Easy Strawberry Jam

I love making jams and I wanted to make best use of the strawberries which are in season. I usually puree the fruit and go about with my jam making. I found a recipe here and the method interested me. I followed her first step where in the berries are mixed with sugar and left for few hours. I felt this gave a good texture to the jam. As usual, I made it in microwave. So that doesn't stop those who doesn't have a MW oven. This can be very well be made on the stove top and I think it will get done in almost the same time. This jam is quite easy that you have just mix all the ingredients and cook for around 15 minutes.

You need

• Strawberry,hulled and halved - 2 cups
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Lemon juice - from half of a lemon

Method

  

Take the strawberries and sugar in a bowl. Keep it aside for 4 hours or so. Lightly mash the berries in between. The sugar would have drawn the juice out of the berries and you can find the berries slightly pulpy too. Transfer the mix to a microwave safe bowl. Add juice from half of a lemon and micro high for 12 minutes. Give a stir at 5 minutes interval. Give a standing time of 3 minutes and do the plate test to see if the jam is set. Ladle into sterilized jars. 

Adjust the sugar according to the sweetness of the berries. Adding too much of sugar will make the jam sticky and the flavor of berries will not come through.  Enjoy on a warm toast for breakfast or tea. Try making it yourself and see how it easy it can be. Once you taste home made jam, I am sure you will never go for store bought ones.  I usually make in small batches and it gets over in 10 days. If you are making a big batch, you can as well refrigerate for longer shelf life.

  

On a different note: I am happy that my blog is shortlisted among the 10 best food blogs selected by Blogjunta. Kindly vote for me if you feel it deserves. The poll widget can be found the right side bar of the blog. Let the best blog win. Thank you dear readers for your support. Thanks to the friends who have already voted.

Fig Jam in Microwave

Fresh figs are in season now. I have only tasted the dried figs till now. And I have seen the fresh figs in pictures only. So you can imagine my joy when I first saw them in the market. Needless to say I bought them immediately. And figs are one fruit which cannot be stored for long. I made milkshake and there is so much that can be used in a milkshake. And I decided to make some jam. I wasn't sure if we are going to like it as jam. Finally was happy that I gave it a try. And making in microwave, it takes only 10 minutes.

You need

• Fig puree - 1 1/4 cup (I used 10 nos)
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Lemon juice - 1 tblspn
• Lemon zest - 1/4 tspn (optional)

 Method

I pureed the figs with the skin on. If you  see some blemishes, can gently remove that part alone. Quarter the figs and puree them coarsely. Take care not to make a fine paste.

Add sugar and mix well.

Microwave for 4 minutes. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Microwave for another 4 minutes. Check if the jam is set. I had to keep for another 2 minutes. Give a standing time of 5 minutes.

If you like your jam very sweet increase the sugar by another 1/4 cup. Enjoy it on a warm toast of bread.

 Fig jam is going to be part of Srivalli's 365 days of Mircowave Cooking

Amla/Indian Gooseberry Jam in Microwave

I lolve making jams at home and with microwave its surely a breeze. It gets done easily in less time. After seeing Latakka's amla halwa, I was inspired to try jam.

You need

• Amla - 250 gms (Around 13 nos) gave  a packed cup of cooked amla pulp
• Sugar -1 cup
• Cardamom - a pinch

Method

  

Microwave the washed amlas for 3 minutes till it is soft. De seed and pulse for few seconds in the mixer to get a coarse mixture. Don't grind it smooth else it will effect the texture of the jam. Measure the pulsed amla paste. Take equal quantity of sugar.

Mix sugar and  amla and micro high for 8 minutes. Stir in between. Check if there is any liquid present. If then cook for a minute or so. Adjust the timings according to your oven.  Don't cook long enough that it might turn hard on cooling. When cooked in microwave, it continues to cook even after its removed from the oven. So keep that also in mind.

I added a teaspoon of saffron + cardamom syrup or add just cardamom powder. Next time I am planning to add freshly crushed ginger too.

Enjoy the healthy jam on a warm toast.


The tart taste of amla is very much felt... To mask the taste of amla, you can increase the amount of sugar. After a week, I could not feel  the khatta meeta of amla... not sure if I got used to it or its the result of ageing.

Anyways, not many may like it at the first instant. If you love amla, then you will surely like it. 

Chakka Varatti ~ Jackfruit Jam

Last few posts have been more of jack fruit and mango. I have some more posts lined up on jack fruit. During my childhood days, I have spent most of my summer vacation at my maternal home. Then, only my grand parents were there. Two months of vacation was full of fun. We spent the whole day playing in the back yard with children from the neighborhood. We were never bored. Those days, mangoes and jack fruit ruled the day.. in both raw and ripe forms. My grandma used to prepare chakka varatti from a minimum of 3 jack fruits in one go. Me and my sister used to help is separating the jack fruit bulbs. In the process, we would eat few also. Coming to the present, i have at most prepared chakka varatty from one jack fruit. Though the recipe is simple, the process is very laborious, it call for great shoulder strength for continuous stirring for a long time. Most of the times, I end making chakka poornam, which is used as filling for ela adai , since it calls for less work. When making the chakkavaratti with few jack fruit bulbs doesn't take much time. I'm sure my grandma  could never imagine making in such small quantity.  Here is how I make it

  

You need

•  Jack fruit segments - 20 nos
• 
  
  Jaggery - 1 cup heaped
• 
  
  Ghee - a tablespoon

  

Method

  

Chop the jack fruit into bite sized pieces. Cook in microwave or stop top till it changes it color. If cooking on stove top, sprinkle some water so that it doesn't stick to the pan.

Cool and puree the cooked fruit.

