Microwave Oven Specials: Lunar New Year Food Recipes to Try
Preparing foods for festivals is never easy with guests constantly visiting your home. Socialising and entertaining your guests while serving tasty meals is not an easy task. So, why not let your microwave oven be the chef?
Here are three delicious microwave oven recipes to try this Lunar New Year.
Steamed Fish
In Chinese, fish, pronounced 鱼 “yu”, indicates abundance and prosperity, so it comes as no surprise that steamed fish is a popular Chinese New Year food.
Steaming the fish can take a long time – not to mention you constantly need to check if it’s cooking well. Using the microwave oven will get the stress out of the cooking process.
Ingredients
- Cod / salmon / sea bass
- 2 stalks of scallions
- 1” ginger
- Coriander / Chinese parsley / cilantro
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 2 green onions
- Soy sauce
- Salt
- 1 lime
- Chillies (optional)
Instructions
- Peel the onions and slice thickly. Neatly line the plate with the sliced onions.
- Slice the scallions, ginger, herbs, and garlic – set them aside. Put the raw garlic into a sauce bowl.
- Thoroughly wash the fish, then gut and fillet it. Place the fillets on the onion slices. Make sure the fish doesn’t touch the plate.
- Sprinkle some salt (desired seasoning). Add sliced ginger on top of the fish.
- Pour water into the plate just enough to not reach the base of the fish.
- Wrap the plate with 2 layers of cling wrap.
- For the average 900W microwave oven: Cook for 2 minutes on low power, then 4 minutes on medium power, and 2 minutes on high power.
- Check if the fish is cooked (flaky flesh means you’re good to go!) If the fish is not well-cooked, continue heating it and checking between intervals.
- Add soy sauce (and chillies, optional) to the garlic.
- Garnish with scallions and herbs.
- Serve the steamed fish with fresh lime.
Dumplings
Dumplings are considered a “lucky food” for the Lunar New Year. They are often shaped like oval boats. According to their belief, the more dumplings you eat, the more money you make.
There are plenty of fillings to choose from. Some famous filling choices are minced pork, fish, ground chicken or beef, diced shrimp, or simply vegetables. As for the wrappers, most just opt for ready-made wheat-based wrappers.
To make the dumplings, mix the dough (if you’re making the wrappers from scratch) and flat them with a rolling pin. Then, put the fillings and pinch the wrapper into the desired shape.
How to microwave oven dumplings?
- Pour hot water or stock into a deep dish.
- Carefully place the dumplings into the liquid (turn them over for even coating).
- Cover the dish with cling wrap.
- Microwave for 3 minutes on high power.
- Serve!
As simple as that! Time to make your dumplings in your microwave oven.
Nian Gao
Glutinous rice cake, also known as the New Year Cake, is typically eaten on the Eve of Lunar New Year. In Chinese, 年糕 Niángāo means “a year higher” which can imply to increase in wealth, business success, children’s height, grades, and more.
Ingredients
- ½ cup of sweet rice flour
- ½ cup + 1 teaspoon of water
- ⅓ cup of sweetened red bean paste
Once you have all the ingredients, mix them in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with cling wrap, and microwave the mixture for 4 minutes on high power. Serve them once cooled.
Microwave Oven: Lunar New Year Saviour
This Lunar New Year, focus on spending time with your loved ones rather than being busy cooking in the kitchen. Get your ingredients ready, and let the microwave oven do the cooking for you!
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