Mut Chum Ruot Muoi Ot (Chili Salt Star Gooseberry Preserve)
Sweets and drinksPreservesVietnam8 hours marinating, about 1 hour cooking down
This star gooseberry preserve is sour, salty and spicy all at once. The fruit turns a deep red and goes chewy while keeping its sharp tang. The catch is the squeezing: fruit still holding water takes a very long time to dry out on the stove.
Freezing the star gooseberries and thawing them at room temperature softens the fruit and makes it far easier to squeeze dry. Give the fruit a full 8 hours in the sweetener before the pan goes on.
This batch weighs about 1.6kg, at roughly 30 calories per 100g.
Method
Thaw 1kg frozen star gooseberries at room temperature, squeeze them very thoroughly to remove the juice, then put them in a large bowl.
Add 630g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and toss until the fruit is coated all over, then leave to marinate for 8 hours.
Set a pan on the stove, add all the marinated fruit and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the fruit turns a deep red, then turn off the heat.
Mix 1/2 teaspoon salt with 1 teaspoon chili powder in a small bowl, sprinkle it over the cooked fruit and toss. Keep the rest of the chili powder to add at the table for more heat.
Tips
Freezing the star gooseberries and thawing them softens the fruit and makes it easy to squeeze, so the preserve dries faster.
Let it cool completely before it goes into a sealed jar.
Squeeze the gooseberries as dry as possible before macerating, since leftover juice keeps the preserve wet no matter how long it cooks.
Cook over low heat with steady stirring, as a high flame scorches the bottom of the pan.
A full 8 hours of maceration is what lets the sweetness soak into the fruit.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.