a surge of pride looking at the jars standing abreast in my cellar. And I’m not afraid of a cold wintertime: a sauce with amber-colored fragrant homemade jam makes the days warmer and brighter. These things I didn’t mention last time would help you to make a jam not worse than you buy in a supermarket, and even better.

1. Prick fruits and berries that have a hard peel with a toothpick – they will absorb syrup better.
2. Blackberry requires blanching for 2-3 minutes in boiling water; otherwise it will be dryish in a jam.
3. Plunge berries into hot syrup for 3-4 hours for extra aroma and shape holding.
4. If you take a little bit unripe peaches, pears, strawberry and raspberry, they won’t be boiled soft.
5. If the jam doesn’t thicken, add some lemon juice or applesauce. It will thicken soon.
6. If you think the jam is overdone and can become sugared, add 1-2 grams citric acid for 1 kilo of jam to avoid it.
7. Use a special enamel ware with low sides.
8. Cook not much than 2 kilos fruits or berries simultaneously. This lightens the cooking process, besides your jam will be much more aromatic.
9. The whole cooking duration mustn’t be more than 40 minutes. An overdone jam has a syrup too thick, brownish-fulvous color.
10. Cook a jam only over gentle heat.
11. During cooking you can see foam appearing above the jam. It happens because of albumen setting and it’s all right. Remove it with a spoon or skimmer.
12. To get to know if the jam is cooked do this: take a cool saucer and drip jam on it. If the drop doesn’t flow, the jam is ready.

I can also tell you about 3 ways of jam preservation. The first is hot canning. The jam is poured hot into the jars and sterilized by a boiling water method. The second way is pasteurization or steam-pressure processing, which is considered to be more effective. And the third method is cold canning but it’s less popular and I don’t use it because it requires much sugar.

Last but not list, remember that jams are usually made from one sort of berries or fruits, than a combination of several berries. Glue a little note with the date and name of the containing fruit on each jar. Store the jars in the cellar or fridge. Good luck with jam making!

As compared with other fruit preserves this jam isn’t a sweet dish. I use it as a seasoning  to add heat to meat or spaghetti. This chili jam requires no canning.

¼ chili, finely diced
6 spring onions, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tsp sesame seeds
1 lemon, squeezed
pinch of chili flakes
handful of coriander leaves, chopped

1. Place vegetables, sesame oil, soy sauce, chili flakes and garlic  into a mini food processor and blend together.
2. Put into a pan over a gentle  heat. Add coriander, sesame seeds and lemon juice.
3. Stir for a 5-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve.