Green Garlic, Spring onion, Bacon, and Egg Tart

Green garlic season is on and as it's one of the favourite ingredients for Parsis I've been seeing it very often in my kitchen. One dish that we made quite often is leela lasan (green garlic) ne leela kanda (spring onion) per eeda which is eggs steamed on a bed of the two greens with salt, pepper and a light spicing of cumin or jeera. To be honest, I got a bit bored making this same thing so often and decided to play with basic concept and do something fun while still retaining the basic character of the dish.

I always have puff pastry sheets in my freezer and I also found a packet of bacon in there. And the idea of a tart was born.

Leela Lasan, Leela Kanda, ne Bacon per Eeda Tarts


1 bunch green garlic
1 bunch spring onions
1 onion
1 tsp cumin seed
salt
pepper
oil

1 sheet puff pastry
a few rashers bacon

To make the filling.

Wash the greens well and then chop as fine as possible. Use the roots of the green garlic too, they pack a lot of flavour.
Chop the onion fine.
In a pan heat some oil and add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Chuck in the chopped greens and the onion and saute on a slow flame till it is all cooked. Season with salt and pepper. Keep the heat on medium to low as you cook because the onions and garlic mustn't brown at all. Stir frequently as you cook.
You can make this mix in advance and store it in the fridge up to two or three days, ready to use whenever you like.

To make the tarts

Preheat the oven at 180C

Fry the bacon rashers lightly and then chop into small pieces. Don't let the bacon become crisp - remember it will be baked on the tarts later.

Let the pastry sheet thaw a bit and then cut into four equal squares. Run a pizza wheel or a knife lightly along the edges to trace a 'frame'. Don't cut through the pasty. With a fork poke the middle of the pastry till the entire surface has been marked. Once again, don't go through the pasty.

Line your baking tray with parchment or baking paper and arrange the pastry squares on the sheet.
Arrange the leela lasan filling on each square in a thin layer making a slight hill along the edges. This will help keep the egg in the middle when you add it later.

Once all the squares are done pop the tray into the oven and bake for around 12-15 minutes till you see the pastry puffing up along the edges. 

Remove the tray carefully and get ready to add the eggs. Now this gets a little tricky so it's best if you break each egg into a cup or bowl instead of directly onto the tart. The egg white can spill all over and out of the tart so you have better control if you break it in a cup first. Use a tablespoon and carefully pick up the yolk and place it in the centre of a tart. Arrange bacon pieces around the yolk (it strengthens the 'fort' and helps keep the egg white in). Spoon over the egg white carefully. I found it harder to keep the egg white within the filling.

Crack fresh pepper over the tarts once you have placed eggs and bacon on each and then put it all back in the oven to bake at 160C till the eggs are set to your liking. This could take anything from 6-8 minutes to longer depending on how set you want your eggs but once the whites turn opaque it's good to go.

Enjoy the tarts hot straight out of the oven!

These are great for breakfast and work well as an evening snack too. Kids and adults will enjoy the crunch of the pastry and this is a great way to get your family to eat some greens :)

Bacon Jam with Bhut Jolokia

I'd been meaning to make bacon jam for months but just didn't get around to it. Then a bunch of friends from all over the world made a plan to meet and I thought, why not make bacon jam as a gift for them. As usual, I wanted to play around with the recipe and try something new. The basic recipe is awesome and is a superb canvas for adding new flavours - just like basic mayonnaise.

I looked through the pantry cupboard and chanced upon my stock of Bhut Jolokia chillies that I'd bought on my trip to Assam earlier this year. Bacon jam with a spicy kick sounded like a good idea to me and so that's what I made. The basic recipe remains the same and I replaced the regular green chillies with  a dried bhut jolokia chilli. This chilli is seriously potent so be careful how much you use. I'd say be conservative the first time and work your way up in subsequent trials.

I didn't use whiskey in this batch. Instead I used port wine. Well that was also lying around neglected and this was a nice opportunity to use it up. The flavours worked very well indeed! The whiskey didn't get me very excited (hardly surprising because I don't really like the stuff!) and replacing it with some other flavour was at the top of my priorities. Red wine and port seemed to be good choices and they were.

