Indian cooking in Electric Stove.

Hi Friends,
We're moving to another residence next month & the range/stove in the kitchen is the electric type -- and not our regular gas one. I spoke to the manager but they can't install gas only for one villa :icon_frown: ; that too landlord has some safety issues with it they said. No choice of moving elsewhere, as company accomodation -- we have to go there only.

I've cooked only twice so far in hot-plate, when cylinder delivery was not available -- the dosa never came crisp/roasted at all, only became a dull white !! The 2nd. time I burnt the tomato masala as even after I offed the switch, it was cooking &' bottom' was stuck !! Other than these 2 disasters, I have no clue how to adapt Indian cooking to electric stove.

Would be highly grateful if you guys out there using an electric stove, please post some tips / suggestions ; what dishes we can't make , what needs more care etc. etc. I'm really desperate for solutions ....please respond.
I'm also posting this query in Misc. section too....

Regards.

Here in the U.S.,in most apartments,you have electric stove only.You can cook all types of Indian food in that,no problem,sometimes,it will take more time to heat up thats all.For dosa,you might have to keep the knob at the maximum to heat the tava inorder to get crisp dosas.Try it once and see. Once you finished your cooking and after you switch off the stove,remove the vessel from there and place it somewhere else to avoid burning.

Thanks Sunita for making it seem so simple ! I think I will practice one dish a day in my single hot-plate & see ; so that I get used to it.
Regards.

hi kurunji,

Lot of the new apartments in the gulf are under pressure for safety norms...fire risks..the landlords dont want to take the responsibility....

So be careful you used wooden spoons..initially because you are too conscious..afterwards it becomes easier..infact better than gas..u can leave things to simmer on a minimum.... or even switch off.. but remember to remove things which can get burnt as the plates retain lot of heat....

Only issue is the electricity bill:mad:

Hi kurunji,
I had the same problem when i moved to my new house.
But cooking in electric hot plates are just easy as gas..
Only thing u have wait for long to get the plate and the vessel hot. I get good brown paper dosas ....the idea is to spread the batter only when the tava is hot hot hot... And your dosas are ready in a jiffy.
When you are doing deep fry you need to move the vessel from hot plate (to avoid oil being heated up) for sometime and get the vessel back to the hot plate once you feel the oil is not hot enough .

For other things just move your vessel as soon as u finish cooking or indeed to save electricity u can switch off few minutes before you are ready to finish cooking...

Happy Cooking....

Everybody has offered great advice here. thats good. I will just mention that you can buy foil lined spill trays to place beneath heater coils to catch spills and clean up is very easy this way.

Dear AC

Do you get foil lined spill trays ready-made? I didn't know that.I used to line my spill trays with ordinary aluminium foil..Where do we get readymade ones?

Hi,

would also like to add another tip to those above. once the tava has become hot, turn the knob to medium to maintain the heat. As the electric coil heats up fast, keeping it on hi may burn the food. Also keep an eye on the stove will heating oil, ghee etc as they heat very fast.

I also want to know where to get ready made foil drip plates.

Thanks
Mythraeyi

How do I save on this ? I mean electricity charges due to electric stove and microwave usage at home ?

I usually half boil veggies in oven and then cook sambhars and side dishes. Is that okay ?

I usually reduce from 'hi' to medium once i start cooking, for dosas i cook on 'hi' and remove the pans when work is over and even before i have switched off. From the thread, I realized those habits have been followed by everyone. Nice

Also another stupid question !!! When a non stick tava is heated, there are parts of it, which do not have the item being cooked and are exposed. So wudnt tht spoil the coating of tava ?

Hi IL,

I see nobody had posted in this thread for a long time!
Anyways, initially when I came to US, i had gas stove in Boston, but later when we moved to California,Florida,now in Virginia etc we have electric stove only.
Now being in my own home, I have electric stove...got used to it so much ...i feel it is much safer.
Infact recently bought a new Ceramic Glass top electric stove...it is wonderful...very easy to use and clean too!!
Infact, i make a lot of south indian,north indian,chinese,italian dishes too...everything comes out perfect.
But I was surprised that many of you had mentioned that non stick tava shd be kept on high heat for dosa....i find keeping it in between med and high...at the beginining....is the best way.
Though it may seem that the tava takes time to get heated...but once hot...it maintains the heat very well....high heat tends to damage the tava and makes the dosas turn too dark too.
Also whenever we finish cooking on the electric stove..it is better to remove the vessel from the stove since the heat is retained by the coil for a very long time.
One big advantage of this glass top stove is that ...there is an indicator that says hot surface and another that says stove top on...that way...we know for sure..we have switched off the stove /whether it is still hot etc
Main drawback is that we need to use vessels that fit the cook top...or else the heat will be wasted..if the bottom of the cookware does not cover the cooking surface.

Thanks
Jithiks(Krithika)