So basically, our stovetop is broken and we don't have the money to eat out for dinner very often. We have a working oven and most of the standard kitchen appliances (no microwave, though). Short of eating vegan frozen pizza for dinner everyday, what can we do?
We've tried some gratins and lasagna, but neither were really worth the time and money (vegan cheese isn't very good here). A hot plate seems like a waste, considering that the stove will be replaced soon (hopefully). Would a microwave be worth it? Any help is appreciated.
Edit: Thanks everyone for the many suggestions! We're getting a hot plate (paid for by the landlord so that we don't get to reduce our rent) and I'll consider buying a slow cooker at some point. In the meantime, I have a lot of new recipes to try out now lol
Oh, here's one that doesn't need any cooking at all! Chickpea tuna salad. Take a can of chickpeas, drain and rinse and toss in a bowl. Then smash those things with a large fork or something (we've been using a pastry cutter recently). Once it's smashed to your liking, add vegan mayo, mustard, pickles/relish, and some salt and pepper. Or whatever else you want in a "tuna" salad. Make into sandwiches or just spoon onto saltines.
I'll try to think of other stuff we've made that doesn't require a stove. I'm not big on ovens, really, so I'm a little out of my depth here.
Seconding this, I make it pretty often and its great! I also add some seaweed for a small amount of 'seafood' flavor; its cheap, and lasts forever; got a pretty big pack for sushi wrapping like 4 years ago from my local asian market, and its only like half used at this point. Just shred it with my hands into the mix when I go to mash it. Use it in soups and stuff pretty often too.
It's a glass-ceramic induction cooker and there's a long, thin fracture on one side going from the bottom to the middle. The electronics work fine, it's just that it doesn't seem safe to use. I thought about simply putting some tape on it, but really I don't want to do anything risky when electricity is involved.
I mean a simple haul of roasted veggies is always good, roast some beetroot, potatoes and carrots and you're half way to a russian salad too if you chop them up and add some cashew cream.
You can do this with microwave rice or use a rice cooker: https://hexbear.net/post/151655/comment/1837240
Also, I highly recommend getting an instant pot or hot plate or something. They're cheap and broadly useful, and can completely replace your stove for most applications.
I liked these: https://thewoksoflife.com/roasted-root-vegetables-miso-glaze/
I came here to post miso glazes roasted veggies and was glad to see others spreading the good word
Their recipe for marinated roasted beets is also good shit
Random ideas:
Salad (especially stuff like blackbean salad ). Roasted veggies, especially like smashed potatoes. Stuff in blender or food processor, like hummus or Baba ghanoush. Tacos/burritos, you can just fill with roast veggies, or roast tofu in oven and crumble. Dunno if you have rice cooker (could be worth investing in regardless, especially if you get a combo slowcooker), but that can steam a lot of things, like buns or dumplings or veggies. Cassaroles have a bad rap, but can be very tasty and cheap.
You should get a slow cooker, you can get them pretty cheap second hand. You'd still need it even if the stove is fixed quickly, kinda like a microwave.
Okay, how about some kind of wrap? Like avacado, tomato, cucumber with hummus.
Find a simple lentil patty recipe.
After getting the goop ready, you can either drop it onto a preheated skillet in the oven or try to use the broiler. Broiler might cook the outside faster than the inside though. Also, add more flour/binder until the goop is more firm than runny. If you oil a pyrex casserole/baking dish you can also just plop the patties in a preheated one of those and stick it in the oven for like five minutes, pull it out, flip it over, and put it back in for another five.
Sweet potato or just regular potato fries as a side is pretty good.
Biscuits. Either regular(ish) style where there are a bunch of biscuits or just line a casserole/baking pan with the biscuit dough and cook it at the temperature on the recipe but maybe for less time (the biscuit mix should cook faster as it will likely be thinner than a drop or rolled biscuit).
If you've got a cast iron skillet that can safely be used in your oven (right size and no wooden parts) you can make tortillas and flat bread. A bit more labor intensive than just lining a baking dish with biscuit dough though.
Dutch Baby! Its just a pancake recipe, poured into a casserole dish, add whatever toppings you want. Nuts, seeds, fruit, jelly, etc. Cook at 375F for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick/skewer comes out clean. Add another 5(ish) minutes if using frozen fruit.
Black bean brownies are pretty damn good, you should be able to find recipes online that are vegan. It will require a decent blender though. Now, I've never used egg replacer so I don't know off the top of my head how to adjust the recipe that I normally use, to make it vegan. I'm guessing that without eggs/egg replacer, you'd need to omit the baking soda and the end result would be more like a thin fudge brownie instead of a more poofy cake browie. It might cook faster too, so keep checking on it.
I'd get a slow cooker or electric pressure cooker before a microwave tbh, assuming you don't have one. Those unlock all kinds of zero-effort soups, stews, etc - really good for easy risotto.
Tbh instead of a hot plate you could get an electric pressure cooker like an instant pot since most have a "sauté" function that effectively turns it into a hot plate+pan combo when used with the lid off
This is unfortunate. You can make tofu by battering, dredging with oil, and baking, but I think it's worse than pan fried.
I also recommend getting an instant pot. They're like $30 used. You can saute in it if necessary. I primarily use mine to make seitan and to cook dry beans or chickpeas in an hour without soaking beforehand.
You can make most things in the oven if you try hard enough. I think there's a way to make rice in the oven for instance.
low heat, partially covered with a lid, it will kinda work like a crock pot.
Try to use a deeper pot to reduce chance for boil over.
Might put a cookie tray under neath in case it does boil over.
The best way might be to seal it super tightly on a sheet tray. Rice cooking is weird, rice will only take it's dry volume in water, but the extra is to account for evaporation. If there's no evaporation, you don't need additional water.
if you have access to nutritional yeast and tvp you can easily make lasagna without any vegan cheese , just make the cheese sauce and skip the rest of the recipe honestly. The sauce is god-tier.
Make roast sweet potatoes. Bake whole and unpeeled in the oven at 425 for 25-40 minutes depending on the size. The skin will puff up and the bottom will caramelize and you can peel them very easily once cool. You can make a bunch of these and warm them up later. Really good with basically any roast veggies or even on top of a bagged salad. I also really like roast chickpeas which you can make with a can of chickpeas tossed in some olive oil, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper and roasted at 400 or so for like 10 minutes.
Baked tofu is good. You could make a lot of that to have on top of some salads or on a sandwich. You can just use a bagged salad mix and chop up whatever other veg you have.
If you want to get an alternative to the stovetop that will be useful after it's fixed, I would suggest an electric skillet or an electric pressure cooker. If you don't have a pressure cooker, it will change your life when you want to speed up cooking dried beans or grains like brown rice that take a while to cook. The electric skillet is really nice for stuff like frying where you want temperature regulation.
