To ask you to help me plan meals?

[HelenaWaiting]

Posting here for traffic. My oven has died. It's unfixable. In eight weeks time I'm having the kitchen refitted (new ovens and hob included) so I'm going to try to cope until then without an oven.

Can any of you experts chip in with meal ideas? I'm feeding three, sometimes four adults. We tend to cook everything from scratch although we do sometimes use oven chips. We eat almost everything but there is an aversion to mushrooms.

I have at my disposal - a four ring hob, a grill/warmer oven, and a microwave. I'm already planning chilli and spag bol that can be prepared on the hob but it's all starting to look a bit boring/repetitive and eight weeks is feeling like a long time.

The only meals l cook in the oven is pizza and a roast.
I think you can cook everything else on the hob or microwave. Stir fry, curry, soup,you can poach fish on the hob or fry. What do you normally cook in the oven?
I expect someone will be along soon to tell you need an air fryer apparently you can cook a roast in them.

BBC Good Food website has lots of recipes. Italian, Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Indian food can all be cooked on the hob.

Just off the top of my head...

Stir fried rice with prawns/chicken/vegetables. We often do an Indonesian one with mackerel fillets. Similarly stir fried noodles.

Fajitas - serve with wraps and all the accompaniments.

Lots of pasta dishes can be done in one or two pans on a hob.

Thai curry with rice. Or actually most curreis could be done on the hob,

Fish stews with crushed potatoes/rice.

Slow cooked meat with mash and veg.

Some snacky beans on toast/egg of toast type meals.

Could you get a cheap/2nd hand air fryer to tide you over?

Otherwise I'd be batch cooking chilli/curry/spaghetti Bolognese and doing things like stir fry, risotto, pasta etc.

We haven’t really used our oven since we got a Ninja about 2 years ago.

Second the air fryer idea.

I'd get an air fryer if i was you...I barely even use my oven these days.

agree with buying an air fryer, i also hardly ever use my oven these days.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not going to get an air fryer. I'm getting one with my new kitchen.

Our air fryer was £25 from Asda. Worth it for 8 weeks and just chuck it on fb marketplace after.

Stir fry and rice / noodles with prawns
ramen with ready cooked chicken
risotto
chilli & rice
pasta & sauces
quiche, salad & new potatoes
pan fried fish with veg & new potatoes
sausage & mash
curry

Jambalaya and other one pan rice dishes
Pad Kra Pao with rice
Stir fries
One pan enchiladas (with the wraps in the pan with the taco mix) this is a good one

What were you using the oven for? I guess the issue is finding new ways to make those things for the interim. If you’re more confident using the oven, would someone let you batch cook things to reheat?

We mostly use the hob, and I do a lot in the microwave, too. I find rice easier in the microwave (fill to the same level with boiling water, add a stock cube, 10 minutes covered in microwave, covered but with a small hole for the steam.)

I also steam fish and veg in the microwave. If you add salt to the skin of a jacket potato it crisps a little.

Hob:

• stir fries
• curries
• pasta (w/pesto, carbonara, cheese sauce, etc)
• soup
• marinaded chicken pieces (you can also cook them down in juice - orange is gorgeous, and we do apple and caramelised onion sometimes )
• daal
• steak
• pork escalopes
• fried/scrambled/ poached egg
• omelette
• tortellini
• risotto
• ’dirty’ rice
• marinaded tofu
• prawns
• mussels
• pan-fried fish

Sides on a hob:

• rice, mash, veg, quinoa, polenta, boiled potatoes

‘no cook’ sides:

• salad
• couscous (leave to stand in hot water with a stock cube)
• bread

Good luck! We had four weeks without a hob once and it wasn’t fun.

I'm realising we used the oven a lot. I tend to cook whole chicken/duck/joints of meat and make stir fries and curries with the leftovers. We mainly cook fish in the oven too. I also roast a lot of vegetables. (No wonder the oven has packed up; it's clearly exhausted) I've recently learned to tempura though, which is fun.

Cheapest I've seen is 60 quid. I clearly need to research more. I'm also worried that a cheap one might be crap.

https://direct.asda.com/george/electricals/kitchen-appliances/air-fryers/cream-retro-6l-digital-air-fryer/060052687,default,pd.html?cmpid=ppc--geor-------_-dskwid-_dm&utm_campaign=pla:Home_BAU-_Performance_Max&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18864434298&gbraid=0AAAAADwhMoCVJnGMXA9i4NxkzWW-vR8jY&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp-Toq763jwMVFZFQBh24vDdbEAQYAyABEgKv-_D_BwE

I’ve linked our one for you, OP. We have no problems with it despite it being cheap. We use it more than our double ninja!

Oh tell me about the tempura?

Could you give me the recipe and tips please?

Hi OP

I was in a similar situation earlier this year when I had to wait for a new kitchen after an issue. I bought a cheap air fryer from Asda for about £20 and it was fine. Worked well and has now been donated to my nephew as he heads to university. You might find some bargains at the moment as shops cater to students needing to kit out a kitchen. I also used my slow cooker a lot but appreciate it’s another bit of kit you might not want.

I barely use my oven as do most of my cooking on the hob. So, here is a bunch of things we have regularly:

Chicken burrito bowls/tacos - chicken and rice/tacos cooked on hob. salsa and others made on side.

Fajitas with halloumi, chicken or steak.

Pasta with any number of sauces. Ditto Gnocchi. Ditto risotto.

Paella.

Fried or poached fish. I also grill it quite often which you seem to still have?

Stir fries.

Curries served on rice.

I haven't done this for ages but I am planning to poach a chicken in the next week or two for the purposes of having chicken for salads/sandwiches/meals as I do also like that convenience and want ot poach it so I get stock too.

Fried or grille steak/chops served with new potatoes and salads.

we also love roasted veg so I feel your pain on not having those for a while.

Also, if you use oven roasted chicken for stir fries and curries etc - just buy chicken breasts or thighs (deboned) and cook them on the stove to use in the meal. It adds a step but it's what I do routinely anyway. I use leftover roast lamb in lamb curries or I use fresh lamb neck or lamb shoulder (lamb shoulder if I'm willing to cook it long and slow, neck if I just want a quick curry made in 30 minutes).

@TTC1x Amazing. Thank you so much.

@Letsgoroundagainnow I use a selection of fish and vegetables - basa is nice for this. Slice the fish and the vegetables into 2-3cm strips (small florets if using cauliflower or broccoli). You need a heavy bottomed pan with about 6cm oil - I use rapeseed - get the oil very hot. A warm plate covered with kitchen paper to drain the food.

To make the tempura batter - mix equal parts plain and cornflour (75 - 100g of each caters for four people) in a very large mixing bowl. Add a handful of crushed ice and about 500 ml sparkling water (spring or soda water). Whisk until the flour is incorporated - don't overdo this, you'll lose the bubbles. Drop all the food into the batter mix. Lift 4 or five pieces at a time into the hot oil. Cook for 5-8 minutes or until the batter is golden. Checking the first piece of fish is cooked is helpful to calculate if you need to adjust the cooking time. Drain on kitchen paper and repeat until all your food is cooked. Serve with lime wedges and a dipping sauce.

Be really careful when cooking - the tempura tends to spit when dropped into the oil.