This is my basic bacon jam recipe. The element I consider integral to it, apart from the bacon and the onions, is the freshly brewed coffee. Don't skip the coffee. And don't ever use instant. I can't resist playing with recipes once I have mastered the basic version and this jam recipe is like a doorway to a land of wonder - the possibilities are just endless. Yet, some basic principles must be kept in mind so that there is a high chance of success once you've finished tweaking.

• It doesn't matter if the onions are not perfectly chopped, or that they're not very finely chopped. But cook them slowly and thoroughly.
• Don't brown the onions
• Don't let the bacon crisp
• Use only as much of the bacon fat as required. Too much fat will mask the flavours of the other ingredients and you will get a stodgy jam.
• Use a mix of back and streaky bacon for a good balance of fat and meat in the jam
• Use the best quality bacon you can afford. 
• Use freshly brewed coffee, even if it's not a premium or fancy one. NO INSTANT.

The experiment with the Bhut Jolokias was not limited to a change of chillies. I also did away with vinegar entirely, and added port and pomegranate molasses to the mix. Both liquids gave the jam a deeper, more rounded sweet and sour element compared to vinegar which has a sharp sourness. I'm tempted to slosh in a good slug of Balsamic in a batch...I'm sure it will work fabulously well.

It's all very well concocting bacon jam recipes in the head but the toughest part, trust me, is when you're in the middle making a batch and you have a pile of perfect 'soft fried' bacon in front of you, and you have to do your best not to eat the lot! Look at this and you will understand... Sigh!

Choice Pork - A Pork-centric Enterprise from NE India

I received an invitation from Arohan Foods, the makers of the Choice Pork Natural range of products, to visit their Guwahati office and to sample a few of their products. What piqued my interest the most was that this company dealt exclusively with pork. Added to that was the fact that it was based in the NE and claimed to use fresh Indian ingredients only, sourced mainly from the North East. I asked the hubby if he would like to check them out and he eagerly agreed.

We found the office in what looked like a residential building and proceeded to go up. A bright and clean space, the first thing I noticed was a line of huge freezers. Just the thought of packets and packets of pork products sitting in there chilling made me happy :)

We were ushered into the office and introduced to Anabil Goswami, Head - Strategy and Business Development, who welcomed us very warmly. We settled down in his office for a long chat about Choice Pork Natural and of course, all their products. Anabil won me over in minutes. I asked him what made him start Choice Pork Natural and his answer was three magical words "I love pork". If you know me at all you know that these words are absolute music to my ears. It's why I started The Porkaholics on Facebook!

Anabil is one of three friends who got together to start Arohan Foods and launch Choice Pork Natural as a brand. He told me how they were particular about showcasing pork as the star and insisted on having the word pork in the brand name itself. There's no doubt that pork is not exactly the most popular meat in India and there are many biases against it.

Many of us also have misconceptions about the NE, it's people, the cultures, and how enterprising (or not) they are. Anabil and his partners wanted to change a few of these misconceptions and decided to set up a company that would sell its products across the nation - products from the NE, a brand from the NE, with ingredients sourced mainly from the NE, manufactured in the NE.

And thus, around three years ago they started Choice Pork Natural which is now available in Delhi, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Bangalore, and of course all over the NE states. I was really happy to find out that Hypercity stocks their products because that means I have easy access. They are also in talks with an online grocery chain so you might soon be able to order their products online.

As we talked about the company a parade of the products began to appear in front of us. Sausages, frankfurters, salami, mortadella, bacon, the parade was endless! And it was delicious.

Here are pictures of some of the stuff we ate-

Juicy porky sausages flavoured with allspice berries. These were just fantastic. Since these came out towards the beginning I greedily ate two forgetting about the goodies that were going to follow! We also had garlic flavoured sausages which we forgot to take pictures of.

The hubby loved these, I wasn't so impressed. But that's a personal taste thing and I have to say these were juicy and full of pork.

