Microwave Pressure Cooker

Effectiveness at Microwave Speeds!

Microwave Pressure cooker is inevitable tools to making a great lunch, dinner or feast. They can cook the food well and still retain the nutrients, giving an excellent combination of succulent food rich in nutrients.

The major flip side of cooking food in a pressure cooker is the time required. Pressure cookers can take anywhere between 10-15 minutes to cook the food. In today’s jet age that’s like eternity.

Microwave pressure cookers are fast becoming popular as they can target this very market. You can get pressure cooker like results at microwave speeds. With microwave finding a place in almost every kitchen, it is not surprising that microwave pressure cookers are becoming very popular.

How Does Microwave Pressure Cooker Works

If you have bought a new one and are still trying to figure out what to do with is, the details given below may just help you.

To start with understand how the pressure cooker works. You have liquid at the bottom that is heated by the microwave. The steam that is generated is trapped in the pressure cooker by the lid. As a result pressure builds in the cooker and that cooks tough food stuff effectively and efficiently.

How to Use

Now let’s see how to achieve that with your pressure cooker.

Fill in water in the pressure cooker at the bottom till the marked level. If you want to replace water with some other liquid to add special flavor to your dish, do that. Now place the foodstuff to be cooked on top of this water. This could be vegetables, meat, etc.

Ensure that you cover the pressure cooker properly with the lid. As explained above, the lid cover is vital in creating pressure, so if the cooker is not covered properly, the steam doesn’t get trapped and you don’t get desired pressure.

Now place this assembly in the microwave and cook for the specified period of time. Typically, the user guide would give you great estimates with regards to the times, depending on the power of the microwave.

Once done, don’t rush to remove the contents from the cooker. You must understand that there is a lot of heat and built up pressure in the cooker. Trying to open this cooker directly can be dangerous.

For safety reasons, most microwave pressure cookers come with a pressure indicator – a small bulb that sticks out if there is pressure in the cooker. Wait till this indicator shows no significant pressure in the cooker and open the lid.

To bring down the pressure, you could place the pressure outside and wait or after sometime pour water on top of the cooker lid to bring down the pressure faster.

There are a couple of things you should be careful of while using the microwave pressure cooker:

Never open the lid of the cooker as long as the pressure gauge shows significant pressure inside.
Never fill the pressure cooker more than 60-70% of its capacity. You need to leave that additional space for steam to form and cook. If not, there would be no space for steam and that can cause the pressure cooker to explode.

There are many recipes which are cooked faster with a pressure cooker than the traditional pot cooking.

The same can be speed up even further using the microwave pressure cooker. For example, dishes like chicken stock. For this dish, you can add chicken, vegetable and spices in the pressure cooker and cook it for 10-15 minutes – depending on the power.

Once cooked, pour out the liquid and refrigerate it. Overnight, all the fat gets separated and you have fresh chicken stock ready for your dinner.

Similarly, there are many other recipes where you would use a traditional pressure cooker, which you can cook faster with a microwave pressure cooker.

Some of the popular microwave pressure cookers that you may be interested are discussed below

Micro Magic

This is a microwave pressure cooker from Maxi Aids. With a 2.5 quart capacity, it is a decent buy to steam vegetables and cook rice, etc. It uses a high quality plastic that can be switched between fridge and microwave, without a lot of fuss. Besides, being dishwasher friendly, is a big plus. You won’t have to clean the cooker separately.

With measuring cups and other accessories, you can measure what you are cooking properly and avoid adding less or excess water. The cooker also comes with lid that can be locked to ensure the goodness in the food stays in. However, there have been reviews of excess water spilling out of the cooker.

Handy Gourmet

Jobar International JC2045 Microwave Pressure Cooker

This is an effective ones from Handy Gourmet. Like the Micro Magic, this one also has features like heavy grade plastic body that is dishwasher safe and lid that can lock onto the container.

The capacities are around 2½ quarts which is again common. With accessories like measuring cup, you have greater control on the quantities ensuring well cooked food. Another attraction for those of your who like to try out new recipes is the free recipe book that you get with this unit.

Nordic Ware 62104

This is a high end quality designed to cook everything from chicken to rice in quick and effective manner. The product is compact and has a capacity to hold 3 pounds of meat or 2½ quarts of liquid. All kinds of food can be cooked within 30 minutes – even meat. With recipe book included in the package, you can try out new dishes or even recipes you know with the microwave. The container is aesthetically designed so you can serve the food in the container itself.

The only disadvantage of this unit is its price as compared to the earlier ones. While the other two products range between $10 -$15, this one tops $45. It comes with the high quality and durability that one tends to associate with a brand like Nordic Ware which makes the unit a good value for money.

Which to Pick?

Microwave pressure cookers may soon become inevitable for people who cannot find time to cook good meals. When comes to choices there are plenty available in the market right from the cheap ones to the more expensive ones.

This microwave pressure cookers is not the same as pressure cookers you have. This products only have a simple sliding lid to prevent the pressure build up. So when cooking you have to think as a crockpot rather than a pressure cooker. And this works better in lower watt microwave oven.

Compare between price, of course Micro Magic and Handy Gourment are cheaper than Nordic, I believe those 2 are the same but labeled with different brands. To compare its feature Nordic has guarantee of 30 minutes or less to cooks and make it tender plus it is made in USA. So personally I'd recommend Nordic Ware rather than those 2 other brands, because of its superior performance and durability.