# Thai & Indian food - Wok burner with gas/induction



## netik (Jun 14, 2013)

Hello, I love to cook thai and indian food (I'm just cooking for fun at home, but I'm a perfectionist and I want to cook it as good and authentic as possible).

Right now, I'm cooking with a 1.8kV induction stove..unfortunately. I would like to go new ways though. I heard, that I need a high power gas burner with 5 kV or more to stirfry nicely.

First of all: What do think about that? Is that true for indian/thai food, or is it only chinese?

Then: It's quite hard to find a gasburner that you can use inside..plus, I would need a 11kg gas tank  in my kitchen, as I don't have direct access to gas in my appartment. How do indians/thais do that? I mean...i can't believe everyone can cook outside all the time.

third question: Is a 3.5 kV induction wok stove an alternative? It shoudl be able to compete with a 5 kV gasburner (according to physics).

What is your opinion? Thanks a lot!


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

For Indian food you don't need high heat. Stewing/simmering is an important technique here. A lot of Indians actuallly use pressure cookers.
Thai food is quicker, but again here I wouldn't worry too much about the het source. The Thai actually cut their meat very finely, so it cooks quick..
Chinese stir fries do require high heat, but I find the recipes fairly easily adaptable to domestic cooking, but here I definitely prefer gas over electricity (I have no experience with induction cooking).
Good Luck


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Induction can do a great job with a stir fry. Induction is about 85% efficient at putting heat in to the pan, gas only about 33%.  

The hob you have should be able to handle stir fry pretty well as it is as long as you're not cooking large quantity with a full pan.  The 3.5 kV would be a very capable home unit and I would be happy to use such a powerful unit. I do most of my stir fry on an induction unit of the same power, 1800 watts. However, with your higher voltage, you should be able to get about 2x the power than i see in mine.

As to the cuisines needing high heat cooking, it is more of a Chinese thing than for the other asian cuisines though the Japanese and the Vietnamese do some of it too.


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## mikelm (Dec 23, 2000)

*"The 3.5 kV would be a very capable home unit..."*

It would, indeed... but 3,500 volts is a little more than most home circuits can deliver. I am pretty sure we're talking watts here. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

I have had very good stir-fry results with a Bodum enameled cast-iron wok on the 1500W Max Burton induction burner, which works on a regular 120v, 15w household outlet, though it's the only thing you can have on that circuit while it's running. The wok is under $40 and the Burton under $80 with a little judicious shopping on the 'net.

Induction works only with iron or steel utensils; no glass or copper. If a magnet will stick to the pot, it'll work on induction (the pot, not the magnet.)

Mike


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

That's Va. Volt ampere which is equal to watts


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