Guava Cheese

There is no chesse in this guava cheese.  I have read about guava cheese in some novels. At that time I did not have any idea about what it is. Later, through blogging, I understood its a kind of fudge like sweet made out of guava. I am so fond of guavas. I love to eat to bite into the fruit and I don't prefer to slice them and eat. During my college days, we used to be given fruits daily. Guavas was also given. In my last year, one of classmate, Sandhya shifted to a room near to mine. Knowing my love for this fruit, whenever it is given, she used to invariably come and check if hers is bigger than mine and will exchange it. Even today, whenever I eat guava, those memories keep coming back.

Coming to the recipe, it doesn't call for many ingredients. The main ingredients are guava and sugar. But it is very time consuming. I adapted the recipe from here. Hop there to see the step-by step pictures. I decided to do it microwave thinking it will get done quickly with minimum effort. After around 25 minutes, it did not look like thickening any sooner. So I completed it over stove top. I did not get the red color as in the original recipe. So decided to add some color else it was a pale yellow.

You need

Guava pulp - 1 cup heaped ( Used 3 guavas)
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Lemon juice - 1 tspn
Butter - 2 tspn
Food color (optional) - 3 drops of red+ 1 drop of blue

Method

Preparing the pulp

I used 3 big ripe guavas. Make slit on four sides of the guava. Don't make the slit very deep. Pressure cook the three guavas with a cup of water.  When the guavas cool, cut open them. Scoop the seeds along with some pulp. Keep the seeds separately. Take the pulp into a separate bowl. Strain the seeds along with the cooked water to extract the pulp sticking to the seeds. Use a sieve or a cheese cloth for this. Take all the pulp in a mixer jar and puree it. Add sugar also and blend well.

Take the pureed pulp in a heavy bottomed vessel and cook on a low flame. Half way through the cooking, add lime juice. It helps in setting the cheese faster. When it starts thickening, add butter. Adding butter gives a sheen to the cheese. When the mix comes together and leaves the sides of the vessel, transfer to a greased plate. Spread even. When it is warm, mark slices.

I cooked for around half an hour in the MW. But since it wasn't setting, I thought it is better to cook on stove top so that I know when to stop. I cooked for another 10 minutes on the stove and it was set. If you take a spoon of the mix and it is rollable with your finger, then you can stop. The cheese should be soft, yet firm.