How to Hard-Boil a Single Egg in Microwave

I posted before how I make hard-boiled egg in the microwave, for purposes of adding to noodles, which I cooked together with the egg (see here).

Some of the most common reason readers land on that post was they were looking for a way to hard-boil egg in the microwave. Here is a method for those who want only ONE egg for salads, sandwiches or as snack, not for noodles. If you would like to cook more than one egg, this post is not for you. Personally, if I am going to boil several eggs, then I would just use the stovetop, or as MaMely did, use the rice cooker.

This time, my post is about preparing hard-boiled egg in the microwave using only water, a bowl, and paper towel. NO, YOU DON'T NEED A SPECIAL GADGET FOR THIS. Please take note that my microwave is a 1.6 kW one, so if you are going to try this, you will have to modify the time and experiment until you get it right.

I also have to let you know (so you won't have to repeat this) that prior to coming up with the method below, I experimented placing an egg with cracked end inside a cup with water only, and it exploded within 30 secs (I tried 3 times, using different power levels, then I gave up). Knowing that the egg does not explode when it was with noodles, I then thought, maybe the egg should have some other "competition" for the microwave energy, so it is not too concentrated in the egg and cause sudden increase in temp then explode. Hence, I thought I would try the paper towel, soaked in water so it would not burn. The first time I did this for 2 minutes, the egg had some leaked soft egg white so I nuked 30 seconds more, and the result was perfect. The second time I tried it for 3 minutes, the egg exploded before it reached 3 minutes. The third time was for 2.5 minutes, and that is the method I describe below, which gave me perfectly hard-boiled egg. Lessen the time if you want soft-boiled.

Here's how:
1. Make a ring out of paper towel and place in a small bowl. Add water to soak the paper.
2. Using a corner of a table of your stovetop, gently crack the wider end of an egg to make a small depression. This will serve as an outlet for escaping steam and excess pressure as the egg is cooking and getting hotter.
3. Place the egg cracked end up in the middle of the bowl, supported by the paper
towel.
4. Microwave on high for 2.5 minutes (or stop as soon as you notice the depressed crack rise up so it becomes level with the rest of the shell again). You will also notice that cracks will also develop originating from this depression as the egg expands a bit while cooking.
5. Let it sit for 2 minutes. The egg will continue to cook with its heat and that of the water around.
6. Use tongs to get the egg and run it under cold tap water to stop the cooking process and to make it easier to handle and easier to peel (the cold shrinks the egg and it separates a bit from the shell).
7. Peel, slice and enjoy!

Dulce de Leche (Caramelized Condensed Milk) - a Prelude to Yema

I vaguely remember a time when I was a child when my Nanay cooked ONE whole unopened can of condensed milk in boiling water for HOURS...I asked her, "What are you making?" and she answered, quite excitedly with a twinkle in her eyes, "Yema." So I waited eagerly....for a loooooong time. Then finally, the cooking was done. My Nanay opened the can of brown "yema" then she poured the contents off into a bowl. My initial (unspoken) reaction was,"Why was it runny?" because I knew yema was solid but chewy soft enough...like soft candy...so what was this brown syrup? But not wanting to displease my Nanay, who so eagerly placed some into a sliced pandesal, and onto a spoon, and handed to me for tasting, I feigned excitement and tasted the 'treat'...and was I so delightfully surprised...YEMA nga!!!! at least in taste. Mmmmm...I ate a lot!

My Nanay only made it once, probably she was also just experimenting based on a friend's directions, then probably got disappointed with the long cooking time that she never made it again, but I would never forget that time.

Only lately did I learn that the proper term for this runny form of yema was DULCE DE LECHE. My Venezuelan co-worker, knowing I enjoy cooking, asked if I like condensed milk-based desserts, and she mentioned dulce de leche, which I asked her to describe how it was prepared...and I could imagine my Nanay back on that particular day...So now, not having the time to spare (and not really eager to spend that much energy on long cooking in these days of aiming for sustainable living by using less fossil fuels), I searched for the recipe online, and for tips/methods to prepare this in the most efficient, energy-saving, and greenest (as in earth-friendly) way I could. I thought it best to do the pressure cooking for at least 5 cans per batch. (And as I mentioned in the past post on yema, I could use the microwave for preparing one can of condensed milk into yellowish yema).

