For decades, the microwave oven has prevented hunger strikes among single individuals and college students, making it a remarkable technological advancement. Most homes and establishments have one, making it the second most commonly owned kitchen equipment after refrigerators.
And the two primary reasons it's so well-liked are that it's simple and effective. When the meal is ready, you load it up, press a few buttons, and wait for the oven to alert you.
However, the outcomes aren't always pleasing, even with the simplicity and effectiveness. You suffer burnt popcorn, rubbery cheese, and overcooked food patches, among other disappointments, simply to get things done quickly. But that's only because you don't know the hidden methods for cooking food in the microwave that produce flawless results.
If you continue reading, you'll soon be an expert at cooking in a microwave, saving time without sacrificing flavour in the middle of the night.
9 Easy Microwave Hacks To Ensure Tasty And Quick Cooking At 2 am
1. Steam Vegetables In Plastic Wrap And Uniform-Sized Pieces
The microwave can really be your friend if you need cooked veggies quickly. The secret is to prepare vegetables with comparable textures and cooking times together and chop them into uniformly sized pieces. Next, arrange the vegetables in a bowl suitable for the microwave, following the directions provided by your device. Your veggies will be nicely cooked when the timer goes off.
2. Form Your Leftovers Into A Ring To Ensure Even Heating
When you take out a plate of microwaved leftovers, it's never satisfying to see it heated unevenly. Thankfully, you can do a simple thing to avoid this: shape your meal into a ring before you microwave it. It will also assist in flattening the meal so that there is more surface area and less volume. This makes it possible for the microwave radiation to be dispersed more uniformly.
Read More: 10 Dosa Preparations For A Late Night Snack
3. Keep Your Dishes Out Of The Centre
There are hot and cold regions on most microwaves. Why? Because there are peaks and troughs in the waves that really cook your meal. Since the extreme heat produced, your food will get fried when two waves collide. A chilly patch appears when two troughs collide. To help your food travel across certain zones for more even cooking, that is the purpose of the spinning plate.
4. Use A Wet Paper Towel To Keep Foods Moist
Microwaves heat food by intensely heating the water molecules. They begin to move more quickly and heat up as a result. When the water turns into steam, it can take moisture out of our food, making it hard and rubbery. Use a moist towel to cover or wrap your food to avoid this from happening. Just make sure that its fibres are free of bleaches or colours.
5. Heat Up A Cup Of Water To Add Even More Wetness
What happens if you don't have any extra cloth or paper towels on hand? You can still enjoy perfectly wet meals, so no worries. Simply reheat your leftovers and a cup of water in the microwave. The water will prevent your food from overcooking by absorbing extra microwave energy. It will also release steam, preventing your food from drying out.
6. Increase The Fluff of Popcorn
A cup of water can also prevent microwave popcorn from drying out. This time, however, you must microwave a cup of water for one minute and then quickly replace it with popcorn as soon as the timer sounds. One more important piece of advice? Use only the popcorn button that is set up. The popcorn manufacturers themselves advise against it due to power variations in microwaves.
7. It's Alright To Microwave Water To Heat It
Without creating bubbles, which is how most people determine when water is boiling, microwaves can heat distilled water to a temperature that is higher than boiling. This is called superheating; if disturbed, it can burst into a shower of boiling hot water. Recall that the absence of bubbles prevents the water from releasing its stored heat, which can then be released abruptly when it comes into touch with a spoon or sugar cube.
8. Apply A Tiny Amount Of Tinfoil To Avoid Overcooking
As opposed to what many people think, foil can be used in the microwave. Some manufacturers, like General Electric and Panasonic, include lists of approved shielding materials in their operating instructions manuals, including aluminium foil. Meat and poultry thin sections cook faster than thick sections. These thin sections can be covered with aluminium foil strips to prevent overcooking. You can use wooden toothpicks to secure the foil.
9. Choose The Appropriate Container
When heating food, always use a microwave-safe container. Those words should be printed somewhere on the dish, bowl, or storage box. The next best thing is to use a round container of some sort if you don't have a broad, shallow container so you can spread out your leftovers in a ring as suggested. Food in square-shaped containers may overcook in the corners since these areas absorb and retain more energy.
Is there never enough time for supper to take more than three minutes and microwave it? Fear not—here are some amazing tips to let you eat the food you love in the middle of the night and save time and money.