An economical and safe way to cook an egg with a microwave oven
My recent experiments: Best way to cook shelled eggs on high power in microwave (my old microwave gets stuck on the highest setting, so highest setting it is). First try - Used a 1kg, plastic yoghurt container > filled half-full with cold water > brought the water to boil > placed 2 eggs carefully in water so that it didn't crack > put in microwave with lid on container for 3 minutes. Result - After about 2 minutes one of the eggs exploded ( I wanted to cook for 3 minutes) which prompted immediate stopping of cooking process. Luckily not much of a mess. Both eggs were already hard cooked (actually overdone). So clearly I knew this procedure will work, the only thing was to shorten the cooking time to avoid explosion and overcooking. Second try - Same procedure. This time I only cooked the eggs for 30 seconds and then let it sit for 10 minutes. This resulted in soft cooked eggs (yolks not running anymore, whites cooked but very soft). That will be fine for people who like their eggs soft but for me about 45 seconds will be perfect, I reckon. Any longer and you are running the risk of overcooking and explosion (definitely not longer than 1 minute).
I emptied 2 eggs into a bowl and cooked them in the microwave, unscrambled, at 30% power for 4 minutes. Nothing exploded or even sputtered, though the white had a big bubble in the middle at the end. The yolks cooked without any drama. I'd say they were overdone. Next time I'll try 20% power for 3 minutes.
I think I have perfected my method. Changed to a 500 ml plastic container with lid which is just right for boiling two eggs (in single layer, flat). Fill container about half-full with tap water (just enough so that it will cover the eggs when added) > bring water to boil (about 3 minutes in my 850W microwave) > carefully (slowly) place the eggs in the container (I use a table spoon) and close with lid > nuke for 40 seconds on high and let sit for another 10 minutes afterwards > fill container with cold water to cool down. Perfect, even the shells seem to remove easier in comparison to conventional cooking. All in all, only about 4 minutes of actually using the microwave oven. Very economical.