Microwave ovens have almost all kitchens: many housewives use it for heating ready meals or fast food defrosting. And if necessary, you can use a microwave for cooking. What can be cooked in a microwave oven? Almost all dishes: soups and sauces, meat and fish, side dishes and tasty vegetable porridge, delicate pastries, and diet desserts.

Safety regulations

Despite the fact that the microwaves are currently very widespread and rare kitchen dispenses with such a technique, many people continue to treat them with suspicion. To date, there is no substantiated evidence that the food cooked in the microwave, is harmful to health. At the same time there is no evidence, and complete security of such food.

The mechanism of the microwave oven is simple: under the influence of radio waves of a certain frequency in the product heated water molecules. Thus, the product being prepared from the inside - is the main difference from traditional cooking methods.

It is believed that the microwave can be used in any ware, other than metal. But doctors still recommend to refrain from cooking and heating food in a plastic container, which is not worth a special marking. When exposed to high temperatures, heating of food, some types of plastic begin to release toxic substances. In addition, you can not use microwave ovens with damaged doors, housing or glass.

If you follow safety rules, the microwave oven can be used not only for heating or defrosting food, but also for cooking. So, lots of different soups, main dishes, desserts and preparations can be prepared in the microwave in minutes.

Soups in the microwave

For microwave cooking soups need to acquire suitable utensils such as glass saucepan with a lid or ceramic pots. The rest of the soups in the microwave oven does not differ from the usual - at the plate.

Cooking soups is simple: add up all the ingredients into a saucepan or pot at the same time, filled with water or broth and boiled at maximum power until tender. To improve the taste, many cooks prefer to pre-process products. For example, onions and carrots are passaged in oil (this can be done in a microwave oven, and the plate). Products are cut into small pieces, the size of which depends on the cooking time. For example, tender vegetables can be cut into larger and denser (carrots, beets, turnips) - smaller, so they were ready at the same time. And to make soup more delicious, it is recommended not to neglect the variety of spices and herbs.

Garnish

Baked potatoes - very tasty dish that is loved by many. And in our time, the easiest way is to cook a potato in the microwave. It will be much faster than traditional cooking in the oven or in hot coals. Simply wash thoroughly tubers, incise them peel and send in the microwave for 6-10 minutes. Ready checked with a knife or fork - usually ten minutes at full power is enough even for large tubers.

Similarly, you can bake and other vegetables. The main thing - do not forget to make an incision peel: otherwise the vegetables can "explode" during cooking. You can also cook a variety of refined vegetable casseroles with sauces. For example, very tasty cooked in the microwave potato casserole of mashed potatoes or slices of cheese; cauliflower Cauliflower: Queen vegetable table   or broccoli in béchamel sauce; cabbage with herbs and cheese; eggplant with tomatoes and sweet peppers.

Potato in the microwave are also preparing chips - a great alternative to chips manufacturing. These chips contain almost no fat, they are much more useful and less expensive than those sold in stores.

The microwave oven can also cook a variety of cereals (rice, buckwheat, millet and others), couscous Couscous: original alternative to the usual side dishes , Hominy, pasta. In essence, the preparation of these dishes is not fundamentally different from the traditional: cereals or pasta filled with boiling water and heated at full power until tender. It is desirable to use pans with lids.

Main dishes

Meat, fish or poultry in the microwave to cook faster, but the taste is usually somewhat inferior cooked in the oven. In addition, these dishes are delicious crispy crust without, of course, if a microwave does not have a grill and convection mode.

In a microwave oven good obtained from minced meat dishes, especially those that are stewed in sauces - meatballs, "hedgehogs", stuffed peppers. Large cuts of meat usually work out less meat can dry out. In general, it is best to use for cooking in the microwave bystrovarkie products, such as chicken, fish, in extreme cases - pork. Then get a delicious dish.

Bird is best to marinate a little, and then bake. If there is a microwave oven and grill modes confection, it is best to bake poultry in sauce or rub it with red pepper to give mouth-watering shades. Very tasty recipes bird with a crust of melted hard cheese.

Desserts and Baking

Yeast dough and meringue in a microwave oven does not cook, but shortbread Shortbread cookies - delicious pastries every day   or, for example, biscuit obtained is not worse than in the oven. The same can be said about various sweet casseroles, such as cottage cheese. Very good variety of "snowball" in the microwave. And fans will appreciate low-calorie desserts baked apples or peaches.

When baking is necessary to consider that the products will remain outside light for a long time, but inside they can dry out and even burn. To avoid this, be sure to observe the cooking time specified in the recipe, but also periodically check the readiness of products.

Maria Bykov