This was one of the most requested recipe in this blog after i posted Amla Murabba recipe. The reason I was stayed away from this is, it is quite a easy recipe and it just involves soaking the amla in honey and nothing more complicated than that. But yesterday when i went through my list of do things, this recipe stood a little high. And luckily i had few amla and a bottle of honey on hand, so immediately i gave it a shot.
This is such a healthy recipe, you should definitely try it. Make a big batch of it and give to your kiddos and family daily. It will make such a huge difference.I had saffron on hand so i added few here, but it is entirely optional. And the honey which i added is not your store bought stuff, it is pure mountain honey which was given to my mother by her friend. So you wont find it too dark in colour. You can use regular honey in this recipe.
I hope you will give this a shot and let me know how it turned out.
Ingredients:
Gooseberry / Nelikai / Amla – 7 large ones
Saffron – a pinch
Honey – as needed
Method:
Wash and pat dry the gooseberries. Now cut them into small wedges and discard the seeds.
Take a clean and air tight jar, put few pieces of gooseberry in the bottom of the jar. Add some saffron strands on top and cover that with honey.
Now put few more pieces of gooseberry and add some more saffron strands, Cover the entire thing with honey, dont fill to much, since it will expand.
You can cover this with a cheese cloth and keep it under sunlight.
Clamp a lid and store it for 10 to 15 days so it gets soaked and for better taste.
Notes:
1)Always use a clean, dry jar and spoons while handling this.
2)After few hours the honey will become watery, This is the water from the gooseberry leaching out. Not to worry about it.
3)Leave it to soak atleast for 5 to 8 days before consuming so it gets time to soak and become soft.
4)You can add cardamom powder or any spices that you like.
5)Daily have a piece of gooseberry along with a spoonful of honey. 6)Once all the gooseberry gets over, you can add somemore cut up gooseberries in the same pot and pour some more honey and let the process get going.
Pictorial:
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| Soak amla in water for 30 mins. |
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| Remove them from water and dry them |
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| Dry them using a paper towel |
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| All dried |
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| Cut them into wedges, and deseed them |
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| You will need these |
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| Lovely fresh mountain honey gifted from my mom’s friend |
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| Take a clean jar |
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| Add few amla pieces in the bottom |
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| Sprinkle half of the saffron |
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| Cover it with honey |
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| Like this |
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| Add few more amla pieces |
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| Sprinkle saffron |
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| Cover again with honey |
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| Cover till top..Now you can cover this with cheesecloth and keep it under sunlight for 2 days. if you want to store this for a long time..(I RECOMMEND THIS) |
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| Close with a lid |
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| Let it soak for 15 to 20 days |
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| Enjoy |
I must try this homemade honey Amla
I love this a lot, but never knew the recipe, thanks a lot for sharing 🙂
wow, that's a great recipe
Very healthy and useful preparation.
Deepa
Wow. This is new. Is this what they call then nelli? I thought it was with sugar syrup. Anyways. Thanks for the recipe.
Wow nice. Is this what you call then nelli? I thought it was made with sugar syrup. Anyways thanks for the recipe.
Wow nice. Is this then nelli? I thought you make it with sugar syrup. Anyway thanks for the recipe.
@Geetha VenkatYes this is also called as then nelli in tamil
Thankyou very much.
Awesome tutorial, Aarthi! Would love to try gooseberries some day 🙂
Hi. Aarthi Hw are u doing? Hws ur health?. for the Honey nellikai. which is healthy. Will try this. Thks for the post once again. 😀
I tried this recipe after 6th day of soaking, when I opened the bottle white layer was seen on top. I keep the bottle outside in kitchen. Can you please tell me is this expected or I did something wrong
@Saritha K I think there must be some moisture in the bottle. Always use dry bottle and spoon when handling.
HELP ME…Hi First of all ThAnks for the recipe..And I have a prob "I prepared the amla and honey as u said but after 20 days the pieces are not soft nor too sweet,they just shrinked"
*I didnt keep in sun as it is heavily raining here..
*I cut them into much smaller pieces so that it would soak well,but it didn't 🙁
@Anonymous Yes the amlas are put raw in honey, so they wont get soft, they will shrunk and release the juices. You dont need to keep it in the sun. The honey just preserves the amla. You have to have the amla along with the little citrus juice. It is so healthy
hello madam,
i have one doubt,…i like to prepare this receipe but i would like to fill full size amla in the honey bottle. it is possible??
@Soundri Shobi I dont suggest it. Because whole gooseberry wont soak properly. So cut it up and use it.
How long will it stay good in the pantry?
@AnonymousIt will stay for 2 to 3 weeks. But you can store in fridge if you want to store for a longer time.
Thank u..we like our murabba chatpata, can I add a pinch of salt, pepper & lemon juice to it.
I tried but the amla shrinks . I have tried then nelli before but they were soft and sweet. This is very hard now. Its 3weeks now.
@AnonymousThis is homemade.Storebought nelli, they wont soak it in honey, they soak it in sugar. and it has preservatives too..
Hello madam, I've a doubt. can we use boiled gooseberries to make it more soft ?
Hello madam,Can we use boiled gooseberries to make it soft?
@Anonymous
Your recipe is very easy. Thanks for posting.
I tried making honey amla but after 5 days white foam layer was seen on top and fermented smell is coming. I used dry bottle only. Can you guide me about this.
I also faced the same issue.. white foam and fermented smell… any info on this would be nice.. thus happened after the amla was kept for a week in the sun then drained and put in fresh bottle and new honey poured on top…
@NishieI am not sure, may be some kind of contamination has happened. next time store it in fridge
I used wet amlas instead of dry.
Is there any problem with that.?
@AnonymousYes it will spoil the whole thing, Store this in fridge
Thank u for ua recipe…bt should we soak the gooseberries in warm or cold water
@Rachel Pereiracold water
Hai U explained clearly with photos…..nice recipe…
Hi.. Thanks for the recipe! I've just done the soaking. hope it turns out well !!!
thanks for the fine recipe..I had a small doubt. u mentioned to cover the bottle with cheese cloth .. what it exactly means? Is it necessary?
@Anonymousit helps in easy soaking process. You can just cover it with lid too.
great repice thanks for sharing
new year 2016
I think Aarthi missed the second part of the process making the goosbery soft once its shrunk. For this after 20 days the shrunk gooseberys must be taken out n put in another vessel with another 250gm honey. This should be kept for 3- 4 months. Then u will get shop like soft succulent gooseberys filled with honey.
And the initial honey n water(oozed from goosebery) mixture cud be used as wine too
I tried to follow recipe and kept at room temperature, which is around 80 F. It started to ferment after 2 days. I have now moved to the frig. I used fresh alma that had been cut into pieces to remove the seed. Most of the moisture was from the fruit. I did also use saffron. Will this still be safe to eat?
THANK U SO MUCH, I GOT EXCELLENT & EASY METHOD TO PREPARE MURABBA. THANK U SO MUCH
CAN i reuse the honey for next recipe,as original honey is very costly in UAE.
yes u can use it, when the amla gets over, add more amla and use it
Whether can we boil and soak
yes u can boil it dry it and then soak it
Hi after soaking in honey ….v have to keep in fridge or outside ?
Hai, a small doubt, wen we left it for soaking, shud we refrigirate it or simply can leave outside anywer???
Leave it at room temparature