A microwave has become an integral part of every modern kitchen. It has definitely made life easier more because of the time efficiency and is being used successfully both for commercial purposes such as in restaurants and offices and at home. It not just makes your food healthy by using very little oil; it also takes half the time to cook the food as compared to another conventional mediums.
Also, a microwave saves on your energy consumption too as it heats the food by waves; thus, preserves the essential nutrients which gets destroyed by coming in direct contact with heat while cooking on stove. Considering the wide popularity of microwaves, furnished apartments today include some place in kitchen for microwave too. While there might be several occasions when you will need to use your traditional stove to make certain dishes, a microwave will still have an important use in your daily regime.
Complexity level: Basic
Time required: Depends upon the dish you want to cook in your microwave.
Estimated cost: Nil
Resources required:
1. Microwave oven
2. Instruction manual from the manufacturer of the microwave oven
3. Microwave safe cookware
4. Oven pads and oven gloves
Instructions:
1. Installing the microwave oven
Once you get the microwave home, carefully read the instruction manual to install it properly. It is extremely important to follow all the safety guidelines to avoid any mishaps. Before you begin using your microwave, you must be well aware of all the functions it performs and verify it with the manual.
2. Using the microwave
Using the microwave is not really a herculean task. Microwaves are designed to provide ease and convenience and hence, most of them operate by a very simple process. You will just have to keep your food that needs to be cooked in the microwave, set the right temperature, select the cooking option (grill, bake, etc.) and switch on the oven.
You can use your microwave to cook the frozen food that is available in any departmental store. It will take just about 5â10 minutes to cook this food which will otherwise take anywhere between half an hour to an hour if you use the stove. You can also make a quick cup of coffee or tea and even warm up your prior dayâs meals making them seem fresh with your microwave.
3. Maintaining your microwave
To enhance the life of your microwave, it is important that you follow a regular cleaning practice. Regularly cleaning and maintaining your
microwave after each use will not just make it simpler to clean off the stains from your microwave but also help you reap its benefits for many years.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How to bake a cake using a microwave oven?
It is relatively simple to bake a cake in microwave oven. You will first need to make a batter with the ingredients. That is, mix the flour, oil, sugar, beaten eggs, and some flavored essence together till you get the right consistency. Place this mixture or cake batter in a microwave oven safe dish. Keep it in the microwave which was preheated at the required temperature as per the recipe of the cake (say, 250 degrees). Set the option to bake and bake the cake for the said time by setting the timer.
Quick Tips
1. You can use your microwave to make a delicious microwave platter from all the leftover food that you have. It is easy and innovative too.
2. Use your microwave to defrost your meats. Even if you have waited till the last minute, having a microwave can still help you make your delicious meat dishes in no time by thawing the meat easily.
3. Cook food with the lid on in the microwave. This will keep the moisture intact.
Things to Watch Out For
1. The microwave oven cord must be plugged directly to the power outlet and an extension cord should be avoided. Also, you should use only the cord that came along with the microwave to ensure the right amount of power supply.
2. Make sure that you use only microwave safe cookware for microwave cooking.
3. Never use metal cookware or even aluminium foil in your microwave mode as this could cause fire.
4. Do not immediately touch the cookware with your hands after the cooking. The dishes will be too hot and may even burn your hands. Use oven gloves or oven mitts to handle these dishes.
5. If the cookware was covered with a lid while cooking, wait before you open the lid as the steam may cause harm.
6. Do not cook large pieces of meat on high power (100%). Cook them on low power so that the heat reaches the center-most part of the meat and cooks it well.
