Mango Jam starring in Saturday Morning Breakfast for One

THE MAGICAL MILLION
While I was waiting for the magic one millionth hit to happen, it came and went without my knowledge and now it is a million plus some 7000, but thank you my dear readers, friends, family for encouraging me and keeping me going at this blog.
Here's to a million more :)


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I'm back home, after spending two weeks with my parents. They live in the same city as me, an hour's drive at most times. But I have rarely stayed this long. One week's stay got extended by another week thanks to a nasty cold which they didn't want me to nurse myself as DH was out traveling. Needless to say, I hardly cooked in the last two weeks, had hogged a lot of traditional lunches, and just lazed and lazed. Since I was getting back to an empty house last afternoon, I had planned for two of my friends to come over and spend the night. No cooking involved, just ordered in a couple of pizzas!

This morning, I was looking forward to having a relaxed breakfast with my favourite Saturday newspaper - Lounge (Mint). Having purchased some luscious Kesar mangoes yesterday, I thought of making some instant mango jam in the microwave, just while the bread slices were toasting on the tava and the Amul butter sitting near the stove to soften.

Initially I did think of searching some blogs for a recipe, but then the laziness of a Saturday morning prevented me from even starting my laptop. It is a mango after all, and nothing much can go wrong - so saying, I put together one chopped mango, pinch of salt, fat pinch of black pepper and a spoonful of organic jaggery powder in a glass bowl, and started nuking at high power starting with 2 minutes, kept giving 2 minute increments, and after the 6th minute it was nearly done. The jam had firmed up and yet some of the pieces held their shape, which is how I like it.

In a total of seven minutes, I had a delicious jam, bursting with flavours ready to spread itself over nicely crisped up toast spread with Amul butter.

If you still want a proper recipe, here it is.

Instant Mango Jam
Serves 2 - or enough for 5-6 pieces of toast
Time taken - Under 10 minutes

You need
1 sweet mango like Kesar - fine diced (almost a cup of cubes)
1 generous tsp jaggery powder or brown sugar ( I used Fabindia's Desi Sakkar - Organic Jaggery)
1 pinch salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Combine all the above in a microwave safe glass bowl.
Nuke at high for a total of 6-7 minutes, giving it a stir 3-4 times in between.
The jam is ready when it comes together and most of the liquid has dried up.

Notes:
You can add cardamom powder or cinnamon powder instead of black pepper. I liked the salt and pepper combo going with the sweet mango taste.
If your mango doesn't have that tangy edge, you can also squeeze a few drops of lime.
You can try this with larger quantities, since this is my first try, I used just one mango. Since it is ready in a jiffy, it can be made as and when you need it.
A thinner version of this will taste yummy on some plain pancakes.

This is my entry to May Mango madness edition of Weekend Breakfast Blogging (#22) which Arundati is hosting at Escapades. Send in your entries to her by the 31st :)

Tags: instant mango jam, microwave jam, mango, Kesar mango, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India