Lightly grilled slices of salami with bits of fat scattered in each slice making them juicy and delicious. Choice Pork Natural products are made with absolutely no fillers - there's pork meat, fat, salt and spices. No soya. And believe me, we could taste the difference.

As you can see there's a nice balance of meat and fat on these bacon strips. Compared to the bacon I've eaten so far I found these to be very low in salt. Now o one hand low salt is an excellent thing, but since we associate a salty taste with bacon I was a little confused with this one. It's excellent quality bacon though and I would love to make my bacon jam with this.

This belly roll was made on trial and launched only locally in Guwahati during Christmas and New Year. It was the best Indian processed pork product I have ever eaten and I cannot wait for it to be launched properly all over India. Can you just imagine these with a couple of fried eggs and toast for breakfast? Heaven on a plate!

Mortadella with pistachios! I love this combination and I'm really glad that there's an Indian company making it and doing a good job of it too!

You can see more about the products and where they're available on the Choice Pork Natural Facebook page

The visit to the Choice Pork Natural office in Guwahati was one of the highlights of our trip to Assam. We had plans of going out for lunch but after this smorgasbord of delicious pork in every avatar we just rolled back home!

Bacon Rolls

Pull apart rolls are really easy to make and I like to make them as often as I can. It's good practice and one can variate the fillings without limit. My love for bacon is well known and it seemed to me that long strips of bacon tucked into the rolls would be simply fabulous. They were.

I made the bread dough using this recipe. 

Once the dough has proved the first time roll it out and then arrange your strips of bacon on it. Be sure to cook the bacon strips first. I left them slightly soft so they would roll with the dough easily. I had planned to grate cheese over the bacon strips but I forgot. I think cheese will be awesome in there so I'll remember it for sure the next time. 

Roll up the dough along the length of the oval so you get a nice long cylinder which will yield more rolls once you cut it.

Once you've made a neat cylinder cut into portions with a sharp bladed knife or a dough scraper. Don't use something with a serrated blade. You want clean cuts that will go through smoothly without snagging on the dough. 

Arrange the cut rolls in a baking tin leaving space for the rolls to rise. Leave them to rise in a warm place for around 20 to 25 minutes. Once they look like they're pushing each other vying for space they're ready to be baked :)

Pop the rolls into a pre heated oven and bake at 200C for around 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them - once the tops are nice and golden brown they're ready. Brush the hot rolls with butter and serve them warm from the oven with a hearty soup, a casserole, or just enjoy them on their own.

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Spiced Chicken Legs - A Quick and Easy Dinner

The hubby dislikes chicken, even more so if it's in the mundane basic curry avatar. But chicken is conveniently available and cooks fast so I like it. As a compromise, though I cook it often, I try to make it as interesting and appealing as possible and what comes to my rescue are the variations of the simple pan grilled chicken. All I do is marinate in select spices or condiments for about half an hour and then slowly pan fry till it's done. On the side I make mashed potatoes or fries, grilled vegetables or even a salad, depending on what I have at hand. I do make elaborate curries which take time and effort to make and those are always a hit but they're time consuming and need some planning and gathering of ingredients. The pan grilled chicken is my friend when I'm in a hurry or just not in the mood for a lengthy session in the kitchen.

Spiced Chicken Legs

4 to 6 chicken legs
salt
pepper
Cajun spice mix or any other spice mix that you like, or mixed dried herbs
bacon fat (optional)
olive oil

Make deep cuts in the flesh of the chicken legs. You can also use thighs for this recipe. Rub salt, pepper and a generous teaspoon of your preferred spice mix into the chicken pieces. If you're using dried mixed herbs add some minced garlic to the marinade.  Leave the chicken to marinate for at least half an hour.

Heat the bacon fat in a non stick pan. Add a splash of olive oil to it and let it warm up properly. Place the marinated chicken pieces in the hot oil and sear properly on all sides. Lower the heat and let it cook covered for around 10 minutes. Turn the pieces over and cook evenly on all sides till the chicken is cooked right through. You can add a very small amount of water (a couple of tablespoons at the most) to the pan if required but be sure to dry off the water completely as the chicken cooks.

