Quick Tips Thursdays: Microwave oven is all you need if you know how to use it.

One appliance which we can find in any kitchen today is a microwave oven. But are we using it to the fullest potential? For people who said ‘no’ you will find some interesting simple tips, not the usual ones, in this article. For those who said ‘yes’ if you have any additional tips please add those in the comment section.

Potato Chips:

Slice the potato using a mandolin and wash it in water, dry it until water is completely removed. Arrange the potato in a microwaveable plate without touching one another and place it inside the microwave oven for 3 minutes. Check if all the pieces are cooked, if not remove the cooked ones and repeat the process until all the pieces are cooked. Once everything is cooked you can season the chips and the crispy potato chips is ready to eat.

Caution: Seasoning should not be done before cooking the potato.

Picture courtesy: talkingcents.consumercredit.com      

Ice Cream-Softener

Tired of waiting for ice cream to soften? Place ice cream removed from refrigerator in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 15 –20 seconds and start having your soft and creamy ice cream.

Picture courtesy: newlyweds-blog.com

Crispy bacon

If you want to eat crispy bacon immediately, place the bacon slices over an overturned bowl and heat it in a microwave oven for a minute, you can see crispy bacon over the bowl with its extra fat dripping at the sides.

Picture courtesy: lifehacker.com

Simple Cleaning:

Having tried all these do you feel your microwave oven has become very murky, no worries!! There is a trick to clean the microwave oven with very less effort. Heat a bowl of water with vinegar in it for about five minutes, this will make the inside nice and steamy. You can wipe out the gunk with a paper towel without any problem and get it ready to cook the next dish.

Did you know?

·         In square containers, the corners tends to absorb more energy which leads to uneven cooking.

·        Cold spot for microwave is at the center so whenever you are placing food inside microwave oven for cooking try to arrange it around the center for uniform cooking. If the food is of varying shape place the thicker part in the outer edge.

·         Microwave oven cooking requires only 1/3 of the water in comparison to stove cooking due to less evaporation caused due to reduced time in cooking.

·         Never pile food one over the other in a microwave oven, uniform cooking takes place only if it is wide spread.

·         Bones in the meat should be removed before placing inside the microwave oven because bones may keep the area around it from cooking.

·         Cake cooked using microwave rises higher than cake cooked using conventional oven.