Microwave Oven :

The water particles in the vegetables get agitated and vibrate when subjected to Microwaves. This vibration causes heat and the vegetables get stewed. The moment Microwave oven stops, the radiation stops immediately. No radiation is emitted by the food. Use microwave oven comfortably without inhibitions.

Because mostly the vegetables get cooked with the water they contain, there is no need to put lots of water. Just sprinkle few drops and cook. That will be sufficient!!!

Use thin and transparent microwave safe plastic bowls for better cooking. Or else use heat proof bowls like borosil bowls to cook the vegetables.

Use the high, medium and low power options to cook the vegetables. Give standing time from 2 to 5 minutes before opening the door. Vegetables cooked in microwave retain the flavors. It is hassle free to cook in microwave. Use both gas stove and microwave to get the dual advantage. Beginners may use only high power option initially. Cook any Vegetable, for seven minutes on microwave high. Stir the vegetables once and again cook for 5 minutes on high power. Give standing time of 5 minutes to find your vegetables cooked. If not, (in rare cases) cook on microwave high for 5 more minutes.

For preparing dry curries, drain the excess water from the vegetables. Store that water in fridge till put to use. It is called “vegetable stock”. This water can be used instead of ordinary plain water in gravy vegetables, Dals, Rasams, soups etc.

It is simple to dry roast in Microwave. Use paper plates for dry roasting. It is convenient to handle when we are using paper plates. If you don’t have paper plates you can even use a newspaper. Put the ingredients in a paper plate and microwave for 30 seconds on high power. Stir once and microwave on high power for another 30 seconds. Now grind them in a mixie to get fresh powders. The powders we get from markets will never match with this fresh flavoured powder. In this way you can get coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, rasm powder, sambar powder---any powder you name it Even Red Chillies—just dry roast and grind---so simple!!!!!

To remove skin from the peanuts(ground nuts), dry roast them in a microwave. Take them into a rice bag and beat it to the kitchen platform. The skin gets detached easily this way.

For Andhra special AAVAKAYA, prepare mustard powder like this: take a paper plate and put some mustard seeds in it. Microwave, for the first batch, for 2 to 3 minutes and grind them in a mixie jar to get a fine powder. For the next batches it will take even less time to get dry roasted.

To soften rock hard ice cream microwave it in high power for 30 to 40 seconds. So put your bulk ice cream mixture (for parties) in microwave safe bowls for freezing.

Following is a letter from my viewer on the safety aspects of Microwave cooking together with my reply detailing my views on the subject

Hi Gayatrigaru,

First of all let me express my bliss over your recipes that are being posted day by day.

I am one of your regular viewers for your recipes.

Thanks for giving us many useful, new, delicious, nutritious food recipes.

The main subject that I write this mail is that I would like to let you know some facts of microwave cooking, that may be useful for you which I learnt from my Doctor.

Before going to that, I would like to tell you that I am not going to hurt your feelings of Microwave Oven feasibility.

I currently reside in United States and I would like to share my happiness of the thing " My pregnancy " with you :)

My pregnancy is confirmed recently and I am strongly opposed by my physician regarding the usage of Microwave.

Of-course, I never used it before but the doctor herself told me not to eat anything cooked or prepared in Microwave.

She cautioned me that it’s not at all good for the growth of fetus. Microwaves are unsafe for baby's milk.

She also told that they are trying to educate their patients and clients regarding the biological adverse effects of Microwave usage.

I came to know many things about this topic recently. We also know the fact that Soviet Union banned the usage of Microwave oven in 1976. Of-course microwave ovens are so convenient and energy efficient to use in our daily purposes.

But I came to know many hidden hazards of this way of cooking. Also, I don’t wantto  list out all of them becoz by doing so.. I think

I may hurt your personal feelings.

Gayatri garu, I know how you care for the nutritious healthy food before making any recipe and presenting it to the viewers.

The same thing, I thought of telling you some truths that I heard directly from a very good Doctor here in my place (New Jersey ).

And I am also happy that in my 7th month of pregnancy we are planning to go to my home town in India where I can escape from this Electric Stoves even, as the facts say that they are also not that much good for the digestive and intestinal organs. Of-course I have no other way right now except using the electric stove in my apartment.

Gayatrigaru, if by anyway.. mee abhipraaayaalni vyathirekinchi unte.. I am sorry.

You are an Intellectual and you know what is right from your point of view.

Of-course I also know that I should not expect that a simple mail like this will change ones opinions and self experience. But I can't resist myself from writing a mail. This is just my opinion. That’s it.

And I also say that I admire your upcoming recipes as usual and continue to support you forever as I do always.

If you think that I have written a bigggg mail.. just feel that I am a wellwisher of yours.

Thank You,

Kiranmayi Duvvuri.

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Dear Kiranmayi,

I’m happy to receive your mail. It’s more heartening to know that you are an expectant MOTHER. It’s a great moment and feeling, in one’s life. I congratulate you on the occasion and suggest that you should lay your hand on the book titled “New Baby Book”, so as to enjoy each and every stage of pregnancy. With the baby in womb and this book in your hand, you get a feeling as if you both are suddenly able to communicate with each other. Treating that you are my daughter, I feel you are carrying the most precious thing in the universe. Thus you shouldn’t be exposed to any artificial chemicals, radiation etc. Thus it is good if you are avoiding during pregnancy - Microwave ovens, cell phones, packaged pre-cooked food with preservatives etc.