Serve the chicken hot with fries, potato mash, grilled vegetables, garlic bread, whatever you have at hand :)

If you like, fry a few slices of bread in the pan juices after you have taken out the chicken. The bread tastes divine!

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

More on Internet Friends and Gratitude...An evening with Finely Chopped

Just yesterday I wrote about a Facebook friend and his generosity to us. K and I have been fortunate to have quite a few Internet friends, some of whom are in Mumbai and we meet them quite frequently. Among these are Kalyan Karmakar of Finely Chopped fame and his wife Kainaz.

Not only do we share an interest in blogging but we also are passionate about food, and that's what makes us meet over and over again, exploring new tastes or simply going back to old favourites like Bohri Mohalla, and Ling's, to name just a couple. And sometimes we meet at home.

Yesterday we met at Kalyan's home for dinner. There wasn't any occasion but there was a very good reason. They'd just returned form a holiday in Prague and there was something they wanted to share with a bunch of freinds. Smoked pork sausages stuffed with bacon! Of course we went!

What a lovely evening it was... there were chicken kebabs made by their cook (we all agreed she should start a kebab and paratha stall somewhere - the kebabs were that good!), potato wafers that are irresistible as usual, and a simple dinner of those sausages chopped and fried with potatoes, and Kalyan's Spaghetti with Pesto and Bacon which he has now refined to a sublime, delicious dish.

I was, for once, too taken up with the food to take photographs so I am sharing Kalyan's photos here.

Photo credit: Kalyan Karmakar

Photo credit: Kalyan Karmakar

Photo credit: Kalyan Karmakar

You will find Kalyan's recipe for pesto here.

As we drove home late in the night the hubby and I mused over how lucky we were to have met warm hearted and generous folk like them who were so eager to share goodies bought from lands afar - only because they knew we would really enjoy them.

Food can be magical and for us, it is food that has found us some incredible friends.

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Pork Shops in Mumbai - well, some of them

I love pork. I love it so much I started a group, The Porkaholics, on Facebook just to connect with other pork-mad people and drool over porkalicious pictures, photos, recipes and exchange information.

Many, many months ago I thought of doing a round of pork shops in Mumbai and simply putting together a list in one place, on this blog. However, I took the lazy way out and simply created a document on The Porkaholics page and left it at that. That was a good thing because many members added information and we have contributions not just from Mumbai but from all over the country!

Still, the blog post was due and here it finally is. The entire credit for all the research on this one goes to my friend Jubal who happily drove me around the city and helped me locate as many shops as we could. In fact, he'd sat with his Dad and Mum and compiled a list of shops and where to find them before we set out.

This list is far from complete but it was such fun wandering around Bombay, locating shops in alleys and by lanes, driving around from New Bombay till Mazgaon, and seeing much more than just the pork shops themselves.

The first shop we went to is the one where Jubal and his family regularly shop at, called Himalaya Cold Storage. This one's on Nahur road in Mulund.

This is the list of goodies available

And this is the man in charge, Mr. Kishore

I asked Mr. Kishore about other pork shops and he mentioned his brother's shop in Vikhroli. Another brother runs a shop in Vashi and that one is called Hilton and is very well known in all of New Bombay. An interesting thing that Mr. Kishore told us was that his family was in the pork business with many shops all over the place including one in Dahisar. The family shops can be recognised by the shop names - all of them begin with 'Hi' after his grandfather's name (which unfortunately I have forgotten)

The Vashi shop, Hilton Cold Storage is in sector 17. The phone number is 27880899 and the address is Shop no. 34, Raikar Bhawan, Sector 17, Plot 9, Vashi.

For those in Navi Mumbai Hypercity in the Inorbit Mall stocks a few imported cold cuts and a good selection of frozen pork products like Sumeru ham, bacon, sausages, and some other brands too. If you're in Nerul there's an excellent shop just outside the railway station called Modern Cold Storage. Tel - 27701582. This shop stocks fresh pork along with a good range of frozen and processed meats.

In Kharghar there is Jambon Stores in Sector 20.

