Some cuisines, such as Southeast Asian, presume your kitchen fire is available most of the day, so grilling a few small ingredients is quick and easy. This is not necessarily so for us in the West. I needed to roast a few shallots, garlic cloves and ginger slices until browned. Doing this in the broiler is very inconvenient, difficult to control, uses a lot of gas, and heats up the kitchen.
The solution I found is a Japanese stovetop Grill Pan (Fish Grill). Unfortunately, the Japanese presume you will use it for fish, so the grate on top is too wide for many uses, but I found small things roast just fine directly on the ceramic coated grid. The unit in the photo is 7 x 9 inches (18 x 23 cm).
This device can also be used for heating roti or tortillas, toasting slices of bread, and many similar tasks.
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