As regards microwave ovens, let me first say, I am not emotional on its issues as I’m its user only - but not its inventor.  I generally adapt (not adopt) things to my requirement so as to take the best amongst the available.. The Sanskrit saying tells “Ati Sarvatra Varjayeth”, i.e., excesses should be avoided everywhere. Having said that, I would like to mention that I use microwave in the desired fashion and also share the following:

After my marriage, I didn’t have a micro-wave for 15 years. When my husband became diabetic, on doctor’s advice, there was a need to cut down on carbohydrates and fats to control his sugar levels. He was advised to reduce oil intake by 2/3 of what he was consuming. That was the time when I was also told by the doctor to reduce weight through Life-style change, i.e cutting down on carbohydrates and fats. In right earnest we reduced oil in all recipes. Such a drastic reduction is bound to make the recipes bland. Though we reconciled, others in the family, no more liked the food at home. My child put his foot down. At this juncture, it was nearly impossible to make three different  types of curries every day one for diabetic, one for weight reduction and another for feeding a growing child.  Just because one or two members in the family become calorie conscious why others should suffer? Thus the quest to prepare food without compromising on taste but with less calories began. Microwave oven together with Gas stove opened the gates of new method of cooking.

You would have noticed that in most of my recipes, I use both Gas stove and Microwave. The microwave is used mostly to sizzling vegetables with little or small quantities of water. Seasoning of these vegetables is again done on a Gas stove. While seasoning I have successfully cut the oil quantity to 1/3 of what I used to put earlier. As the vegetables are sizzled and cooked in Microwave the recipes started coming out better with the unique taste of each vegetable. They do not become soggy (as they would be when cooked in a Pressure cooker) or seek more oil when put directly on to the pan. You may check that, in most of my recipes the microwave sizzling doesn’t exceed 10-15 minutes.

The ill effects of microwave can be categorized into 3 types and they are also ranked accordingly

1.   Radiation

2.   Container / vessel  related chemical alteration, reaction on the food  

3.   Chemical alteration in the food stuff

Radiation: It’s a hazard, if the manufacturer has not adhered to the industry safety standards and the microwave leaks from the oven. We presume the enforcement agencies are conducting the routine and mandatory checks before giving licenses/ permissions to ship and market different models of these microwave products.  However pregnant ladies and people sensitive to radiations need not take the risk unnecessarily and avoid microwave ovens.

Container related chemical alteration in food: It’s a known fact that food reacts with the container in which it is cooked. Thus I prefer Iron pans to Aluminum pans while cooking on gas stove and have also put an article on this subject on my website. While the food is cooked in microwave - Glass, ceramic and plastic ware, is the descending order to specify the inertness for reaction of the food with different containers. Though plastics are the most convenient ware for day to day use, only a few plastics are microwave safe. At times even plastic-ware labeled micro-wave safe, turn out not to be truthfully labeled. Thus, I use a thumb rule for all microwave ware i.e when I put the food in a ware and heat in microwave, the food should get warm, but not the container. Such of the containers only I choose for cooking. I presume that when the container is neutral to the microwaves, the food obviously cannot react with it.

As regards doctors reservations about using microwave for heating milk and feeding bottles: Pausibly, the underlying reservations about the quality and inertness of the feeding bottles must be the reason why your doctor did not subscribe to the idea of giving microwave subjected milk to the child. Another important reason is that the milk heated in the microwave-safe feeding bottle would be very hot, and there is every chance of we unable to gauge the heat of the milk inside , due to its inertness to MW heat. Thus when the nipple is pushed into the infants mouth there is a danger of his mouth getting burnt with hot milk. Thus I really understand why the doctors say a BIG NO for heating milk in microwave to feed the infants. This "NO" is more due to the chances of a mistake that one can commit rather than the radiation and chemical alteration in the milk.

Chemical alteration in food due to microwaves: It’s known fact that raw vegetables contain the best nutritional values. The moment food reaches fire, alteration takes place – vital components are lost or are altered. So is the case with microwave also. Ill effects of cooking exist in all modes of cooking whether it be on Fire, Gas stove, Electric stove or Microwave. That is one of the reasons why fauna in the jungles which feed on raw food, do not have neither diseases nor doctors. But we can’t eat raw food, isn’t it?  Thus nutritional losses are inevitable in all modes of cooking.

We are yet to have credible outcomes of research categorically denouncing microwave cooking compared to other cooking modes. We find innumerable sites listing nutritional losses and alterations that occur in the food cooked in microwave. It’s true, but it’s equally true for other modes of cooking too, which are seldom listed. In India, I’m yet to find announcements on this subject by credible institutions, so must be the case in other parts of the world. I feel that if cooking is an evil then the different modes be compared and the lesser practically convenient evil be suggested by the researchers. Plausibly microwave cooking couldn’t be proved to be the biggest of all the evils as yet, and that is one of the reasons as to why microwave ovens are not only sold but bought more and more. Following are the two sites which look to have hosted credibly on this subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Microwave_oven

This entire discussion takes me back 35 years ago when my father first bought CALTEX gas stove for my mother. Elders at home, refused to take food cooked on this. For auspicious occasions and srardhaas this stove was turned off because they genuinely believed that AGNI DEVATA cannot reside in the gas flame which can be turned on and off instantaneously. Compared to those days, see, what is the position which a gas stove occupies in our houses today.Dinosaur didn’t adapt to change and therefore vanished from earth, whereas Giraffe adapted and survived

Now the secret of my choosing microwave + Gas stove is to reduce the overall cooking time so that vital nutrients are lost lesser and at the same time I use less oil. That’s the adaptation in Gayatrivantillu.

Reverting back to your issue, I endorse your concerns for which you may avoid microwave oven at-least till your baby comes on to solid food

Never-the-less the modern motherly (grandmother to your child) instinct makes me write this reply almost immediately. I am hosting your letter and my reply under the Title “Generation Gap on Microwave Cooking?”

God bless you and your family.