December 24, 2017

How To Make Filipino Purple Yam Jam

It’s almost Christmas Eve. It’s the season to be chubby! Nope! It’s the season to prepare food for the family and those people who claim themselves as part of the family. Every Filipino dining table again carries a feast. Purple Yam Jam, together with leche flan or lechetin, spaghetti and fruit salad, will always be on our dining table during celebrations such as Christmas Eve.

Before showing you the recipe, let’s first have a quick background about Purple Yam Jam. Purple yam isn’t a common root for all countries. But in the Philippines, we turn them into candies, cake, ice cream, fillings for buchi, shakes and jam, locally known as Ube Halaya. Filipino families usually order them outside. But it’s a better choice if you have a home-made. Here’s how to make the jam.

1. Prepare all the ingredients needed. This includes purple yam, evaporated milk, condensed milk, vanilla extract and margarine or butter. Melt cheese and brown sugar are optional.

2. Boil the purple yam. For this year’s Christmas Eve, we cooked two kilos of purple yam for the family and friends. Therefore, the measurements I’ll give in this recipe is for two kilos of purple yam or seven small trays.

3. When the yams are tender enough from boiling, peel the skin and mash the ube. To be sure that there are no big chunks left, we grated them first.

4. Let’s place it directly to medium heat and mix in evaporated milk. For two kilos of purple yam, we had a can of 370ml milk.

5. Pour a can of 300ml condensed milk and stir them together.

6. Actually, the sweetener is a choice between condensed milk or brown sugar. If you want to add more sugar like we did, you can do so. Don’t forget to check the taste if it satisfies you.