Amla Candies – healthy, sweet & sour candies made from gooseberries.
Amla/ Indian gooseberry is one of the richest natural sources of vitamin C and has anti-oxidant properties. It boosts immunity, improves heart, hair and skin health which makes it a “must-have” for everyone. Amlas can be eaten raw. But owing to its bitter taste, not everyone can have it raw. Hence, it can be added to our diet in the form of juice, pickles, chutneys, murabbas or candies.
Amongst fruit candies, amla candy is one of the healthiest candies and I always like to stock up amla candies at home. Due to the current lockdown, I ran out of my stock of amla candies and hence decided to make amla candies at home. Here is the recipe for Amla Candies.
Ingredients
500 grams of Indian gooseberries (amlas)
500 grams sugar (cheeni)
½ tsp powdered sugar (pisi hui cheeni)
a pinch of black salt (kaala namak)
Method
- Wash the amlas and keep aside.
- Heat 4 to 5 cups of water in a pan.
- When the water starts boiling vigorously, drop the amlas one by one into the pan.
- Cover the pan and cook the amlas till the water starts boiling vigorously again.
- Uncover the pan. Prick the amlas with a fork and check. Amlas have turned soft.
- Cook them for 2 more minutes and then turn off the heat.
- Cover the pan again and allow the amlas to cool completely. This may take 3 to 4 hours.
- Once the amlas are cooled completely, drain the water.
- Now, separate the segments of each amla and discard the seeds.
- Transfer the amla segments to a glass bowl or a container.
- Add sugar and spread it over the amla segments.
- Cover the bowl/container with a lid and keep this aside for 3 days.
- After 3 days, you will observe that the sugar has dissolved fully and the amlas have absorbed the sugar syrup.
- Amlas will sink to the bottom of the bowl/container.
- Drain amlas from the sugar syrup.
- Keep the sugar syrup aside. **
- Spread the amlas on a plate.
- Keep the plate under direct sunlight for two days.
- After 2 days, the amlas will dry and will not be sticky any more.
- Transfer the dried amla segments to a bowl, sprinkle powdered sugar and black salt on them. Give a good mix.
- Store the amla candies in an airtight container and serve as required.
Notes
- The amlas dry well in 2 days when they receive direct sunlight ( 5 to 6 hours of sunlight per day). Do not dry for more than 2 days or the amlas will become very hard.
- If you want amla candies to be spicy, you can add black pepper powder/ chilly powder alongwith powdered sugar and black salt.
** the sugar syrup can be boiled till it thickens like honey and can be stored in a glass bottle and refrigerated . It can be used as amla sharbat concentrate. To make amla sharbat, Take a glass of chilled water, add 1 to 2 tsp of the amla sharbat concentrate, 2 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp ginger juice, a pinch of black salt. Mix well and serve.
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