Hilltop Cold Storage is in Vikhroli.

Jubal and I drove to Vikhroli and found D'souza Cold Storage which is bang opposite the church. Hilltop, pictured above, is just around the corner.

Jubal's Dad had highly recommended a shop in Sakinaka on the Pipe road. We hunted high and low and finally found the shop. The only tragedy was that it was no longer a pork shop but was selling Tshirts instead. Fortunately Jubal is the persistent type and he asked around in the neighbouring shops if there was a pork shop nearby and we hit gold!

After walking through an old wada like building we came upon a village neatly tucked in the heart of the crowded Saki Naka area. In this little village was the St.Anthony Pork and Meat Shop.

After our little adventure in Saki Naka we drove on towards south Bombay. It was afternoon and many of the shops on our list were closed. They would reopen in the evening.

We found the Wadala shop open. Poona Farm Products is another wonderful shop that stocks not only fresh pork and a variety of frozen pork products, they also sell pork vindaloo, sorpotel and a few other cooked goodies.

Further south at Dockyard Road we discovered a municipal market that houses a massive fish section, and separate mutton, beef and pork sections! Unfortunately the shops were closed for the afternoon. The place looked quite clean so if you're in the area or nearby don't hesitate to go there. Just ask anyone in the area and they will be happy to show you where the market is. It is across the BPT road that is parallel to P D'Mello road.

We doubled back and went to Kalina to nail down another pork shop. Modern Fresh Meat.

There are many, many more shops all over the city. Quite a few of them are listed here on this document that I have created on The Porkaholics page.

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Roast Chicken with Foil baked Bacon Potatoes

Facebook throws up a number of interesting posts and the ones about food always catch my eye. Today I saw a picture of  sliced potatoes and crisp bacon that had been baked in a foil parcel with a few additional ingredients. It looked superb, I had all the ingredients and it was ridiculously easy to make.

The hubby also had a holiday today and he'd gone off to the market and retuned with a lot of goodies including a tray of plump chicken drumsticks and a tray of fresh white mushrooms. Lunch was looking good!

We had Lemon and Garlic roasted Chicken with Foil Baked Bacon and Potatoes, and Garlicky Mushrooms.

Here's how I made it all. It took me an hour including marinating time.

Roast Chicken

6 drumsticks, poked all over with a sharp knife
Mama Africa's Zulu Jalapeno Lemon Garlic Sauce
salt

Marinate the chicken in a generous amount of the sauce and salt.

15 minutes before you're ready to serve grill the chicken on a non stick pan with a splash of any neutral oil.

If you don't have this particular sauce use any other barbecue or grilling sauce or a ready marinade. Or make up your own marinade. Just tweak as you go and make up the combinations as I did :)

Foil Grilled Bacon Potatoes

3 potatoes, sliced into thin discs
4-5 rashers bacon, lightly fried, drained and cut into pieces
2 onions thickly sliced, grilled in the bacon fat.
salt
pepper
A generous dash of Cajun spice mix (optional)
olive oil
Thick Aluminium foil

Place the foil in a pyrex or metal baking dish. Put the sliced potatoes in a pile in the centre and add salt and a generous amount of freshly cracked pepper. Sprinkle the spice mix if you're using it. A crumbled stock cube will also work wonders here. Put in the bacon pieces and the grilled onions and mix it all up.

Drizzle the oil over the potatoes and then seal the foil over to make a tightly closed parcel. Put it in a preheated oven and bake at 160- 180 degrees for around 40 minutes. You can parboil the potatoes and thus reduce the baking time significantly and also ensure that you get fully cooked potatoes. But I prefer to bake them from scratch.

Garlicky Mushrooms

1 tray/packet button mushrooms
4 -5 cloves garlic
salt
oil

Wash the mushrooms really well and then slice thickly. Heat oil in a pan and throw in the sliced mushrooms. Add a teaspoon or more of chopped garlic, add salt and give it a good stir. I cook it covered for a few minutes and then uncover it and let the water evaporate fully.

Once you've got all three elements cooked and ready just plate up and enjoy. We sure did!

