Cherrylicious recipes to try at home

Cherry is undoubtedly an adorable-looking fruit! It adds value to any dish that it’s garnished with, it is the perfect snack for any time of the day (or night!). Its delicious tart sweet taste makes your mouth water. The best part? Cherries are loaded with Vitamin C, Potassium as well as melatonin a ‘sleep regulating’ hormone.
Cherries are apt for any and every dish, whether a sweet dish or even to add layers of flavour to a savoury one. While enjoying cherries on their own is one of the best ways to consume them, here are a few sweet and savoury recipes where you can include cherries and relish them.

Cherry Cheesecake

Cheesecakes are obviously a heavy dessert with their rich cream cheese filling, so a tart topping is a perfect way to cut through the richness and create a flavour bomb in your mouth. A cherry cheesecake is unique but delectable at the same time. Have a look at its ingredients.

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cooking Time: 2 hours
• Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• Digestive biscuits: 1 packet (finely crushed)
• Butter: ½ cup (melted)
• Sugar powder: 1/3 cup

For filling:

• Cream Cheese: 1 pack (softened)
• Sugar powder: 1 cup
• Vanilla extract: a few drops
• Whipping cream: 1 cup

For Cherry Compote:

• Cherry: 1 cup
• Sugar: ½ cup

Buy ingredients here

Procedure:

1. To make the crust, mix the powdered sugar with the digestive biscuit powder and add melted butter. Press this mix onto a baking tray and press hard so it forms a crust.
2. To make the cheesecake filling, use a beater and gently beat in cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to get a smooth mix. In a cool glass vessel, whip the whipping cream till it forms soft peaks.
3. Now gently incorporate the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and gently fold in until the filling is formed without any lumps.
4. The step is to add this filling to the crust and gently spread it till it fills the crust tray evenly. You can keep this tray in a refrigerator until the next step is completed.
5. On a heavy bottom pan, add the sugar along with the deseeded cherries and cook them until the cherries are softened and well cooked. Cool this mixture and top the cheesecake with this tart and sweet cherry compote.
6. Refrigerate the cheesecake for about 2 hours and make slices and serve chilled.

Cherry Waldorf Salad 

This refreshing salad is an ‘any-time hit’ salad and tastes even better with the unique addition of cherries. Cherries are the ingredient in a Waldorf salad that we didn’t know we needed but love nevertheless.

• Prep Time: 45 minutes
• Cooking Time: 5 minutes
• Serves: 2 people

Ingredient:

• Cherry: 1/3 cup (deseeded)
• Apples: ½ (diced)
• Walnuts: ½ cup (lightly toasted)
• Bell Peppers: (Red and Yellow) ¼ cup (diced)
• Celery: 2 ribs (diced)
• Lemon: juice  1 tablespoon
• Salt: as per taste

For Dressing:

• Mayonnaise: ¼ cup
• Sour Cream: 2 tablespoons
• Honey: 1 spoon
• Romaine lettuce/ Iceberg lettuce: 1 whole (torn into small pieces)

Get ingredients here

Procedure:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix the apples, cherries, bell peppers and celery along with the lemon juice and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Remember not to add the walnuts at this point.
2. Make the salad dressing by mixing the mayonnaise with sour cream, honey and a pinch of salt. Stir gently to make a smooth creamy dressing.
3. Chop the lettuce roughly and create a bed of lettuce in the serving bowl.
4. Once the salad ingredients are nice and cool, you add the salad dressing and toss the salad gently so that the dressing is equally coated over all the ingredients.
5. Now place the salad on the lettuce bed and garnish with toasted walnuts and serve.

Cherry Jam

While the market and stores are full of jams in various flavours like mixed fruit, strawberry or even orange! Cherry jam in India is almost unheard of, but it surely is the underdog of the ‘Jam World’. It is the perfect combination of sweet and sour and is the best accompaniment with bread, rotis or anything else you fancy.

Making cherry jam at home may sound like an unnerving task, but is in fact easier done than said! Obviously, it is a far healthier option as compared to commercial ones with all their chemical concoctions. It is delicious to eat too! With just 3 simple ingredients, in just a few minutes.

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cooking time: 30 minutes
• Serves: 6 people

Ingredients:

• Cherry: 2 cups (deseeded and roughly chopped)
• Sugar: 1 cup
• Lemon juice: 3 tablespoons

Shop ingredients here

Procedure:

1. Take a thick-bottomed pan and add your cherries and sugar and cook on a low flame. The key here is to keep stirring to ensure the contents don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Try mashing the cherries as you stir. Once the mixture is heated and starts bubbling, add the lemon juice and cook some more.
2. After cooking for about 30 minutes and after the cherries are well mashed, take a bit of the jam and check for consistency. If the jam forms a blob and jiggles on slight movement, the jam is ready.
3. Cool the jam and pour it into clean glass jars. This cherry jam stays fresh in a cool climate for about 10-15 days.

Cherry Rasam

Rasam is best when incorporated with something sweet and tangy like tamarind, tomato etc. Cherry is yet another sweet and tangy ingredient that makes a distinctly flavoured rasam. You can try this when you’re fed up with the conventional Rasam recipe.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cooking Time: 20 minutes
• Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• Cherry: 15-18 pieces
• Cumin Powder- 1 teaspoon
• Red Chilli powder: ½ teaspoon
• Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
• Garlic- 3-4 pods  (crushed)
• Fresh coriander: ¼ cup
• Pepper powder: ¼ spoon
• Salt- as per taste
• Curry leave-5-6 leaves
• Water

For Tempering:

• Ghee: 1 spoon
• Cumin seeds: 1/2 spoon
• Mustard seeds: 1/2 spoon
• Asafoetida: 1 pinch

Get ingredients here

Procedure:

• Deseed the cherries and crush about 10 cherries in a mixer and chop about 5 coarsely. Add the blended cherry mix with 2 cups of water and set to boil.
• To this, add the chopped cherry pieces along with crushed garlic pods, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder, pepper powder and salt.
• Let this mixture boil for about 5-10 minutes. Once the flavours of the rasam are well infused with each other, heat a tempering bowl.
• To the hot tempering bowl, add the ghee and add cumin seeds and mustard seeds on a low flame. Once they start crackling, add the curry leaves and asafoetida and add the temper to the rasam. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot. Cherry rasam is best enjoyed with steamed rice.