Take a thick bottomed kadai or pan. Mix the pureed fruit and jaggery. Cook till it is flaky like jam. Finally add a tablespoon of ghee. It will stay good for a year with out any refrigeration. The shelf life increases according to the consistency of the chakkavaratty. I haven't gone to that extent since I knew I would use it in a week.

Mango Murabba in Microwave

In my kitchen, raw mangoes is generally used to make instant pickles or in any kuzhambu/kootan. Blogging introduced chunda and henceforth I make at least two batches during the season.  This year two I made chunda. I just happened to find some raw mangoes in the market, even after the season has come to an end. I was searching for a raw mango jam recipe where in jaggery could be used in place of sugar. And I landed at Shubhada's place.

I decided to do it in microwave as is my practise whenever I make any jam. I find it easier than the stove top method.  It took only 7 minutes in MW and got around 200 gm of murabba with the following measurement. It stays good with out refrigeration. Since the quantity was less, it got over in a week.

Ingredients

• Raw mango, grated - 1 cup
• Jaggery powdered - 2 cup
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tspn

 Method

Mix the grated mango and jaggery in a microwave safe bowl. Micro high for 7 minutes, giving a mix at intervals of two minutes. Give a standing time of a minute or two and it will set.  Drop a spoonful and see if it falls in flakes and it is done.

Consistency is also important to determine the shelf life. While making in MW, you don't need to add extra water for cooking. This also helps in increasing the shelf life. It keeps good without refrigeration. I used mango:jaggery in the ratio of 1:2. Adjust the jaggery according to its sweetness and the sourness of the mango used. I wanted the tangy taste from mango also to be felt and not to be drowned in the sweetness of jaggery. I found using 2 cups was indeed very sweet.

 I am sending this to MEC:Favorites hosted by PJ, started by Srivalli. Also this joins the 365-days of microwave cooking project of Srivalli.

Papaya Marmalade

Home-made jams give a nice flavor and is free of preservatives and artificial colors and sweeteners. Home made jams have the intense flavor of the fruit used. Making jams is not that difficult. Now a days I have almost stopped buying jams. Pectin is the one which imparts the glossy look and texture to jam. Take care to add a fruit juice which has high pectin content along with the main fruit. Once you get the hang of it, you will never go for the shop bought ones.

You need

Papaya pulp - 3/4 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Juice of 1 orange

Orange zest - 1 tspn

Crushed cloves - 3 nos (optional)

Wash and peel the papaya. Chop into cubes and give a run in the mixer till it is pulpy. You can add sugar also along with the cubes.

Mix all the ingredients in a MW safe bowl. MW for 25 minutes. Keep stirring at every 5 minutes. Mine took 28 minutes. Since Ii have added some orange zest, its called marmalade. Glossy,yummy, papaya marmalade is ready. I refrigerate since no preservative is used. It stays good for three weeks. It has not lasted longer than that at my home.

Pineapple Jam in Microwave

Ingredients
Pineapple puree- 1 cup
white sugar -1/2 cup
brown sugar - 1/2 cup
cloves - 4 nos
citric acid - 1 tspn
water to prepare the puree

Method

For pineapple puree, blend pineapple pieces with little water. Take a microwave safe bowl. Mix the puree with sugar. You can adjust the quantity of sugar according to the sweetness of the fruit. If you are using only white sugar increase the quantity by 1/4 cup. Microwave high for 15 minutes. Give a stir every 5 minutes.

Add the cloves coarsely crushed. If you wish , you can powder it finely. Mix in the crushed cloves and a teaspoon of citric acid. Microwave for 10 minutes. Check the consistency. It should be flaky. After five minutes, keep checking for every two minutes. This can be done on stove top too. But making in microwave doesn't call for constant attention.

Enjoy home made jam bursting with natural flavor of pineapple.

Microwaved Scones & Mango Jam

Ever since I saw microwaved scones at Aparna's blog, I wanted to try it. But somehow, it did not happen. When EC announced the theme for WBB#21, I knew what I was going to make.

Ingredients:

whole wheat flour - 2 cups

butter(cold) - 3/4 cup

sugar- 1/4 cup

raisins - 3/4 cup

milk - 5 tblspn

baking powder - 4 tspn

a pinch of salt (not needed if using salted butter)

Method

Mix wheat flour,baking powder and salt together. Rub the butter into this mixture till it resembles bread crumbs.

Care to be taken that the butter doesn't melt when rub it into the floor.To use cold butter is very important.

Add sugar and raisins. Aparna has used brown sugar.

Stir in the milk and make a soft dough.
Slightly flour your kitchen counter and place the dough on it. Shape it into a square of 1 inch thickness. Cut into 9 squares.

Place on a tissue paper in the microwave turntable and cook at 100% power for 3 minutes. Do the toothpick test to ensure it is cooked inside. If not cooked, keep for another 1 minute.

Leave it in the MW for 3 more minutes.

Serve warm with your favorite jam or fresh cream for a filling breakfast.

Here is my recipe for mango jam which can be done in few minutes.

Mango Jam in Microwave

Mango pulp - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Take equal quantities of fruit pulp and sugar. Its better not to increase the sugar, since it will mask the flavor of the fruit.

To take mango pulp, peel and cut the mangoes into bite sized cubes. Pulse in the mixer grinder or use a blender to get fine pulp.
Take a MW safe bowl, add the pulp and sugar.Cook for 5 minutes at 100% power. Stir once in between. It will have a nice glazing texture.
Adjust the timings according to your oven type and quantity used. Store in an airtight bottle. Enjoy with your warm scones.

I am sending this to EasyCrafts who is hosting WBB for this month, which is the brain child of Nanditha of Saffrontrail