A week ago, I saw an ad on the television about a new microwave. Whirlpool India has introduced MagiCook 22C Grey 22Ltr Convection Microwave with a Micro Tawa option, which can make a Dosa, Pizza, Parathas etc. This convection microwave uses Combination cooking method which combines traditional cooking(bottom up heating) with the microwave technology for shallow frying. For the CRISP mode, it is a combination of Microwave and Grill together, when the Tawa is set to a certain power level the active layer of the dish is uniformly crisped and browned to perfection thus creating the Maillard Reaction.

I started my research to understand the basic Oven and its types.

An Oven is an enclosed compartment used for heating,baking or drying. The earliest known ovens existing in the Indus
Valley Civilization and the proper front loading ovens were used in the Ancient Greek for making breads.

Now let’s see what is the difference between Microwave Oven, Conventional Oven and Convection Oven.

A microwave oven works by passing microwave radiation through the food.A conventional oven has heat radiating from a single or multiple sources and heating the internal area of an oven and cooking your food.

A Convectional Oven uses a fan and a heating element to create air flow patterns inside the oven, thus ensures optimum browning of the food in the fastest possible time, sealing the juices and prevents drying out of meats.

Look at the picture below, let me now tell you about a Convection Microwave.

Convection microwave ovens combine a convection cooking with microwave oven to cook food with the speed of a microwave oven and browning of the convection oven. Convection microwave ovens are more costly than the regular microwave ovens.

A convection oven will have about a 25 to 30% reduction in cooking temperature, and a 21% reduction in cooking time, compared to a conventional oven. This comparison will vary, depending on factors including, for example, how much food is being cooked at once or if airflow is being restricted by using an oversized baking tray.

Convection Microwaves were initially considered to be high-end kitchen appliances. They were more expensive than a conventional oven. Over time the price of convectional microwaves has dropped and can be bought for around the same price as a conventional microwave.

Please share your experience if you have tried it already. Does it really make good dosas and Parathas? 

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Ancestral cabbage plants, possibly grown originally for their oil seeds, underwent even greater diversification as they became variously selected for leaves (modern cabbage and kale), stems (kohlrabi), buds (brussel sprouts), or flower shoots (cauliflower and broccoli) .

In other words, all of these are different parts of the same plant known to us as different vegetables through millenia of cultivation and artificial selection.

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Have you ever wondered how a dosa become crisp or how a bread toast is made brown and crisp? Of course, to do any of the above no knowledge of chemistry is required. But a man named Louis-Camille Maillard in the early 20th century decided to investigate. What he discovered is so fascinating that the complex chemical reaction is now called the Maillard Reaction. In normal english, it is called browning. Heat is the key to producing the Maillard Reaction and the resultant torrent of appetizing flavors and aromas. Through this reaction hundreds of new flovor compounds are produced which give the distinctive brown color and taste of the toasts, dosas, roasted meat etc. You can read the Wikipedia page on Maillard Reaction to see how complex it is. The reason I got interested is because I read somewhere that Microwave ovens can’t produce the Maillard Reaction. These days Corning does sell a browner/crisper aid for the microwave. I have tried using this aid and it does do a reasonably good job but not as good as a gas stove. But why is it that something as modern as the microwave oven can’t produce something a common fire or a gas stove or a electric stove can produce? If someone knows the answer please comment.

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Ever since I read Vinod’s post on Kakada Ramprasad, i have been wanting to go there and taste, what he described as chennai’s best badam milk. Past Sunday, got a chance to visit the place and slurp down a delightful glass of rich creamy badam milk - really very yummy.  Now, going there was a hassle (germophobes and neatness freaks may find this trip not to their taste). The narrow streets, the grime and traffic in the sowcarpet area was a bother. Kakada Ramprasad is a sweet shop on Mint Street. We found it after asking a few people around. It is 50 buildings away from the interesection with Audiappa Naicken Street (or simply Audiappan Street).  In the intersection, there is a lodge/hotel and you need to face away from it and head down Mint Street.  What a difference 20 years make? Sowcarpet and the whole Georgetown area was the place to go, whatever you wanted to buy 20 years ago. All the wholescale and major retail outlets and businesses were in this area then. Now Sowcarpet looks decrepit. Sad.

Then we went to the Triplicane area because Priya Raju wanted to check the place out. Another congested/grimy area of the city. We decided to visit the famous Parthasarathy Temple. As we parked the car, we noticed the Bharathiar Illam - the firebrand poet Subramania Bharathi’s residence converted into a museum. It has a lot of pictures of Bharathiar with fellow freedom fighters including one rare photo of Mahatma Gandhi taken in 1919. Lots of poems and letters (copies, of course) written in Bharathiar’s own handwriting. The exact room in which Bharathiar stayed also is part of the museum. It is sad that Bharathiar died at the age of 39 without actually living to see India’s independence. “Endru Thaniyum Indha Sudhandhira Dhaagam” (translation - When will this thirst for Independence be quenched?)  gives the goosebumps even today when i hear it.

After that we checked out the famous Parthasarathy Temple. It is a famous Vaishnava Temple. Couldn’t help wondering why it is not as prosperous looking as the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore?

On whole a delightful sunday.

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Updated June 12, 2007:  Harish Dorai researched and found an excellent link describing Kongu Nadu Cuisine.  Thanks Harish.

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Last night we took some friends and family to the Rasam Restaurant in Purasawalkam (off Poonamallee High Road near Dasprakash). This restaurant is from the famous Sri Krishna Sweets group and specializes in Kongu Nadu cuisine (Kongu Nadu is the region in and around Coimbatore in Tamilnadu). We ordered many of the Kongu Nadu specialties. Food was authentic, tasty and the service was very good.  The prices were economical for a specialty restaurant. Another thing we observed is the nice decor and ambience - they have converted a old palatial building into this restaurant and have outfitted with old photographs, old newspaper clippings.  Amongst the local cuisines, Kongu Nadu cuisine is not that popular compared to Chetti Nadu and others. So its nice to see a good restaurant occupying this niche.  .

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