Microwave Jam Dumpling Recipe

This microwave jam dumpling recipe is scalable, but my easy jam dumpling was a serves one portion.  “Food on a plate, fast” is my motto.  I don’t like cooking, I like the eating part…. cooking is the unavoidable step.

I needed a fast treat and so checked the cupboards to see if I had any of my dumpling mix left – lucky me, I did!  You can make dumplings without suet – I will typically use 2-3 alternative recipes if I’ve run out – but today I thought I’d make my microwave jam dumpling using a suet mix. I keep suet and flour ready mixed in a Click N Lock box in the cupboard, to save me the hassle of weighing it out on demand.  You can find out how to do that here: Suet & Flour Mix for Dumplings.

I opened the fridge and saw I had strawberry jam – it was close to the bottom of the jar so needs to be used up.  I can’t buy another flavour until I’ve finished this jar, this is because I hate having 1001 opened items cluttering up the kitchen and cupboards.  My zero waste policy means that I limit what I buy in as my main way to cut waste.  What I buy, I have to eat, all of it.

So, I had my suet and flour mix and I had strawberry jam!  Good to go then.

How to Make Microwave Jam Dumpling 

• I spooned out just over a tablespoon of jam into the base of a Pyrex jug.  Pyrex glass jugs are microwave safe and make a great microwave cooking dish, the handle really makes it easy to get stuff in and out of the microwave without worrying about whether it’s hot, it also reduces spillage as I’m clumsy!
• I spooned out 3 heaped tablespoons of my suet/flour mix into another jug (I use jugs a lot!) and mixed cold water in slowly until it’d formed a dumpling.
• Next, I put the dumpling mix on top of the jam – spreading it out to touch the sides and create a “seal”.  This isn’t essential, but it does prevent the jam managing to climb up the jug sides during cooking, so it keeps the jam and dumpling parts separate.
• Into the microwave (mine’s 800 watts) and it just needed cooking for 3 minutes on High!

I selected a bowl that fitted over the top of the jug and simply tipped the jug upside down to get my jam dumpling into the bowl.

I’d boiled a kettle and made up half a packet of instant custard to serve!

And that was a proper treat.  It really hit the spot.  That was lunch done then! It won’t win awards for food styling, but it was really tasty.