Dip into the decadence of strawberries with these recipes
Summary
Indulge in these easy-to-follow recipes to make the most of strawberry season
Exactly 10 years ago, I shared a recipe for strawberry cake on my food blog,
Saffron Trail. Back then, food bloggers weren’t restaurant reviewers or SEO experts. We would simply cook something that piqued our interest and blog about it. This was before “viral" became part of everyday vocabulary, but the strawberry cake recipe from the Smitten Kitchen blog went viral within the Indian food blogger community. This was in January 2015, peak strawberry season in India. One blogger baked it, shared it, and soon, it was everywhere. It helped that the cake was dead simple to make and absurdly delicious.
My philosophy with good fruit—by good, I mean ripe, sweet, and juicy—is to avoid over-complicating it. Nature has already created it with a perfect recipe, so who am I to mess with it? However, I rarely come across perfectly sweet and juicy strawberries in India, which makes it okay to enhance their flavour—enter the dreaded words: “added sugar". There’s nothing wrong with making strawberry jam, cake, or muffins with some added sugar if it means amplifying this seasonal fruit’s charm.
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This January, I’ve used fresh strawberries in two recipes. The first is a freezer jam. Mid-last year, my American neighbour, during a moving sale, was clearing out her freezer and handed me a jar of “freezer strawberry jam". It was a term I’d never heard before. Erin explained that the recipe was a family tradition, passed down from her grandmother to her mother. The method is low effort: mix chopped strawberries, sugar, liquid fruit pectin, and lemon juice in a bowl, then fill jars and let them rest on the counter for 24 hours. After that, the jam is ready. Since one sachet of liquid pectin yields about four large jars, the jam is best stored in the freezer, thawing bottles as needed. Luckily, I bought a few pectin sachets from Erin and waited eagerly for strawberry season to try it out. The jam turned out great. Sure, it’s not a no-sugar jam, but it’s homemade, with known ingredients, all strawberries, and no fillers. That’s worth something. A spoonful of this jam on Greek yogurt or skyr makes a delightful, protein-rich dessert.
The second recipe is a quick and impressive dessert I whipped up for a weekend house party. Macerated strawberries are the answer to less-than-perfect berries that lack sweetness and juiciness. Maceration involves soaking fruit in a liquid to soften it and enhance its flavour. This can be done with sugar, vinegar, alcohol, or fruit juice. Strawberries, in particular, macerate beautifully with sugar, which draws out their juices to create a syrup that fruit soaks in. Let this sit for 2-3 hours or even overnight in the fridge.
There are plenty of uses for macerated strawberries—each one equally delicious. Spoon it over a simple vanilla sponge with whipped cream, cheesecake and pound cakes. It makes for an inviting topping on yogurt or vanilla ice cream. Breakfasts like chia pudding, pancakes and waffles get a flavour boost with a few spoons of macerated strawberries. Make the internet sensation Korean café style strawberry milk by mixing this with some milk and ice. You can also muddle macerated berries into lemonades, mojitos or cocktails. It also adds a punch of flavour to salad dressings and when served as a part of a cheeseboard.
I’m sharing the dessert recipe with macerated strawberries for you to try this weekend—plus a strawberry salad to balance the decadence.
Macerated strawberries on mascarpone
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
400g strawberries
6-8 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet the berries are)
250g mascarpone cheese (chilled)
100 ml cream (Tetra Pak or skimmed from milk/chilled)
3 tbsp powdered sugar or icing sugar
Half tsp vanilla extract
4 cookies of your choice
Mint or basil leaves for garnish
Method
Wash, hull and slice strawberries. Add to a bowl and top with sugar. Combine well and refrigerate for 1 hour to overnight or longer. The longer soak yields more syrup and mushier berries.
Remove the mascarpone and cream from the fridge and add to a bowl along with powdered sugar. Using a handblender or whisk, blend to get a smooth and light mixture.
Transfer this to a platter and smoothen out the top. Crush the cookies over the mascarpone mixture. Spoon enough of the macerated strawberries to cover the top along with the syrup. Garnish with small leaves of mint or basil.
Strawberry Salad
Serves 2
Ingredients
12-16 almonds
1 cup lettuce leaves
10 strawberries
One-fourth cup pomegranate seeds
Small handful of Italian basil
For the dressing
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 strawberries
One-fourth tsp salt
One-fourth tsp ground pepper
2-3 Italian basil leaves
Method
To prepare the strawberry salad, in a small pan, toast almonds on a low flame for 4-5 minutes. Chop into halves.
Wash the lettuce leaves well and dry in a salad spinner or using cotton towels. Tear into bite sized pieces. Slice the strawberries. Line a bowl with a layer of lettuce and top with strawberry slices. Scatter chopped almonds and pomegranate seeds. Top with a few leaves of fresh basil.
To prepare the dressing, transfer all the dressing ingredients into small mixer jar and blend until smooth and creamy.
Dress the salad using the strawberry olive oil dressing. Serve immediately.
Double Tested is a fortnightly column on vegetarian cooking, highlighting a single ingredient prepared two ways. Nandita Iyer’s latest book is The Great Indian Thali—Seasonal Vegetarian Wholesomeness. She posts @saffrontrail on Instagram and Twitter.
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