Pre-cooked potatoes makes cooking meals easier and faster. It helps to have certain foods already cut up and prepared. That way you don’t need to do it on the spot. Let’s take potatoes for example. I know on most days I’m not in the mood to cut up a potato, when what I want to do is eat it now.
I find if I do it when I have some free time, I get it done and then just have to heat it up a little. I use potatoes in chicken soup and I like to eat them with scrambled eggs, sausauges or bacon.
Now, I don’t eat potatoes every day. I eat them when I get that craving. You know the one I’m sure. I also like to eat them if I feel a little low on energy. I know the potato has gotten a bad rap lately. But i still enjoy them. I also don’t eat a whole potato in one sitting. I only eat about a small handful of diced potato at a time. Because of this, one large idaho potato can actually last me for 4-5 meals.
So if you’re worried about carbs, think of it this way. If one large potato has 60 grams of carbs and you get 5 servings out of it, then thats only 12 grams per serving. That’s a huge difference isn’t it?
Okay this is how I make my diced potatoes.
I wash the potato with a fruit cleaning brush. No need to get anything fancy here. I used to use one of those nail cleaning brushes and that worked pretty good. I leave the skin on and cut the potato into small bite size pieces. Sometimes if I’m feeling a bit lazy, the pieces will be bigger. No biggie, choose what works best for you on any particular day.
Next I Place all the pieces into a microwave safe bowl. The bowl should be big enough that you can cover the potatoes with water and still have about 1-2 inches left for the water to rise.
Next I fill the bowl with water and using my hand mix the potatoes around. You should see the water becoming cloudy. That’s some of the starch leaving the potato and transferring to the water. I then use either a cover or my hand to block the potatoes from falling into the sink as I drain the water.Next, I fill it with water again and do the same thing. Once you drain the water a second time, fill the bowl up with water until the water is level with the potatoes.
Place the bowl in the microwave, uncovered. Since every microwave is slightly different you may need to find what works best for yours. Mine is a 1000 watt microwave and has a baked potato setting. The timer actually counts down from around 4 minutes.
That’s right 4 minutes. The first time you do this, you might want to watch it cook. The water will boil and will rise up due to the starch. If you left adequate space between the water and the top of the bowl, it shouldn’t spill over at all.
Once the timer is up, I like to let it sit in the microwave for 2-3 minutes to cook a little longer. Take the bowl out of the microwave. Be careful as the bowl may be hot. The water will be hot, so don’t let it spill on you. Use a strainer or a cover to block the potatoes from spilling and drain the hot water.
Add cold water into the bowl to cool it down and make it easier to handle. The potatoes may or may not be done completely. Once you learn your microwave you will know how long to set the timer so that it cooks all the way. I like to fry or saute my potatoes in butter, so I don’t really care if they are cooked all the way. And if adding it to a soup, they will cook further in the stock anyway.
For the most part they will most likely always be 85-95% done. A few minutes in butter and they’ll be nice and crispy. I’m starting to crave them while I’m writing this :). Whatever wont be used at the moment gets put into a container and place in the fridge.
When I’m ready to add them to a meal, I just take a small handful and put the rest back. Easy Peezy, lemon squeezy.
Want to make a baked potato in the microwave. That’s not difficult at all. What you need to do is clean the potato like above. But don’t cut it into pieces. Instead, take a fork and punch holes into the potato on all sides. This is to allow steam to escape. If you don’t do this the potato can explode.
I normally do about three pokes on each side and one on the top and bottom. Next, place the potato in a microwave safe bowl. Fill the water with just a little bit of water. I normally add enough water until it covers about 1/4 of the potato. So, most of the potato is not covered with water.
I place it in the microwave and set it on baked potato mode. After 4 minutes is up. I carefully take the potato out and wrap it in aluminum foil. This allows it to continue to cook itself. In another 5-6 minutes I cut it open and it’s usually done. If it’s a very large potato it might need a few minutes more.
If you’ve never made a baked potato in your microwave before, you’ll find it very handy. No more waiting 45 minutes to 1 hour for that baked potato. Now it can be done in around 10 minutes. Now that’s what I’m talking about. When I first found out about using the microwave I had to try it. I’m really glad I did.
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