No offense meant, but one of the most unused product in the Indian kitchen is probably the Microwave/OTG/Convection - more often than not - I have seen people buy the wrong product that is not suitable for their needs and then end up not using it.
Today let’s decide which one is best for what YOU intend to do in the kitchen. I’m comparing the solo Microwave, an OTG oven and a Convection oven.
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Let’s start with what each of these products are good at, can do it but not so well and cannot do it at all.
If your main purpose is heating and defrosting and not for baking, you don’t need an advanced microwave oven with convection. You only need a solo microwave oven - which is typically available at less than 5K.
If you are like me, who prefers a multi purpose device because you don’t want to keep too many equipment, a microwave with convection oven is ideal for you. This does everything that a solo microwave and OTG do. Baking in a convection microwave oven is good enough - but not as good as a standalone OTG. It’s good for occasional bakers like me. I’ve made quite a few baked dishes in a convection oven as well.
If you intend to bake often - not necessarily only cakes, brownies but also savories likes baked pastas, lasagnas, baked potatoes - you will want to go with an OTG oven. Remember an OTG cannot be used for heating.
For grilling, rotisseries and low / no oil cooking - an OTG or a convection microwave is ideal.
So what are the dishes you can and cannot do with each of these? Again you can decide which product to go with based on what you predominantly want to cook.
The solo microwave like I mentioned is ideal for heating / defrosting. While it can cook rice, pasta, it needs a specific type of recipe and may or may not turn out as good as it would in an OTG / Convection oven. It can be used easily for popcorn and chips too.
Most of the baking, grilling dishes like cakes, pastas, rice, grilled veggies, paneer, chicken, baked samosa, baked chips, pop corn can be done in both an OTG and a Convection microwave oven.
Another frequent concern people have is with the health hazards due to microwave. The radiation in microwaves is completely harmless. It uses the same kind of low frequency electromagnetic radiation – that is used in lightbulbs and radios. Most of the risk comes from wrong use of the microwave - using the wrong containers, heating for too long that causes the nutrients to vanish and so on - not necessarily from the microwaves themselves.
So by now, it must be clear - which one is ideal for you. Now let’s talk of what vessels you can and cannot use in each of these types of appliances. The ones marked in orange can be used only if the brand you are using is marked as safe for that particular appliance.
Ceramic and silicone can be consistently used across all three appliances.
Non-stick can be used in all three only if marked as microwave and oven safe.
Glass is OK to use in microwave but only use in OTG / Convection if marked as oven safe.
DO not use stainless steel and cast iron in a microwave and convection oven. Both of these can be used in an OTG. Aluminium can be used in convection oven only in convection mode. Microwave does not penetrate through metals and hence metals are generally not
DO not use plastic in OTG and convection oven. Only use microwave safe plastics for heating.
Personally - I use mostly ceramic for baking savories, aluminium or non-stick bakeware for cakes and glass or ceramic for heating. I don’t prefer to use plastics or silicone for my cooking.
In my next videos on this topic, I’ll cover the best OTG and Microwave with convection. I’ve linked to my recommended ones in the description - if you’d like to take a look.
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