The War Of The Microwaves Heats Up

The miracle drug of todays kitchen has to be the microwave oven. If youre to believe its fans, a microwave can do everything bar the shopping. At the other hand, you have the chef who wont entrust grandmas recipes to a mere machine. As always, the truth is somewhere in between.

The microwave is catching on for several reasons it saves time, uses less oil and is as much of a status symbol in the kitchen as a cellphone is in your car. An official from Kenstar claims that cooking times could be shortened by as much as three-fourths. A microwave is also useful for reheating or defrosting food.

 

However, the microwave has its idiosyncracies: you cant boil eggs (they explode), you cant deep fry (the oil doesnt heat enough), and youd better be prepared to hang up your metal cookware (though you can use virtually anything else, from wood to plastic to glass!).

Until recently, microwaves were available only from a customs shop, with sizeable duty thrown in, or from your friendly neighbourhood smuggler. Now several companies here make them, to be joined by Daewoo and LG a month down the line.

The first decision you must make when youre shopping for a microwave is how specialised you want it to be. Many people opt for a micro-conventional oven, a two-in-one option that works both as a microwave and as a conventional oven. Others prefer a microwave that has a browning element without it, the tops of cakes and pies dont brown and meat turns a deep red rather than dark brown. Although in all cases the food has cooked all the way through, the colour can be disconcerting for the normal foodie.

Some models, such as the Samsung CE 124 CF and the BPL 900T offer all the facilities youd expect from a conventional oven grilling, baking, browning and so on, plus the microwave cooking. These combination ovens have a minor drawback, though you wont find anything smaller than a 40-litre capacity oven. That allows you to cook for about 12 people at the same time! These ovens will set you back by around Rs 25,000-27,000.

In contrast, a conventional Philips oven will cost you Rs 3,595 and a standard 23-litre microwave oven costs around Rs 12,000-13,000. That adds up to about Rs 17,000 substantially cheaper than the two-in-one option. But this option wont allow you to cook for large quantities of people. Samsung also offers the option of retaining only the grill from the conventional oven, which will allow you to brown microwaved food, with the CE 945 G. Most microwave manufacturers also offer you a wide range in the capacity, from 20 to 42 litres. IFBs Electron is the smallest microwave on the market, while BPLs 900T is the mammoth of the group.

Now you need to look at the features on offer preset timing, auto cook, auto reheat and auto defrost being the major options. Auto reheat comes in useful for tea, soup, sauce and main dishes. The auto cook option makes the cooking of cereals, rice, fish and certain vegetables a push of a button away: you select the type of food, punch in the weight of the dish and the microwave selects the power level and time automatically. For other dishes you can programme the microwave to cook at a certain level of heat for a selected time, after which it will switch automatically to other levels as required.

Some microwaves offer a heating range from 1-10, which can be helpful if youre looking for the exact amount of heat. Others cut out the bells and whistles and give you just the three most widely required options high, medium and low.

Kenstar offers preset timing for six dishes and auto defrost. National offers preset timings for 10 different dishes. While BPL offers auto reheat, auto cook and auto defrost, Samsung offers only auto reheat and auto defrost. But Samsungs 26-litre model has an edge over its BPL counterpart thanks to its grill facility. Some models such as the IFB Electron dont offer auto cook.

Most models allow you to preset the timer so that the microwave can do the cooking while youre away. Though salesmen tend to highlight this feature, it may not be particularly useful if you live in an area with uncertain power supply. There are a few additional features, such as the child safety lock offered by most.

There are also a range of finance schemes on offer. Srinivas of Fridge Cool Electronics says that one of the more popular schemes available is the Country Wide finance scheme. For all schemes, youll need your ration card, bank pass book, salary slip and a photograph on hand. They offer the option of instalments over a period of one, two or three years, but this automatically ends your chances of getting a discount. For example, Srinivas says, a discount of up to one thousand rupees could be available on the Kenstar 9706 if you make full payment.

IFB has a special offer for Mumbaiities, who could save more than Rs 1,000 if theyre willing to wait for 15-20 days. The IFB Electron model would cost just Rs 8,315 for the patient. Srinivas elucidates, The long wait, and therefore the benefit, is caused if the appliance is bought from Daman. Though these models also come with a one-year guarantee, buyers will not be eligible for any further discounts.

Once youve acquired your brand-new microwave, make it a point to read the manual carefully. BPL issues a strict warning that no metal or crystal utensils should be used both cause arcing that might damage your microwave, or worse, make it explode. Then start with something easy, like popcorn, before you go on to wow the neighbours with paneer mattar in five minutes flat.