♥Bright♥Morning♥Star♥: GOIABADA,PERADA,GUAVA CHEESE -THE GOA PORTUGUESA WAY

This recipe was born outa love ....for my mom , from whom i hear the fondest stories of her grand mommy making slices of perada , and filling jars and jars with them ,

when they were kids...

I imagine mom , with her curly locks and dimple smile ,

grabbing two little handfuls and more of these , and as she fondly and most cutely tells me how they took lods on the quiet , not coz she didn give it to them , but coz it was never enough...

I picture , all those hours of stirring , bend over wood fires ,

in a mud pot and wooden laddle....
...and the excitement of the children when those sacks of guavas from their farms made their way home,

well knowing what was going to be there in store for them in a few days from then.

Even as i write this , at 2.14 am , there is a large pot on the flame , with the guava pulp and sugar ,simmering away on low fire.

Yeah ,i have a few tricks up my sleeve , that i can afford to leave it un attended for awhile.

+ this time , im gng to split the time , like i'll have it simmering till i go to sleep , and then continue simmering tomorrow , which actually gives a better consistency.

If u visit Goa too , Perada is a sweet every goan store stocks on and sells well ,not the spread variety but the bar variety..

Here are some pics when making it ,and the detailed recipe below with all the notes.

Here the Guavas , trimmed of all the browns et all , gng to be boiled.

Here i added this orange syrup , coz i had some ,but without and with plain water is perfectly fine.

And just boiled.....

And pureed with a hand blender , thats the best way to do this ,CusinArt hand blenders are really good for this.
Blend it right there in , no mess.

Now begin to strain the pulp...

Now strain the puree in a stock pot or any large pot, and place the seedy pulp in another bowl with hot water , coz there will still be pectin in there.
Here to the left is the strained puree and to the right the seedy pulp in warm water.

And then strain the seedy pulp.....

And there u have lods of puree , to which sugar is added , any vanilla or spice u might want to add and keep on the flame.
And add some butter /ghee/clarified butter ,if using.

And a good 3 hours later , when the color begins to go from yellow to pink ,and keeps getting deeper after this, am still 4hours away from getting the consistency i want.

If u want to use canning jars to preserve for awhile , jar when hot , as per canning jar instruction and if not , cool and bottle.
U can go thicker than this if u want, jus need to keep stirring more , on a low fire , as it gets thicker.

Remember the more u simmer it , the more deeper the color gets , and the longer it stays fresh without spoiling.

This has the status of Nutella at our place ,almost , always have 2 jars of these , that too filled in empty Nutella jars , next to the real Nutella

WHAT U NEED

14 well riped guavas

2 cups sugar(less or more is fine as is vanilla sugar)

1 cup vanilla sugar {optional-see notes}

2-4 tbh butter , around 30 - 65 grams

2-4 tbh clarified butter/ ghee {optional}

~~~Important - Mia's Notes~~~

1.while cooking the guavas ,u could either pressure cook them or boil them , without sugar always works better for me , though there is no reason why u should not add the sugar along , i have done it both ways and works fine, jus that if u add the sugar later , the straining part is a little less sticky.

2. If u are not using Vanilla sugar , then use 3 cups plain sugar , u can increase / decrease the sugar , to ur palette , but i love something just right.
If u dont fancy things too sweet cut out the sugar by all means , but it also depends on the type of guavas , the less sweet ones require more sugar ,so trust ur taste buds and instints and remember as it boils down , it gets sweeter.
Pink Guavas are wonderful for this.

3.I know some recipes would call for equal amount of sugar to pulp , but then that depends on the amount of water u use , which is not a problem , but having extra sugar , would slightly mask the real flavor of the guavas.

4. Now about water , there are Portuguese recipes for Goiabada that dont use water at all , but i need to, only thing is i will have to simmer a little longer , which is a good thing and i will tell u why in a moment.

When straining the boiled Guavas , i place the seeds the first round , in some hot water and restrain that coz i get the jellied pulp from there.

+ if u add more water , u have to cook it that much longer , coz u would never get that consistency without all the water drying off , and the longer u cook it the better it is , not only to preserve it , but coz it slowly but steadily turns into a deep pink hue , which doesnt come from short simmering unless ur using Pink guavas , which are a very rare find here.

5. Instead of Vanilla sugar , and i also drop in a bean or 2 from the sugar pot, u could also flavor with a cinnamon stick or a clove or 2 , cardamon.

I think saffron , would be wonderful too and lend a nice hue and so would lavender.

6.I dont know why i really add the butter , though i can easily cite a number of reasons as to why i do it:-)

For one , butter is also one of the things ,as is the sugar , that will help ( even if only slightly), and act as a preservative.

Secondly it will add a gloss which is good.

and thirdly it will help for it not to stick around the pan too muc, though i use a nice big non stick pot and this situation doesnt really arise.

So u can use anything between 2 to 4 tbh in the beginning or totally leave this out .

And then i add some Ghee too , halfway thru the simmering , this is totally optional too.

7.U need to simmer this for a good 7hours for the above quantity.

If there is extra water then even more , but thats when the color turns deep and pink.

Normally , ud have to stand by the pot , and stir constantly , but what i do , is keep the non stick pot , on a very slow fire ,and go around with my work , and keep coming back to it , whenever i feel a ping , stirring a bit and off i gone again.

Sure u can do this on a big flame , but u will have to be there for that , a wooden or silicone stirring spoon works the best here.

8. U can split the time , as i am doing now , simmering it for a few hours now , and then a few hours tomorrow till the right consistency is reached.

9.Make sure u get the best guavas and those which are just ripened on the tree and then later a little in ur pantry are the best.

They should be yellow and soft.

Method

1. Scrub the fruit clean , peel the skin at parts where its dark or brown , leave the rest. take off the stem and base.

2. Place in the pot , with around 2 cups water , bring to a boil and then simmer , till soft and squishy.

3. Using a hand blender , puree the pulp in the pot itself ( makes things easier , though u could use a food processor too)

4. Strain the pulp into a non stick, large cooking pot , which has been greased a little with butter. U can use any pot u like , but u will need a large one if making the whole quantity.

5. As u strain the pulp , the remains ,with the seeds , add of a bowl , of jus boiled , steaming hot water , this will help extract the rest of the pulp , i do this coz the seedy part contains pectin.

6.Strain the seedy pulp now , and add hot water as and when u need to smoothen out as u strain.

7.Place the pot with the pulp , butter ,if using , sugar and/vanilla sugar , on a high flame.

8. Bring to a boil , stiring constantly , then lower the flame and get ready to simmer for a few hours.

9. The yellow pulp will slowly but surely begin changing colors till u have pink hue.

10. u have to simmer it till u get the consistency u want , if u want to slice this , then u have to simmer much longer , we love a spreadable consistency and i shut the flame when i think its jus right , coz it thickens as it cools and if it aint , u can simmer it again later.

11. I believe a higher flame and constant stiring would take a shorter while , but i love that this way gives an intense burst of flavor.

I would sooo love to make this with Pink Guavas , wonderfully good.
U can plan this at a busy day at a kitchen , where u can leave ur simmering pot of the Perada , un attended for longgg periods of time.
And if u want to form shapes and mold the Perada to dress desserts and cakes ,well u need to cook it even longer.