What you need:
condensed milk
water
pressure cooker or microwave

Instructions:

Pressure-Cooker Method:
How many cans you want to prepare depends on you and the capacity of your pressure cooker.
Peal the label off the can of sweetened condensed milk. Put in a pressure cooker with enough water to come 2/3 up the can ( or cans ) of condensed milk. DO NOT OPEN THE CAN(S) at all. Seal on the lid and pressure cook for 45-60 minutes (depending on how runny or gel-like you want it), longer for darker and thicker dulce. The pressure in and out of the cans is equalized by the pressure cooker. Release pressure and let cool COMPLETELY before attempting to open one can (the pressure you released was that of the water and air inside the pan, not inside the can. If you take out a hot can and open it right away, the content might suddenly explode because of higher pressure compared to the cool air, much in the same way air and steam escapes quickly when you open the release valve of pressure cooker. You now have SEALED cans of dulce de leche that will keep as long as the original cans uncooked. You may want to eat this as is, or as filling for rolls, or (if runny) as topping for pies or ice cream. Make it thicker (using microwave or by longer pressure cooking time) and you come up with YEMA that is brown in color (optional to add butter and or sugar), the yema that I knew from childhood, wrapped into pyramids with a cellophane. My sons love it, plain or as palaman. (Come ice cream season, I will make a runny batch for topping.)

Microwave Method (ideal for making only one can)
Place in a big microwavable bowl. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, then stir. Microwave for 30 sec to 1 minute or until you see it start to bubble and rise, then stir. Microwave in increments of 30 seconds or less, and stir before it bubbles over the bowl. Repeatedly do the same until you get a good consistency although it may still be yellowish (or light brown). Use oven mitts to protect your hands from heat!
Let cool before you eat.

Hard Boiled Egg in 4 Minutes Using Microwave

This method of cooking egg using microwave is useful if you want to "boil" ONLY ONE egg because you are preparing it only for yourself. Photo above does not depict egg yolk as good as it was, because I used the blunt spoon to cut the egg in half, instead of using a knife. But seeing the color, you will know that it was "hard boiled" to perfection.

I have been boiling eggs by batches of 6-10 in the past, for using in ramen/noodle soup or arroz caldo, but oftentimes, my kids would forget about them. So there will be several of them eggs in the fridge, even after a week. I am not comfortable with that, especially if the egg has cracked during boiling. After a while I just toss them away; what a waste! Though I have seen and eaten hard boiled eggs sitting on the counter of some carinderia in the Philippines and I had no idea how long they had been sitting there from the time they were cooked, I am not comfortable having any cooked foods sitting on the countertop at room temp for more than 4 hours, or in the fridge for more than two weeks. That's why, boiling several eggs (to maximize use of water, time, and electricity) does not really appeal to me.

So I experimented again with the microwave. When I was a kid, I always had some protein in my ramen (mami) noodles, and some veggies when we had them in the fridge. I used to boil the egg in the water as I cooked the noodles. My kids are too lazy to do the same, so they cook their noodles in the microwave. But in an attempt to influence them to add at least a hard boiled egg in their noodle soup, I had to improvise to make hard boiled eggs without deviating from their method of cooking noodles. And I found that method...saves me time and electricity, and avoids tossing away leftovers.


Ingredients:
1 egg
HOT water/soup/arroz caldo to cover at least 3/4 of the egg upright (maybe a cup of hot water will do)

Instructions:

If using water, turn your faucet to HOT until you get it really hot. I was using hot homemade chicken stock at the time, to turn into chicken mami, so the other ingredients here supported the egg upright. Having the egg upright while uncooked helps it from leaking out the white into the water/soup. If using cold water, you might have to prolong the microwave time. Feel free to experiment and get to know your microwave better.

Tap gently the wider end of the egg and peel off some shell to create a small hole. This hole will allow for some expansion of air or eggwhite while the egg gets hot during microwaving (as you can see by the knob that formed in the photo). If you do not create a hole, there will be no outlet for expansion and the egg will EXPLODE inside the microwave (I know...I have done that!). Place this egg upright in the bowl or cup, with soup/water reaching up to 3/4 of the egg.

Cover and microwave for 4 minutes (this is for a 1.6 kW microwave). You might want to adjust accordingly depending on your microwave. I also had tried doing this with cool soup and it gave me malasadong itlog, which I also like.

I demonstrated this to my kids...they thought it was cool!

Are you ready to try it?

UPDATE: I tried doing this with only some water and using a cup to hold the egg upright. It exploded. I did it twice. Both exploded. So I think, to achieve a really hard-boiled egg consistency, you must include other foods so the microwave does not concentrate the energy only on the egg. Maybe a lower power will also work (which I have tried at 30% and it still exploded. I dared not experiment again after that).

