The wonders of the microwave

The microwave is a hugely underutilised gadget. Most people use it only for heating and thawing. It is really meant to be a cooking machine. It can be used to prepare food ab initio. Some ideas:

Boiling rice: Just heat the rice with sufficient water for 18-20 minutes. Ensure that there is excess water when it is done, and drain the water at the end. This ensures that the rice is neither runny, nor sticky. If one is adventurous but is short of time, one can try adding ghee (be generous here), salt (plenty) and sugar (plenty). This time, measure the water so that you do not have to drain it at the end. The ghee will ensure that there is no dryness. You can even add cut vegetables to the rice when it is about half done – and you get a quick Pulao substitute.

Boiling potatoes: The other thing that is not commonly done is boiling potatoes in the microwave. All that has to be done is putting the potato in and switching the machine on. A large potato takes about 6 minutes to be boiled, and you have to turn it over a couple of times in the meantime. This way, what would have taken 25 minutes on the oven can be done in a fifth of the time. Okay, to be technically correct, I should mention that this is closer to baking than boiling, and the potato turns out a little drier than it would have, if you had boiled it in water.

Caveat: Do not try to boil the potato with the rice in the microwave.

You can make a lot of fancy dishes too on the microwave. The only thing is that you need some pre-cooked or canned sauces.

Creamy Chicken Rice:

Ingredients: Rice, a pound of boneless chicken, two onions, one capsicum (green pepper), a can of creamy chicken soup, parsley leaves, salt pepper, chicken masala, garam masala and butter. It is good to have a flat casserole for preparing this.

Prepare the rice and keep it aside. As usual, chop the onion and capsicum, and snip the parsley. Cut the chickn into small quarter-inch pieces. Butter the inside of the tray well. Then add the onion and capsicum with another tablespoon of butter and heat it for about 4 minutes on high, turning them with a spoon after about two minutes. Then add the chicken. After about 6 minutes, the chicken pieces will change colour to white. Now add the creamy chicken soup along with salt, pepper, chicken masala and garam masala to taste. If you have lemon pepper, you can add that too. Heat it for 5 minutes, mixing it from time to time. Now, add the rice and parsley. Heat for another 5 minutes, and the chicken rice is ready.

This one is another taste-it-to-believe-it recipe.