We had no knowledge about a microwave oven, when we were unexpectedly gifted with one. The first thought which came to my mind was ’Heavens! why this gift!’. It took nearly a month for us to even take it out from the carton.(reason attributed towards lack of knowledge of the product and sheer laziness).
One fine day I took it out and kept it on the table.afterall its a gift given by a relative who frequents our house very often and the feeling dawned within me that I would be insulting them by not even unpacking it.There it lied for another 10-15 days.(the feeling of guilt started gripping me).
The next step which I took was to go through the user manual provided.(Hey! this doesn’t seem to be that complex to operate- was the feeling that I got).Then I bought a recipe book with very basic and simple tips/recipes. And then got some inspiration from some of my colleagues who do all the day to day cooking in the microwave and who gave me a cold stare when I told them that I kept it unused for over a month.Well.I decided to start off by preparing a sweet .and Carrot Halwa seemed to be the easiest.and it was done in a jiffy without even a drop of sweat in a 37 dec c.hot summer afternoon.Excellent! was the reaction from all who tasted it.With my chin held up high I walked into the office the next day!
I decided that I would try atleast one recipe every weekend .and I did keep up the promise made to myself.
From then on, I’ve been doing almost all pre-cooking(for eg.extracting tamarind, defrosting the milk packets etc.) .And I was really overwhelmed with the performance of my microwave .Very less oil was required for all the dishes.and very less ghee for all the sweets too.I should say that the consumption of electricity by a microwave is very much affordable and you can cut on gas charges too by making use of the oven for some purposes.
I would say that I am now totally addicted towards microwave cooking.its a good addiction though.Oil-Free Poppodams-fantastic.That too with the same taste of the ones fried in oil.I am really tempted to share some of the recipes that I tried, but realising that this is not the site for airing my cookery tips.I am resisting the desire.
I have had the opportunity to see a couple of other brands(imported ones) .But trust me.If you are fine with simple technology and best results this would be the one for you to choose.Personally.I feel electronic/electrical appliances with advanced technology would not only make the usage complex but would also make it a pain when it requires some repair.
So this is a valuable gift indeed!