Potted meat and memories

Most of us read Enid Blyton's books when we were kids and I did too. What wonderful tales she could spin! My favourites were the more real ones with adventures and mysteries, not so much the ones with magic and fantasy. And I think the reason was the descriptions of the suppers and teas and tuck boxes and all the goodies that would star in these descriptions - Hot buttered scones, bowls of jam, meat pies, potted meat, potted shrimp and I remember, in one book it was Christmas and Cook comes in at the end of a grand meal carrying a Christmas pudding that had been flambéed with brandy!

For a kid growing up in Bombay with fairly non-adventurous parents (at least about food) most of these foods were completely alien and I guess, because it was up to me to imagine what I liked, they became even more wonderful.

A few days ago K came home with a surprise for me. He had found out that a friend's mom makes potted meat and so he requested her to make some for us. Can you imagine my delight?! Here was one of those nearly mythical foods from my childhood.. not that I'd ever tasted it or even had a clue what it was supposed to look like, but still. It was way up there on my list of things I'd like to taste in this life time.

The potted meat is made using beef mince, bacon mince, shredded bread, onions and spices and is a lovely flavourful meaty paste.

Now breakfast is yummier than usual. My favourite way to enjoy the potted meat is on toast with a slathering of cream cheese like this -

Thank you Mrs. Baptista!

Marathon Bloggers Day 11

Noodles with bacon bits and cheese

Noodles! The word takes me back to those wonderful years in Pune that I spent living in the Deccan College hostel. I was officially studying there but you know how it is.. life offers so many better options :)

One of the best things I brought back with me from those years of hostel life was a hundred ways to cook noodles. The short cut kind of course. Those days my preferred brand was Top Ramen. I found the noodles to be finer than Maggi and they didn't clump up as much.

Now, if you've ever lived in a hostel you have a fair idea how desperate one is for good food. Not lavish stuff but basic good food. Our campus had a students run mess and the food was strictly so so and on some days downright awful. No surprise there.

Since the college provided no official mess arrangement many students opted to cook their own meals in the rooms. We could use a hot plate or even set up a full fledged kitchen with a gas stove and everything! I had a wonderful hotplate with 3 temperature settings which made cooking even easier. Predictably khicree and noodles were the most frequent stars on the menu and there was no end to the innovations that these basic preparations were subjected to.

Here's one beloved recipe for noodles.

1 pack instant noodles - any flavour
2 slices Britannia cheese
fried onions
fried garlic
bacon bits
tomato sauce

Boil a cup and a half of water in a saucepan and add the sachet of noodle flavoring to it. Sprinkle the bacon bits and add the noodles at the same time. Break up the noodles if you prefer smaller strands.  Once the noodles are about half cooked add the fried onions and the fried garlic. Stir to mix and add the tomato sauce too. Once the noodles are cooked put in the two slices of cheese and stir to mix. Add a few more bacon bits  and serve hot!

 The wonderful thing about the cheese is that it makes the sauce wonderfully thick and smooth and incredibly delicious. I like the noodles to have plenty of sauce just like this.


Park yourself in a comfortable chair, find that book you're reading, put aside the world for a bit and sink into this bowl of absolute comfort.

I just did.

Marathon Bloggers Day 6

Bacon Cake. Yes, Bacon Cake.

This post is so long overdue it's not funny and I have been suitably punished for my tardiness. I had the bacon cake a couple of months ago, if not longer, and I wanted to blog about it immediately. As usual I didn't get around to it and before I knew it, a few months had flown past. And then tragedy struck - I wanted to have this very cake for my birthday and now that's not going to happen :(

Let me tell you about the bacon cake. Wait, here.. have a look at it.

Yes, this beauty is the bacon cake. Now not only am I diabetic and therefore unable to pig out on a Death by Chocolate cake, but I also love pork. The bacon cake was invented for me. It was!

As you can see, this luscious baby is jam packed with pork and other goodies and has a delicious icing made with bacon strips. Just what a girl needs to make her birthday really special. Here and there are little nuggets of cheese, juicy bits of corn, a bite of chilli..mmmm!

