There are certain moments in life which one would love to relive and cherish. As my dad was posted in North India when we were young, we had a big kitchen garden in the backyard. Maali (gardener) used to come regularly to sow seeds as well as take care of them etc. My sister and me used to water them regularly. Plucking fresh veggies used to be fun and straight away they used to end up in the kitchen without any storage. Most were seasonal veggies and come winter, it is fun. Cauliflower, cabbage, peas and tomatoes would grow in abundance. Tomatoes would ripe quite fast and my mother used to prepare tomato jam and ketchup on regular basis for daily use and storage too. The taste of tomato jam still lingers and thought of making when I saw lovely, rich red tomatoes in the market. Not much of a recipe, here goes the same.
Ripe tomatoes: 10 nos.
Sugar - 1 cup
Juice of one small lemon
Grated orange rind - 1/4 tsp
Place the tomatoes in boiled water. Peel off the skin, remove the eye and mash it well. I did not remove the seeds as it was too pulpy. Reduce the tomato pulp by cooking in low heat. Add the lemon juice and the orange rind. When the pulp is reduced to 1/4th quantity, mash well again. Now, add the sugar and keep stirring till the thick consistency is obtained. Cool and store in bottles. Yummy and delicious tomato jam is ready to devour with everything or just like that :):)
