April 1st, 2010
I am extremely tight on kitchen counter and storage space so I scrutinize every kitchen appliance purchase and manage to make do with the bare essentials. One product I had wistfully longed for was a food processor but I already owned a blender and couldn’t see owning two appliances that somewhat perform the same task.
One holiday season there was a display of Hamilton Beech mini food processors at a bargain price so I bought one and insisted to myself it would make a great gift.
Once home I eyed the box and decided to fish out the instruction manual just to see what this little guy could do. The manual was informative but didn’t exactly satisfy my curiosity. Carefully I unwrapped the mini processor from its packaging and set it on the counter. It barely took up any space at all!
Examining the blade I wondered how effectively it would work on some of the things my blender was pitifully poor at chopping. Suddenly I decided to give it a try.
First I made breadcrumbs, unlike my blender the mini made fine crumbs with no large pieces left in the container. Next I chopped an onion and again I was satisfied with the results. Then I pulled out a hunk of ham and set about making some ham salad - the arch nemesis of my blender.
What joy!
The mini chopper shredded every bit without those annoying big chunks left behind and I didn’t have to keep scraping down the sides of the container. Needless to say the processor kicked my blenders butt and no one ever got that mini processor as a gift that year.
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March 25th, 2010
Cooking Indian food is often considered a laborious process, involving a lot of tedious preparation. This is true sometimes, when a lot of spices that have to be ground fresh. But there are always shortcuts and I often use them and never found these tricks to diminish the traditional taste of the dish.
I use a chopping board and a sharp knife to prepare the vegetables. There are some excellent knives that are locally made and have no brand names. They are sold on the pavement of streets. These are excellent example of recycled metal. The story is that some of these knives are made from rail road scrap metals! They need to be sharpened, of course. Professional knife sharpeners come around every now and then will sharpen for a small charge. Like the tinkers in the olden days!
Spices are traditionally ground on special flat grinding stones. These are just flat slabs of stones and have a stone ‘roller’ to wet-grind the spices, especially coriander seeds and coconut. These days we tend to use a blender. Sumeet is a popular brand, and the one I have, but there are many other brands that are equally suited for Indian kitchens. These have a small bowl which is very efficient in wet grinding coconut and spices. Every household will have one these but we have to depend on the stone grinder when there is power shut down, which happens on a regular basis. I grind up coconut in bulk and freeze it so that I can have it at hand, ready for use. This is a way to solve the problem of getting stuck on account of power failure!
I have a small stone mortar and pestle which I use for crushing ginger, garlic or pepper. Kitchen Aid or Cuisineart food processes are not equal to the job of grinding coconut to a fine paste, I can assure you.
I have a Berg grill, which I find very handy. This grill has two heating elements, one above the tray and one below it. Both heat up together. The tray is 20”x 12”x 1” and the heating elements are just an inch above and below it. This grill is excellent for making tandoori dishes. Because the heating elements are too close to the tray, it is necessary to wrap the stuff that is being grilled or baked in aluminum foil for the first few minutes. Then the foil is removed for the last couple of minutes so that the food item gets nicely browned. Food cooks quicker than in a regular grill or oven and this is a huge advantage.
I love to bake and I use both my Sunflame 31lt capacity oven and my Samsung microwave for baking. I use the microwave essentially to bake brownies or bread pudding, and use the oven for all other type of baking. Both are small compared to the oven that is part of a cooking range. The Sunflame oven is a table top model and the largest baking tray that it will take is 13”x9”. This serves my purpose and so I am happy.
Tags: indian
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March 25th, 2010
A slow cooker is an essential kitchen item for a working mom. I have three slow cookers in my kitchen. One is a Rival circular 4 quart cooker and one is a Hamilton Beach oval 6 quart cooker. The last one, one I never use anymore, if a garage-sale find, a Rival 4 quart cooker from the 1970’s. Since it’s stoneware insert is not removable, it is hard to clean. And since it’s old, I’m not entirely sure it works properly. At least once a week, when I know we won’t be home immediately after work, I throw a bunch of ingredients in the slow cooker and set it to low before going to work. When we come in the door at night, tired and hungry, a wonderful aroma meets us. It’s our dinner, already cooked! There’s an abundance of crockpot cooks on the market nowadays. Find one and you’ll save time & money on weeknight dinners!
Tags: crock pot, slow cooker
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