If you're wondering why I don't simply make one for my own birthday, it's because it's MY birthday and I shouldn't have to make my own cake! Unfortunately, Roycin, the creator of this beautiful porkaholic's delight, will be be away and therefore no bacon cake for this birthday :(

Call him and order your beautiful bacon cake if you are among the blessed lucky ones who lives in Mumbai. 9987601065 - that's the number. Call him and attain nirvana in a bite or two..or three.

Bacon Whiskey Jam - What a wonderful idea!

The first time K told me about Bacon Whiskey Jam, I thought he was kidding. He showed me the recipe on this wonderful blog and I was hooked. As I read the recipe I was even more intrigued - this recipe also had coffee.

I spent a couple of weeks looking for streaky bacon (which the original recipe demanded) and eventually I had nailed down all the ingredients, bacon included. The first batch was made and a few basic lessons were learned. Don't crisp the bacon, leave it soft. That makes all the difference to the colour, texture and even taste of the final product. I also learned to be confident and substitute sensibly instead of obsessing about getting all the exact ingredients.

This morning I settled down to make the second attempt. Ever since I made it the first time my friends on the Mumbai Food Exchange group have been waiting to get their bottle of BWJ. Well, the jam is ready and here's a new blog post after a huge gap - two birds with one stone :)

 This is my adaptation of the original recipe that you can read here.

Bacon Whiskey Jam with a bit of tweaking -

500gms Streaky Bacon
5 red onions, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 or 3 green chillies, finely chopped
50gms dark brown sugar
50ml Golden Syrup (instead of Maple syrup)
150ml fresh brewed coffee
100ml whiskey
50ml cider vinegar
50ml red wine

If you compare the ingredients to those in the original recipe you will notice some differences. I've increased the quantity of onions. I also used Golden Syrup because I had a bottle already and didn't want to spend a packet on maple syrup. I've also used red wine instead of rw vinegar. Actually, that was an unintentional change. The first time I made this jam I used red wine by mistake thinking it was vinegar. It worked beautifully so I decided to stick with it :) I might use Kolah's sugarcane vinegar instead of Cider vinegar the next time because the sc vinegar has a much more full bodied flavour that I think will work very well in this recipe.

To get on with the recipe -

Cut the bacon into small bits. Fry it lightly till it releases some of its fat. Do this on a slow flame and let the bacon cook slowly. DO NOT let it crisp. I took about 15 minutes to cook the bacon leisurely over a medium flame.

Stir it often and keep an eye on it. Tilt pan and let the fat collect on one side. If there's a lot, drain off some. Reserve the bacon in a plate.

Heat the fat and throw in the onions. Pink the onions, don't let them get brown. Once again, do it doucement. Patience will be rewarded. I promise. Let the onions sweat it out gently for about 15 minutes in the bacon fat.

Throw in the chopped garlic and give it all a good stir and follow it up with the fried bacon. Now here's the time to resist the temptation to throw in some eggs and make the best scrambled eggs on God's Earth. Resist!

While the bacon and subsequently the onions have cooked slowly, get the other ingredients together in a bowl. Measure and pour into your bowl so you only have to dunk the whole lot in when it's required. Just leave the red wine out. It makes its entry at the end.

So, the onions, garlic and the bacon are all mixed together and you have managed to stay away from the eggs.  Grab that bowl of brown sugar, golden syrup, coffee, vinegar, and whiskey and pour it into your pot. Stir and sprinkle in the chopped green chillies. Add a bit of water if needed and let it all simmer for an hour. Check every 20 minutes and add water only if required.

Add the red wine and give it another 15 minutes to simmer. Cool the jam and run it in your food processor to give it a nice texture.

The bacon pieces might be big and a run in the food processor will break it down nicely. Don't liquidise it, leave it slightly coarse.

You're in for a treat. Grab a slice of toast, slather on some BWJ and get ready for a heavenly burst of flavour. Remember the coffee? It works fabulously! In fact, I think it's the coffee that binds the flavours together and gives you a mouthful of nirvana.

This is one jam I'm going to be making quite often.