Cooking Rice In A Microwave Oven

This is the first time I’m doing something so crazy with my microwave oven and it’s all because I wanted to cook some rice just for myself without dirtying the entire rice cooker.

DSC08395

Here’s the rice. Anticipating more evaporation, I gave it just a little bit more than the usual amount of water. This goes into the microwave and I cooked it at high heat for about 5 mins. The mixture boiled till the swollen grains appeared on the surface. I gave it a stir and continued cooking at low heat for 5 mins.

DSC08396

This is what it should look like. It may appear dry on the surface, but it’s actually pretty moist. Toss it around, then cook at low heat for another couple of minutes.

DSC08399

Microwaved rice is a little softer than rice you normally get in your automatic rice cooker. I use pretty high quality fragrant rice, but the fragrance seemed to be missing in the microwaved rice. Perhaps a lid would have given me better results.

Kunlun Snow Chrysanthemum

This translates roughly as Kunlun Snow Chrysanthemum and it looks a bit like wild chrysanthemum. Upon brewing, it gives out a bit more colour than flavour. The common Hangzhou chrysanthemum tastes better, but it’s not bitter like wild chrysanthemum, so sugar is optional. It actually tastes a bit like honey.

DSC08390

DSC08391

DSC08392

DSC08393

昆仑雪菊 is rather pricey. That’s because it is rare, difficult to harvest and believed to have some therapeutic effects, lowering blood pressure, blood cholesterol and also cools and detoxifies. Don’t throw your medicines away. The health benefits are probably exaggerated.

According to Baidu:

昆仑雪菊不是一个独立的物种,其实是生长在新疆的蛇目菊的商品名称,又名天山雪菊、冰山雪菊、高寒香菊。据专家考证,昆仑雪菊在喀喇昆仑山脉默默绽放了3000年,生命力极其顽强,卧冰俯雪、历经寒暑,吸纳昆仑山脉天地之灵气。生长环境极其恶劣,终年积雪,人烟绝迹,且周期慢,花期短,采摘非常艰难,产量极为稀少,且昆仑山3200米以上的自然环境恶劣,到处是荒漠戈壁,适合种植的区域只有雪水融化经流绿洲。中乾堂为您提供的有机绿色、优质的昆仑雪菊。由于雪菊花特殊的生长环境,有降血压、血脂、清热解毒等作用。