In the first few weeks of lockdown, end March, the mood was one of precaution. Now, as evidence of its reach gets closer, the thought of stepping out instils more panic than caution.
In the first few weeks of lockdown, end March, the mood was one of precaution. Now, as evidence of its reach gets closer, the thought of stepping out instils more panic than caution.
And yet we have to continue to look on the positives every day. What this lockdown or social distancing has taught us …to be self-reliant, to not stop living despite being judged, to know who our friends are and what we want out of life.
It is incredible to see so many people trying their hand at cooking and then going ahead from trying simple recipes to setting out creative, fancy and delicious fare.
The reward, aside from the eating, is the sense of accomplishment at having succeeded in imbibing a new skill.
Just the other day while having a rather unexpected conversation with a chatty teen, whilst his mom was finishing up her workout, the conversation somehow veered towards food and cooking. His new found understanding of food, as a direct result of actually making wholesome dishes from scratch, was music to my ears !
It dawned on me that home cooked food is not just about slaving over a hot stove, it is primarily about choosing what goes into our bodies. It doesn’t have to always be about eating the bitter gourd or a forgotten family recipe. It can also be in the guise of a home-made butterscotch sauce which tastes far superior than a commercial one. A sauce where we get to decide on what kind of sugar to use, where to source the butter, whether to add milk or cream and also the kind which makes you forget who you were mad at and why!
Home made with just the right ingredients to make it lusciously buttery as against one which is loaded with a whole bunch of other things which you and me would never really consent to voluntarily dumping into our bodies.
It’s not like a butterscotch sauce takes long to make anyway.
So if you haven’t made it at home yet, this is as good a time as any to give it a try. For the longest time I remember being unsure of whether to use the term caramel or butterscotch because both sauces looked so similar.
One day while thumbing through a fat encyclopaedia/cookbook, the sticky sauce wisdom was revealed. A caramel sauce is made with any kind of sugar which is allowed to turn darker when melting (caramelise) to which cream is added. A butterscotch sauce is made only with natural sugar like our Indian jaggery along with a good amount of unsalted butter.The additions like milk, cream, salt or vanilla differ from one recipe to the next and aren’t crucial to the brown sugar and butter amalgamation.
The word' butterscotch' was one I always found fascinating. I wondered what went into it ; if it did indeed contain a bit of scotch. Apparently, the name has its origins in Scotland where the butter toffee with the same name is well known. Also the fact that the recipe uses ‘scorched’ butter is yet another explanation. Reading food trivia and looking back at these small discoveries makes for a fun exploration of facts.
Ever since our children started reading food labels and making informed choices, the syrupy sauces were replaced by the home-made ones. I would be lying if I said we didn’t have a squeezy bottled sauce in the fridge, tucked away for emergencies, (impromptu teenage visitors wanting milkshakes) but that’s just what it’s for and hardly ever sees the light of day.
I do enjoy making these dark treacly sauces at home. It is again the influence of all those tales by Enid Blyton kindling the vivid imagination with treacle puddings, brandy sauces, custards and pies. Making this sauce never fails to put a smile on my face no matter what demands lie ahead for the day. Just for that, it is worth every second spent stirring.
A butterscotch sauce is so versatile and in my opinion, completely fool proof a recipe at that. When we have wonderful berries from the hills to dunk in the bubbling sugar, they add a delicious fruitiness to the sauce. When mixing in fruit, we make sure to add a slightly paler jaggery rather than the darker one. A sprinkle of salt highlights the taste of the salty minerals in the jaggery. We have made this with the native karupatti and coconut jaggery blocks as well. Tastes a teeny bit different each time. I shudder to think of the amount of salt which goes into the store bought salted caramel/butterscotch sauces.
The recipe uses no cream,we prefer to use milk simply because it’s always on hand and tastes just as good. The trick really is in the ratio of ingredients used and the patient stirring, for all of maybe 6-8 minutes. Not hard at all…especially when you are left with a large portion of thick, velvety sauce to dribble over your favourite foods. Or you can just lick it off the spoon..I won’t judge !
Now the young man with whom I shared the endearing food conversation that I mentioned earlier ,has been wanting to treat me to some blueberry pancakes …it may not be soon but it’s a thought which I am holding onto … as well as that of making him a huge helping of this butterscotch sauce.
Keep your loved ones close, stay safe, uplift the spirits and do treat yourself to a generous helping of butterscotch sauce.
Butterscotch sauce recipe
Jaggery-2 C
Unsalted butter-1C (room temperature)
Milk-6 Tbsps
Natural Salt-1/2 tsp powdered or 1/4tsp rock crystals (optional)
Vanilla extract-1/2 tsp
Method
Take a medium sized saucepan.
Add the jaggery, butter and milk.
Set it on very low heat on the stove and let it melt together. Keep stirring slowly,preferably with a wooden ladle. Swirl the pan gently so that any jaggery sticking to the sides gets pulled into the melting liquid.
After the jaggery and butter melt, stir for 2-3 minutes until it thickens enough to coat the spoon. (Do not allow the mixture to boil, keep it at a gentle simmer. Keep stirring.)
Take it off the fire and add in the salt, if you want a salted caramel taste.
After it cools slightly, mix in the vanilla extract.
Can use straight away or refrigerate for a few weeks.
(If it gets too thick in the fridge, just place it in a bowl over hot water to loosen or simmer gently on the stove)