Ansa halwo (pineapple jam)

May 29, 2021

Ansa halwo (pineapple jam)

Ansa halwo/ pineapple jam/pineapple muramba/murabba/marmalade:

Halwo/jam/muramba/murabba/marmalade as spoken differently in each language is loved by all and when it is homemade, it's even more demanding. It's relished with bread, Puri, chapati, roti or even with a simple cream cracker biscuit.

Jams or halwo prepared by Goans at home traditionally are kelya halwo(banana), amya halwo (mango) and Ansa halwo ( pineapple).

I have already tried kelya halwo and posted in my blog long back. It's a traditional halwo prepared every Diwali in Goan Hindu saraswat homes. Amya halwo or mango jam is yet to try by myself. My mother in law used to prepare this in lots when she was in her good age. Now due to old age this tedious job of making amya halwo is out of her box. I will try this some day.

Now coming to Ansa halwo or pineapple jam, my mother, my mother in law also prepared this many times earlier and today is my first attempt. There are 2 ways of preparing it. First way by keeping the pineapple pieces and the other is by grinding the pieces to pulp and making a pulpy halwa. I preferred to opt for the second method of grinding pineapple pieces to make a pulp and making jam out of it.

I have made a semi dry halwa. Some prepare it very thick and dry. Semi dry halwa can be easily applied to bread and relished. So it's each ones choice of the final texture of your halwa/marmalade.

The ratio of pineapple and sugar should be equal. I had a big pineapple with me weighing 1 kg. So I added 1 kg of sugar to the same. Other method is to measure the grinded pineapple pulp in cups and take equal quantities of pulp and sugar.

So let's go to the recipe.

Ingredients:

1kg pineapple ( a big one or 3 small ones)

1 kg sugar

1 pinch salt

1 cinnamon

4-5 cloves

1 tsp cardamom powder

1-2 drops of pineapple essence ( optional)

1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

Cut pineapple into medium sized pieces.

Grind the pieces to pulp.

Heat a kadai, and let the pulp cook.

Add cinnamon, cloves.

Mix well and let the pulp boil. Froth will come. My kadai was not sufficient as the froth rises up while boiling, so I transferred the contents to big vessel to avoid overflowing.

Boil till nice bubbles appear.

Then add sugar and salt and stir well. Cook on medium flame stirring continuously for 10 minutes. You will notice a change in color to dark yellow.

First sugar releases water, so cook from watery consistency till thick and color changes to golden yellow gradually.

You will get the required consistency in another 15 minutes.

Add lemon juice. Lemon juice is added to avoid crystallization of sugar. You can skip this if you wish to prepare a hard thick marmalade.

Stir well. Add cardamom powder and pineapple essence. Essence is optional. I have added for additional aroma and flavour. You can skip as additional essence is not into traditional recipe, but it's inclusion gives your halwa a pleasing pineapple aroma.

Mix well and keep stirring and cook till you receive the right consistency. Total time required ranges from 20-30 minutes depends on the kind of consistency you prefer. I tried to keep this semi- dry this time. Semi dry marmalade can be easily applied to bread slices as compared to the dry thick one. So it's your choice. (If you wish to make a thick hard halwa then you may require to cook more to 40 minutes)