A More Special,Easy and Quick Pichi-Pichi Espesyal Using Microwave

I posted before a recipe for

From pichi-pichi

pichi-pichi espesyal using the traditional method of steaming. My long-time blogger friend JMom made a post using microwave (isn't that kewl?). So, with my hosting of Filipino Christmas party yesterday, I prepared pichi-pichi using the microwave. Basing on some comments at JMom's post, I tried adding pandan essence (actually, it was McCormick Buco Pandan Essence; thanks to Deb for sending me several bottles). What makes it more special? I used buko water instead of plain water.

From buko

I bought several young coconuts from hannaford to use for cassava cake. Out of the 4 I bought, 3 had the right chewy consistency of young coconut perfect for salads or buko pie or cassava cake. One was too young it had the mala-uhog consistency. The boys are in love with buko water and they asked if they could have some; of course I allowed them to. But as I was reading JMom's post and the idea of using buko water crossed by mind, I immediately stopped them and measured out 2 cups (my earlier steamed pichi recipe called for 2 cups water to 1 cup cassava and 1 cup sugar; JMom's recipe called for 1:1:1 ratio). So I used 2 cups buko water, 1 cup grated cassava, and 1 cup sugar. I knew the result would be very wobbly and quite soft, but that's how I really want it so it will still be soft even after chilling.

From pichi-pichi

Ingredients:
1 cup grated cassava
2 cups coconut water
1 cup sugar
several drops of buco pandan essence (McCormick)

Instructions:
Blend everything well in an 8x8 or 9x9 microwavable dish. Microwave for 1 minute on high, stir with a wire whisk, microwave and stir repeatedly every 30 seconds until it becomes like soft paste (remember, this will continue to thicken as it cools down). I probably did this repeatedly 4-5 times, adding more buco pandan

essence until I reached my desired color. I left it for a while to cool down before I took the hot dish out and let it cool completely. Meanwhile, I asked my older son to open the coconut (the mature one,as opposed to young coconut), then my younger son to grate it. (See my primitive coconut grater here.)

Using a

From pichi-pichi

cookie scoop, I then rolled in grated coconut to coat each piece. I did buy sesame seeds upon seeing some suggestions from JMom's post, but opted to just serve it the traditional way. Only 3 pieces were left at the end of the day. My kids were leery of the greenish color, but I explained to them that the same color reminds us Filipinos of special buko-pandan salad (I tasted this in PI prepared by one of the midwives where she used the buco water boiled with pandan leaves to make runny green-colored gelatin and mixed with strips of soft buco, blocks of unflavored
green gelatin and condensed milk. It was so good!)

Now you wonder what I did with the buko flesh/young meat? I cut them in pieces and froze, then used for special cassava cake once I was ready to make it. (I had to restrain myself and the kids from eating them all!)

Caramelizing Sugar Using Microwave

The daring me...I experimented again with the microwave and tried to caramelize sugar using microwave,

From microwave-caramelized sugar

mainly because there are times I want to put caramelized sugar in small pans and make small individual servings of leche flan. I started experimenting using different power settings. After the 6th attempt, I have a final recipe for making an individual caramel-lined ramekin.

Place two heaping (ordinary) spoonfuls of sugar into the ramekin (I used glass custard cups; Pyrex or Anchor Hocking. DO NOT USE PLASTICS. Sugar can get very hot and will melt plastic containers.). Microwave on high for 1 min 30 seconds then continue in 30 second increments until you see some bubbling begins. From this point, you have to continue microwaving in increments of 10 seconds while stirring with a fork or chopstick in between to avoid scorching/burning at that hot spot (notice in my photo there was one that had darker look. If you want your caramel a bit bitter as if there was some coffee, you might like it this way). After about a total of 4 minutes you will have perfectly golden caramel. USE OVEN MITTS to handle cups. Be careful not to drop caramelized sugar on your skin; it causes second degree burns. I know, because I had them. :)

I did try it on a bigger pan and was not too pleased at the prolonged microwaving time. So I will use this microwave method only for smaller ramekin.

UPDATE as of 2-04-9:
I tried to caramelize 1 cup in a pyrex measuring cup, high power, initially for 5 minutes but I was watching it closely. As soon as it starts melting at one point, stir, then zap and stir at intervals of 30 seconds. By the end of 5 minutes total, I had a perfectly caramelized sugar ready to pour in a round foil pan (downside to foil pan, if it hardens before you distribute, you can't zap to make it fluid again). Better pour in a round baking glass or ceramic pan which you can zap again in case you have to).

What did I end up doing with them? I made custard cakes for the small ones and bread pudding for the larger one(up on my next post...)