3 Microwave Tricks and Recipes For Everyday Kitchen - LG Microwave

Did you know we can make all Indian Masala in microwave?  boil Potatoes in microwave?  or so many other everyday works in Indian Kitchen. Till sometimes ago Microwave in Indian kitchen was used just for reheating food. But there are so many other things that you can do with Microwave. I have compiled few things you can do in Microwave to make your everyday life easy in the Indian Kitchen.

To start with first of all let me tell you I am bringing this post in collaboration with LG microwave. Which I am using in Kitchen for all of these Microwave recipes. As I always tell you I am in love with LG microwaves auto-cook menu. But Using it in manual mode is super easy too with it's very intuitive menu panel. 

If you also thought Indian cooking in microwave does not give you perfect result, it's a complete myth. Microwave cooking is tasty, less messy and healthy too. Only thing you need to know is timing and recipe. These modern microwave come equipped with auto cook menu for all everyday Indian dishes and other popular recipes. I have already shared many of these Indian Microwave recipes already on the blog.

Today I am going to share with you three microwave tricks and recipes that are useful for daily Indian cooking. They cover the most important aspect of daily Indian meals- well roasted masalas, well cooked veggies and our favorite chai companion Rusk/toast.  All these diverse functions are possible with a microwave in half the time and one-fifth of the efforts than regular method.

Microwave Tricks and Recipes : 3 Microwave Tips for Indian Kitchen

Microwave is a great kitchen aid which could be put to use with such kitchen hacks. Here I have listed three super hacks- Garam masala in a microwave; boiling potatoes in a microwave; and fixing the dampened toast in minutes to accompany your morning chai. These hacks are very useful for bachelors and mothers alike. The whole concept of a microwave cooking is a hack, you can bake a 20 minute brownie in  2 minute as a brownie in a mug(on microwave high function) and even make 2 minutes mug omelet. Sounds like a bliss to me!

Here are three Microwave hacks and tips that I often use in everyday cooking and meal prepping.

Hack #1: Roasting masalas in Microwave

Perfectly roasted spices contribute to the flavour meter of the dish. When you roast them on the flame they overcook and even burn. It is impossible to always rely on instincts. So I always roast masalas in the microwave. You can roast single masala at a time, or make a masala mix such as Garam masala, balti masala mix, kolhapuri masala mix and sambhar masala.  

Who does not love a perfectly made Garam masala. This is something which we all use in our everyday Indian cooking. A common masala in most Indian dishes be it simple Matar Paneer or a delicious Biryani. It is an everyday masala in  Indian kitchen but  few of us attempt to make this mix at home.

Many of us do not flip through that cooking aid booklet and the user manual we receive along with the microwave. I suggest do it! There are a lot of innovative things which will make your life easier. We generally cling so hard to the old methods of cooking which are tiresome and take longer hours to prep any meal.

Here's How I make Garam Masala in Microwave

• Punjabi Garam masala Ingredients
• 100g Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 40g Coriander seeds (Dhania)
• 4-5 tablespoons Black pepper (Kali mirch)
• 15g Cloves (Lavang)
• 3 Mace flower (Javitri)
• 7-8 Black cardamom (Badi elaichi)
• 5-6 Green cardamom (Choti elaichi)
• 2 inch Cinnamon stick (Dalchini)
• 2 Bay leaves (Tej patta)
• 1 inch Dry ginger (Sonth)

Instructions

1. Preheat the microwave on grill mode.
2. Place all the masalas on a microwave ‘multi cook tawa,’ spread them evenly with the help of a spatula.
3. Turn  the microwave knob to bring it on 900 watts, select grill mode for roasting the masalas.
4. Now press start and turn the knob again to set the time to 1.50 minutes and press start again.
5. This will start the process of grilling or roasting the masalas.
6. When the microwave beeps and stops, let the masalas rest there for another minute and then take them out.
7. Now shift the masalas in a grinder jar and grind them into a powder.
8. Your homemade Garam masala powder is ready for the rest of the month.

Not only masalas, you can even make roasted veggie for dishes such as a roasted  pumpkin and quinoa salad.

Hack #2: Boiling Potatoes in Microwave

Aloo Paratha, Aloo Tikki, Aloo Bonda and many other such delicious Aloo recipes can be made in minutes if we have boiled potatoes. Boiling potatoes in pressure cooker or pan is time consuming. But Boiled potatoes in microwave takes just few minutes. So no more long wait or dirty dishes, you can easily boil potatoes in microwave for your favorite potato recipe in just under 6 minutes.

Some days when whole day just goes by flash, and in blink of eye its time for dinner! I resort to smart cooking in microwave and meal prep. Boil the potato in the microwave while you prepare the gravy of aloo tamatar sabzi. Boiled potatoes always saves your meals because they blend with every flavour from Chinese honey chilli potato to Nepali aloo ko achar to world famous Indian samosas.

Boiling potatoes in the microwave takes only 5-6 minutes. It could be done in a pressure cooker but then why to involve yourself with steaming hot water and the reckless whistles. Boil potatoes and other vegetables in the microwave by pressing a few buttons and it will inform you when it is ready for you to use. 

To boil  potato in Microwave you will need

2 Potatoes (or as many you want)

Instructions

1. Simply pierce the potatoes from all sides with help of a kitchen knife .
2. Place them in the microwave.
3. Turn the dial to 900wts and press start.
4. Set the time to 6 minutes and press start again.
5. When the microwave beeps, take out the boiled potatoes and use them to make your desired potato dish.

Hack #3 Freshen up Soggy Snacks in Microwave

If you do not keep your biscuits and toasts in an airtight jar, humidity latches on to them and they become moist. Sometimes even the air tight jars are of no help! Afterall it is air and it needs a tiny leak to enter anywhere. This is highly irritating when you plan to have toast with your chai in the morning and you notice they are damp. Good that the microwave can also fix the damp and moist toast. It is almost like a box which restores life;)

You can freshen up anything, a toast, biscuits, cookies, papad, namkeen, wafers and bhujiya. It is a great help when you have guest over and open the jar to realise the wafers you planned to serve are no more crisp. Thankfully life’s good with  LG microwave that comes with inbuilt de humidify function. 

To freshen up soggy  toasts you will need

As many Toasts as you want.

1. Place a paper napkin on the turntable and keep the toast on it.
2. Press cooking aid and turn the dial to select dehumidify.
3. Press start and select the weight.
4. Press start again.
5. After 3 minutes the rusk is as good as new!
6. You can alternatively put the rusk or wafers in for 40 seconds on normal microwave high mode and leave it to dry out for 2 minutes.

These microwave hacks are umbrella hacks which cover roasting, boiling and removing moisture from snacks. Sway your way through cooking with such easy hacks with amazing kitchen appliances like this LG microwave with multiple cooking aid functions and auto cook menus of various recipes.

Other than these hacks you can try out other delicious microwave recipes like corn aloo tikki, tandoori paneer tikka, sooji ka halwa, gajar ka halwa, tandoori gobhi, Stuffed tomatoes, . Make all these dishes in less time with least efforts for a feast at home.