Homemade Plum Jam

Nothing beat the Freshly Homemade Jam using fresh fruits as you can control the amount of sugars as well as no preservative is added during the making process. After the Strawberry Jam making, Tracy and I continue to experience with different kind of fruits to make jam for our kids. Do you believed that I made these Plum Jam in just less than 30 minutes late in the night after hearing Tracy great comments on her Plum Jam :)

As you can see from the picture, the process of making Plum Jam is actually more or else the same as making Strawberry Jam. The Plum Jam actually thicken faster and the texture is more gel like compare to strawberry jam due to the pectin in it. If you like those a bit sweet and sour taste jam, do give this a try......

Ingredients:
5 - 6 Sweet Red Plum
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Lime Juice

Methods:
1. Wash and stone the plum then cut it into small cubes and place together with the rest of the ingredients in a heavy based saucepan and cook over medium heat till it boil.
2. Place a saucer into the freezer to chill as you'll need this when you come to test the setting point of the jam.
3. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly and skimming foam as necessary.
4. Cook about 10 minutes, until mixture begins to look syrupy and thickens slightly. 7
5. Spoon ½ teaspoon of the hot mixture onto the cold saucer and let it rest for 30 seconds. Tip the saucer to one side; jam should be a soft gel that moves slightly.
6. If mixture is thin and runs down side of plate, the gel is too soft. Cook jam 1 to 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly and repeat the test again.
7. Once the mixture is stiff enough remove from the heat and start filling the jam bottle.

Notes:
a) Don't be panic if you happen to see some water or juice form when cooking the fruits. It will evaporate and thicken when continue to cook.

Baked Plum & Rum Cake

I had never being a fan of "Plum" before until Tracy gave me the Plum Chutney and I started to fall in love with it. I find that these little plum taste even better when baked or even made into Plum Jam. In this recipe I would like to share with you on how to make use of plum which is in season to make it into a mini plum cake that will melt in your mouth and taste sort of like Baked Japanese Cheesecake.

You can use any kind of plum that is in season either red or black. For this recipe, I happen to have these sweet red plum in the fridge so I decided to try out this recipe. The texture of the cake is very soft, fine and cotton like and guess what, most of my friends who tried it comments that it taste like baked cheesecake despite that there is isn't any cream cheese content.

Ingredients: (makes about 15 mini cakes)
80g Butter, room temperature
60g Sugar
1 Medium Size egg, lightly beaten
100g Plain Yogurt(thick creamy type)
100g Cake Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
Apricot Glazing Gel, (Optional)

Methods:
1. Sift the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar till creamy and white (about 5 mins), then slowly add in the egg mixture in 2 addition after beating into the butter mixture.
3. Next add in 1 tablespoon of the RUM mixture, 1/3 of the plain yogurt and 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat well.
4. Repeat the procedure until all the mixture is used up.
5. Next spoon or pipe almost 3/4 full of the batter into the cup case and top it with one or two slices of the RUM plum.
6. Repeat for the rest of the cup till all the batter use up.
7. Baked in the preheat 170 degree oven for about 15 - 18 minutes depending on the size of the cake.
8. When the cakes are slightly warm, brush the top with some Apricot glazing to give it a shiny look.

Plum Topping:
3 Red Plum, cut into wedges
50ml RUM
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Methods:
1. Cut the plum into wedges of 6 each and mixed well with the RUM and brown sugar and set aside in the fridge to absorb the favour for at least 30 minutes.
2. Removed the plum wedges from the RUM mixture and drain well to remove any excess liquid then reserved the RUM mixture.

Note:
a) You can get either Pauls - Natural Yogurt or Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt.
b) If you do not have any Apricot Glazing Gel, you can replace it with 4 tablespoons Apricot jam that is warm up with 1/2 tablespoon for hot water in microwave up medium heat.

Homemade Strawberry Jam

Since Strawberries are in season now and the supermarkets are also having sale on it. I decided to grab a few boxes of fresh strawberries to try making some Strawberry Jam. To my surprised they really turn out well and it taste fruit and fragrant and you can also control the sweetness of the jam. The different between these two is Jam is made from chunk or slices of fruit pieces. Preserves are made from whole fruit, or at least larger pieces.

Pan-fry Chicken With Strawberry Jam Sauce

I didn't realised that actually making Strawberry Jam is so fun and easy until I gave it a try over the weekend break. These homemade jam is so fresh and tasty from the fresh strawberry that is in season. You can read more on my making process of the jam at this link.


Other than serving these freshly made jam on the usual toast or pancake, I decided to try using it to make a dish. I marinate the boneless chicken thigh with some strawberry jam and orange segment to with it.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Boneless Chicken Thighs
2 Tablespoons Of Strawberry Jam
1/2 Tablespoon Orange Juice
Salt and Pepper

Methods:
1. Wash and trim the fat on the chicken thighs, pat dry and marinate it with all the ingredients and set aside in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or more.

2. Preheat a frying pan with some olive oil, drained the chicken thighs well then pan-fry it with skin side down for about 5 minutes(depend on the thickness and size) then turn over to cook the other side.

3. When both side are cooked through with slight brown in colour, remove and arranged on serving plate.

4. Prepare the sauce and drizzle it together with the fruits over at the side of the chicken.

5. Served with extra vegetables, salad or mashed potato.

Sauce Ingredients:
80ml Orange Juice
6 - 8 Orange Segments
2 Fresh Strawberries, cut into thick slices
1 Tablespoon Of Strawberry Jam

Methods:
1. Place all the ingredients except the orange in a small saucepan then simmer till almost boil then add in the orange segments and stir till it begin to boil again.