It wasn't till I was in secondary school that I had a chance to bake something out of an oven even then opportunities to operate an oven was rare. We didn't have an oven at home during my younger years, naturally I wouldn't have imagined the oven is such a wonderful kitchen appliance.
Fast forward to recent years, I'm now an owner of a counter-top oven and a toaster oven. Both work wonderfully well and are the appliances I've used more often than even my rice cooker!
I love that preparing meals with an oven could save me loads of trouble - it's one of the easiest kind of cooking I've ever done! Best of all, the end result of this simple cooking method is healthy and flavourful food. What's more, it saves me the trouble of standing before the stove stirring/frying or keeping a lookout at the heat. The best part of it all is I save loads of time and water from washing!
Here's how I ensure that I minimize washing as much as possible when using the oven to prepare food.
I am listing the 5 main ways I've used my oven/toaster oven since I started preparing regular meals for my family.
GRILL
I love grilled chicken winglets and using the oven for grilling can't be any easier. When preparing grilled chicken winglets, remember to dry the chicken winglets with kitchen paper towels thoroughly. Marinate the meat well and all you need to do is just prep the baking tray and pop the meat into the oven. It'll save more time if you use a toaster oven because a toaster oven takes a shorter time to heat up.
SLOW COOKING
Preparing stews or casseroles the oven makes the best of these one pot meals! An all-in-one meal always saves the day when you need time to focus on other matters at home while the oven does the cooking.
STEAM
I always find steaming with a pot of boiling water troublesome because I need to wash so many items after the food is cooked. When I discovered that the oven can be used to steam meat or fish too, Oh! I didn't look back at the days of using the pot of boiling water to prepare steamed food anymore!!! Besides, I need only to rinse my baking tray after the entire process and wrap up & discard the parchment paper and aluminium foil after the food is served. You can imagine the glee on my face!
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| Teochew Style Steamed Fish |
FRYING
In view of developing a healthier eating habit I try to make chicken katsu (deep fried Japanese chicken cutlet) and potato wedges by "frying" them in the oven. I wasn't disappointed by the end result!
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| Oven Baked Potato Wedges |
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| Oven Baked Chicken Katsu |
GRATIN
My children love anything with pasta sauce and in order to interest their palate I try to vary the different uses of pasta sauce. So lately, we have been having these for lunch. One pot meals never fails! *grin*
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| Baked Pasta |
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| Ratatouille in Meat Sauce |
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| Lasagne |
I am sure there are many other ways of using the oven besides just baking. The above 5 ways of usage are my favourite ways to prepare meals for my family. I hope you've found the sharing useful.
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