Otang or Oven Tangkring or Oven stove, made in Indonesia

Huahaha...

Sengal. That's the only word I can think of at the moment.

My husband and I have been thinking of something totally outrageous for the last couple of weeks. It involves baking/grilling a kilo of juicy meat, marinated in a combination of various herbs, spices, and other things.

The only drawback was we didn't have a reliable oven in the house. Of course, we could've just bought a new one but that would be spending above our budget-line this month. So what did we do but to have a look-see at the Pasar Tanjung last Sunday in search of an oven.

Hubby had this brainwave of buying the antique kind of oven that our grandmoms used to use when baking biskut and kueh raya. Being a city-girl (yeah, yeah, budak bandar), I hadn't the foggiest how they work. But like always, when in dire need of something important (especially an oven), one will find that one will be determined enough and resourceful enough to learn something new.

The oven that we bought was aluminium-made and, if I may be so bold, rather crude. But never judge a book by its cover. It didn't have any special brand, and is quite light, although rather big. It has three trays inside and no oven thermometer (what a pity). It's relatively easy to use; just put it on top of your stove and turn on the gas then wait till it reaches the desired hotness. I just test the hotness by sticking my hand in and count till 10 secs. If you can just stand the heat, it's about 200 degrees celcius. If you can stand till 15 seconds, then it's about 180 degrees. Easy when you are used to sticking your hand into an doorless oven for years :P There are air-holes on either side of the oven and also at the back for air circulation.

One thing of using an oven of any kind- DON'T allow any moist/wetness on your oven glass- they'll bound to explode to smithereens when you bake. And don't wash it when it's still hot or you'll find yourself sweeping the floor with broken glass.

Here's a preview of the oven tangkring, or shall we say, oven atas dapur gas, which we bought. Costs RM45 but we got a bargain of RM38 here in Tawau.

And here's the doorless oven that had seen better days (baru guna sebulan dua pintu dah meletup :P )

I tested the oven tangkring by making some buns and bread this evening. It was something of a foolish yet courageous thing to do that I used a new recipe, as I didn't know how it will turn out. But alhamdulillah, the buns and bread turned out soft and yummy, and thankfully, well-cooked inside.

One thing I found out is that the buns further back in the oven tend to be more quickly cooked then in the front. That was why there were bits burnt here and there. In the picture, the left are cheese buns, on top right the mini pizzas (one eaten already), and below are the sausage buns (sosej terkeluar, tak tutup dengan kemas. Pula tu lupa nak rebus dulu sosej tu masak lama sikit, jadinya terlebih garing :P )

N/B: One thing, don't ever use old cheddar cheese blocks for your toppings. They get dry, burnt, and don't melt properly.