Showing posts with label Call to India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Call to India. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Microwave Cooking


The one thing, I hated most was Microwave Oven. I know people using it and most of them say that, they use it for re-heat or make coffee ...basically for simple chores. I used to think, why someone should invest Rs 10K for this purpose.

Time came for me to experiment with it, due the handle that broke in my pressure cooker, which I got it & surviving during my initial days of my onsite trip.

With my initial experiments, its outcome was pretty bad with Microwave Oven.

However with the days going by and understands how it works, I can say that I have perfected the approach and can cook some of the daily need or variety of Indian recipe with ease which uses less oil.

Remember Microware Oven is used for less oil or no oil. But still you can use a max of 4 to 5 table spoons. Most of the dish recipe use this much only.

If you need to fry something like onion, chicken or potato …you need to still use the pan with required amount of oil. Never try those in Microwave Oven.

This way of cooking is healthier as it contains less oil but still the taste remains the same.

What are the things that I have tried till now?



  1. Normal Rice
  2. Roti / Chapathi
  3. All types of Pongal
  4. All types of Briyani
Why I recommend Microwave Oven…



  1. Same taste as you get it in Pressure Cooker
  2. Fewer vessels mean less work & less cleaning.
  3. No need to wait & watch. Set the time and based on the signal, you know what needs to be done next, if needed.
  4. Healthier, as it uses less oil or ghee.
  5. Hygienic & Less space
  6. Running cost compared to Gas is less or same. Microwave Ovens usually come with 1000 watts to 1500 watts. 1000 w will consume 1 unit per hour if used, translates to Rs 6 per day / Rs 180 a month.
What are the vessels that are required?

Typically when you buy a microwave oven, manufacturers bundle free offer of microwave cookware in India. Usually they will be fiber make. My recommendation is glassware for preparing rice items.

Why Glassware?

It handles the pressures due to its weight and cooks evenly similar to pressure cooker.

What type of Glassware?

Get any glassware that has a proper fitting lid. Sample picture below,





Next time, I will write down on how to prepare rice, so that you can give it a try and give its feedback.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Calling India from UK

Calling to India from UK is not as easy as dialing the number directly from mobile and keeping cost in control.

In UK, there are multiple schemes and multiple top-ups, normally as Indian would not be used to.

To simplify the understanding....I have listed some of the cost-effective options that are available currently.

A practice that is followed by a visitor or travelling for short-time

1. Buy a Lebara sim and call to India for 5p per minutes - this turn to Rs 3.50 per minute

+ Dialing is easy
- Costly

A practice that is followed by a Students from India, studying in UK is

1. Buy any SIM in UK. Usually when you buy a SIM and do top-up for ex: £ 5, they will give approx 500 minutes of local call to UK i.e. dialing to 01,02, 03 free.

They then buy a top-up for £ 2 from certain local UK providers which gives them 200 minutes calling to India.

How they dial to India is ..

1. Dial the local UK provider bridge number
2. Dial again the India number

If you do a mistake in dialing the India number, you have to re-dial again.

+ cost effective [Rs 2 per minute all inclusive]
- tedious dialing method

One more option they do is...

1. Buy calling card from VoIP providers and dial to India

+ cost effective [ From Rs 0.70 to 1.70 per minute]
- you need to have a computer with mic & speaker & internet connection
- you need to have a paypal account

An alternate to this is

1. Buy any SIM, where you get 500 minutes free for £ 5 local dialing like 01,02 and 03.
2. Buy AirTel Call Home calling card. AirTel charges around 1.2 to 1.3p per minute.

The advantage of AirTel is

1. They accept credit cards from India
2. They give Speed Dial option

How they dial to India is using this method ..


 

1. Dial the AirTel bridge number of the city you are located

2. Dial the speed dial, which you have registered in AirTel UK site


 

+ cost effective [Rs 1 per minute all inclusive]

+ easy dial

+ Indian credit cards are accepted


 

Any fluctuation on the currency, if it goes less is advantage for us.