My lovely candy/frying thermometer
I have in recently been presented with a MIU candy/frying thermometer. Being a family that bonds quite a bit over food, this has improved the quality of family life.
I use this while making yogurt for the little Bee. I also use it extensively when frying. So far tried it with samosas, bonda and mathri. Definately recommend it.
Accouterments for the caffeinated lifestyle
I have not been able to give up tea (the Indian chai version) inspite of the nagging subconscious. Here is a listing of my tea making paraphernalia and my take on them.
Small pan & stainer
This is the best to make chai tea on the stove top and is used most frequently. The only downside being the cleanup effort.
Bodum coffee press used to make tea
I was pleasantly surprised at the results. I put 1.5 tsps of tea leaves and pour hot water over it and let it steep for about a minute. Then I add sugar and milk powder for a good cuppa. I find this easier to clean compared to the pan+stariner combo.
Tea ball
Limited use and not easy to clean. The husband is a big fan of this contrption though.
Coffee ancillaries from a past life
I do still have a cuisinart burr mill grinder for grinding coffee beans. A conventional coffee maker and a couple of decoction filters for making south indian filter coffee. Cannot recall my emotions on them though. Might come back some time.
Grinders roundup
Here goes the list in descending order of usage and some comments:
[1] Vitamix for shakes and smoothies
Very good for sorbets and smoothies. For fruit juices I still am having to strain the ground puree through a strainer. Very easy to clean and can grind to incredible consistencies.
[2] Preethi Mixie for dry grinding masalas and pastes
Overall pretty useful. However, the seal between the lid and jar is not good is not good. The washers fell off after loosing part of their elasticity. Try grinding hot substances creates pressure internally and the top blows off. The rubber parts at the bottom of the mixie stain the counter top.
[3] Coffee grinder for grinding smaller batches of dry masalas
Relatively small and compact and easy to move around. Very good for grinding freshly roasted custom masalas.
[4] Kitchenaid food processor
Not sure why we bought this. So far we have been using it for grating carrots for halwa/burfi and guacamoles. I still need to figure out other ways to use this. It is pretty well designed and easy to clean the base. However it has quite a few parts that need to be aligned to get it to work. I find it better designed and more rugged compared to the cuisinart counterpart.
[5] Ultra grinder — for idli and dosa batter
Very useful for grinding batter for dosa and idli. It is quite heavy and not easy to clean. Preliminary attempts with grinding the batter using the Vitamix look promising.
[6] Cuisinart burr mill grinder– for coffee beans
Very good product for grinding coffee beans. However the indian grounds are finer compared to what the burr mill grinder can provide.
That was quite a roundup.
