Using the stove and oven are my biggest challenges here in my Uzbek apartment. The stove burners seem to have two settings: fire and not fire. The oven lights but doesn’t stay lit. Someone is supposed to come by and investigate for me but the blackout threw everyone’s schedules into the air, so I’m not sure how long it will take to get a functioning oven (or to train me on this one, assuming it would function for someone who knew anything about gas ovens).
In the meantime, I tried making banana bread on the stove, but ended up with something burned on the bottom, raw on top, and then there was the kitchen full of smoke. So…strike one. I have gotten a new non-stick pan in the meantime, so I might try again.
I also tried a cake in the microwave and it actually worked out really well! I didn’t have cocoa powder like the recipe called for, but I do have cinnamon. The items in the grocery store are all labelled in Russian so I can’t necessarily decipher what something is, but at least in the spice section, I could tell that something with cinnamon sticks on the label is probably, well, cinnamon.
The recipe is 1/4 c. water, 1/4 c. oil, 3/4 c. flour, 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa (or, in this case, cinnamon), 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 c. sugar, 2 eggs. Mix and cook in microwave for 5 minutes. The cinnamon makes it taste like spice cake. Yum!