Anjeer ka Meeta/ Fig compote

Fig/ anjoora or anjeer: fruit known for its health benefits & nutritional richness. Being rich source of vitamins, minerals & dietary fibre, these fruits if added in regular diet helps in improving digestive system health, improving iron level in blood as well as good immunity power. There are varieties of figs grown in different parts of world. People consume them commonly in their dried form as shelf life of raw fig fruit is very less.

One common variety of figs found in Indian subcontinent is elephant year fig and the summer fruits are tastier than other seasonal fruits. We are harvesting good number of them every year now in our home garden. As this variety is not good for drying, and they won’t last good for more than 2 days there is a challenge in not letting them go wasted. I tried dishes such as halwa, preserved figs, buns, kheer, milkshake, smoothie… Last year when our relatives came from Chennai, I learnt about this dessert called anjeer ka meeta – for the first time from them. It is a traditional Hyderabadi wedding dish, where the popular one known as Khubani ka meeta is made with apricots. It is also made with anjeer and which is called as anjeer ka meeta. Hot anjeer ka meeta, when served with scoop of vanilla ice cream tastes really good. Here is my recipe, it may not be the exact way to make the traditional one. It is nothing but fruit compote and it is a wonderful way to preserve fruits at home.

 Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30-40 minutes

Serves: ½ kg

Ingredients:

Fresh figs – 10

Sugar – 1-1 ½ cups, as per your liking

Lemon juice – of one lemon

Lemon zest – 1 tsp (optional)

Saffron strands – a few (optional)

Chopped & roasted nuts of choice – 2 tbsp (optional)

 

Method:

• Pick soft and juice ripe figs. Peel off the skin and discard.
• Finely chop the peeled figs.
• Take chopped figs in a thick bottomed wok/ pan.
• Keep it in medium flame
• Add Sugar, let it melt. You can sprinkle very little water, if the figs are of rainy season this is not required at all.
• When the mixture starts boiling, add all other ingredients mentioned as optional & lemon juice. Keep nuts aside, which is to be added at the end.
• Continue boiling the mixture until figs are softly cooked and the syrup thickens a bit. This will take at least 20 minutes, go upto 30 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally. Add nuts too. Give a good mix.
• When it comes to a thicker consistency, switch off the flame.
• Allow cooling before storing in glass jars.
• Store in refrigerator for increased shelf life. It can be stored for 1-2 months at least.
• Preferable serve this warmer with ice cream. Or it can be a delicious topping for pancake/ bread or can be served with dosa & chapatti too.

 

Notes:

Fresh figs can be replaced by dry store bought figs. In this case, you need to soak with little water before cooking them.  Sugar measure should be reduced and cooking time will also be reduced here.