Inji Legiyam (Ginger Jam)

We take inji legiyam, a digestive jam, the day after Deepavali as we all enjoy a sumptuous feast consisting of sweets & savories during this festival. It is also known as Deepavali legiyam or Deepavali marundhu. A teaspoon of legiyam taken in the morning on an empty stomach helps improve the digestion. So we can take this legiyam after the feasts enjoyed during festivals or weddings. It is also beneficial to children or sick people to increase their appetite.

Inji legiyam (Deepavali marundhu) recipe:

We usually prepare inji legiyam with fresh ginger roots, coriander seeds & raisins and add jaggery (cane or palm jaggery) as a sweetener. Coriander seeds, ginger & raisins have medicinal properties of stabilising the temperature of our body. Now I share my grandmother’s recipe for a digestive ginger jam or inji legiyam handed over to us for generations:

Cooking Time : 40 min

Ingredients:

1. Ginger (inji)- 2 cups (400 g)
2. Raisins (ular thratchai) – half cup (100 g)
3. Coriander seeds (malli vidhai) – half cup (100 g)
4. Jaggery (vellam) – 2 cups (400 g)
5. Ghee (clarified butter) – 1 tbsp

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How to prepare inji legiyam (Deepavali legiyam) at home:

• Wash & peel ginger and chop them roughly.
• Dry roast coriander seeds in low flame till they release nice aroma.
• In a dry mixer-grinder jar add coriander seeds and grind into a fine powder.
• Add chopped ginger followed by raisins; grind them into a fine paste (without adding water).
• Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan, add ginger paste when it is hot.
• Saute ginger paste until ghee begins to separate (for about 10 min) in medium flame.
• Add jaggery and mix well.
• When the mixture gets coagulated, remove from heat.
• Store in a clean dry airtight glass jar at room temperature.

Tips:

• My grandmother preferred to use palm jaggery (karuppatti) over cane jaagery (vellam).
• We use black raisins only, if you happen to notice seeds in them, you can remove them before grinding.
• We need to make sure that the coriander seeds don’t get burnt while roasting them.
• Do not add water while grinding as it reduces the shelf life.