Jenni

^^^ It is completely true. The wet grinder is very different and in many ways vastly superior, but sometimes mixies are more convenient and also cheaper. In addition, they tend to do more things, such as dry grinding spices.

In England I have an Ultra Pride Plus. It's a wet grinder. This is good for larger quantities. Excellent for chutney, coconut pastes, masalas, idli and dosai. Heavy duty and it is heavy too! Then of course there are a number of mixer-grinders (commonly called mixies in India) available. These are less heavy duty and do smaller amounts. They general have at least three containers - one for small quantities like small chutney batches. This can also do dry spices. Then there's a mid size grinder for dosa/idli batter, masalas, etc. Then finally there is a larger jar for blending. I am actually on the lookout for a mixie for my flat here in India. Morphy Richards, Phillips and Bajaj seem to be big brands here in Allahabad. I was going to look for a Prethi as they are very well known but have not seen one. So I will be interested to know what you go for!

^^ Then there's the classic Indian grandmother's instruction: "Cook for some time".

It's always worked for me. Hot cup of tea always make me feel better in hot weather.

I don't always tip. If the service is really really rubbish and staff just don't seem to care even when I politely draw their attention to the problem, I will tell the waiter at the end that I am disappointed with the service and then I don't tip. And btw there are no set rules about buddhism and vegetarianism. The majority of buddhists actually operate on the principle that it's ok to eat meat if an animal wasn't killed specifically for you. And of in many countries were buddhist monks still live in the traditional way, monks accept whatever they are offered to eat when they do their alms round. On the other hand, I know many "western" buddhists who are vegan. So there you go, don't assume anything!

What are you basing your definition of "gourd" on? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gourd says "A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_melon says "Momordica charantia, called bitter melon or bitter gourd in English, is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae" So I think it is a gourd, according to that definition. Ok, did not realise that. I'm sure someone told me it was not actually a gourd once...maybe they actually told me it is not really a melon! I did only say "I think"! Agreed, that is what I said in my reply to sobaaddict70. That's what I thought. You just confused me eariler when you said: But clearly we are agreeing furiously!

^^ Actually I think it is not technically a gourd so perhaps melon is a better word! My point actually was that I was surprised to see someone talk about them as if bitter melon and bitter gourd were two separate things.

Proper coconut oil has a strong and distinctive flavour that not everyone likes. Also, ghee and coconut oil are pure fat whereas marge isn't. Surely this will affect the end product? FWIW, I've never seen margarine stored outside of a fridge.

I'm mystified as well. It's not bitter to my palate at all, and this is someone who grew up eating bitter gourd and bitter melon. Same here...so perhaps that's why we don't find it bitter! Incidentally, I always thought bitter melon and bitter gourd were too different names for the same thing. Granted there are different kinds of bitter melon/gourd (most noticably to my mind the not-very-bitter Chinese one and the very bitter Indian one) but basically most people use these names interchangeably.

^^ Is it really that bitter? I never blanche and find it has a wonderful taste.

Does your peanut butter have added oil? Because there are no-oil added ones that I guess might not separate as much.

Is there any reason you couldn't use butter?

Oooo, cavolo nero, my favourite! Let's see if you like this kale better.

Some of them will be in a different country from me for a few years

^^^ When you hang out with friends or relations, don't you ever end up in the kitchen? Don't you ever cook together or whip up a snack together?

You know, now you put that link it does look pretty good.

No, that is not a problem with this grinder, it is specifically designed for wet and dry. Food processors manage fine, so why wouldn't this?

^^^ Except msg is very concentrated so I think it is logical that it would add a LOT more umami than any product with quite a bit of naturally occurring umami.

For me, one sign is the inability to detect subtler flavours. And I don't mean people who cannot identify a miligram of pepper in a gallon of soup, I mean people who cannot taste anything beyond very strong instances of salty, sour, sweet and pungent (and probably also strong bitter!). So they can't identify anything beyond, "It tastes sweet I guess." Typically such people often dislike certain vegetables as they "don't taste of anything" I know one person who consistently cannot taste flavours that aren't really really bold. He just has no idea what the natural tastes of some vegetables are because he can only taste whatever flavourings they are cooked with! He also repeatedly "misidentifies" flavour sources. I put that in airquotes because it's not like he actually tastes them and tries to work it out, he just guesses from what he's seen in the fridge or cupboards. So he'll say "There's a really good ginger flavour." and I'll have to tell him there's no ginger in it. "Well, I like the tamarind in it." And there's no tamarind in it. He just doesn't get it. You can give him two sour dishes, one made with tamarind and one with lemon, and even if they have completely different seasonings they will pretty much taste the same to him. And he is a bad cook. He'll start off with some specific ingredients, but before you know it he's put the whole kitchen cupboard in the pan and it just tastes like a mess.

As I said in my original post, I have one of those. I'm looking for something to do small quantities of wet and dry.

The good thing about the revel (when it was working) was that it could do wet and dry. We grind a fair old amount of dried spices in small and large quantites on pretty much a daily basis.

A few months ago we bought one of thesefrom a local kitchen supplies store. At first it seemed amazing, completely excellent for grinding small quantities of spices. However, after not many weeks of usage the motor went. Since we had carefully followed usage guidelines (length of time spent grinding, resting period, etc.) we took it back to the shop and they were kind enough to give us a replacement. Sadly, that one broke after not too long as well. Looking at reviews on amazon, it seems this is a major flaw with the machine. I wish we had looked on amazon before buying! It's such a shame because when it works it does the job very well. Has anyone here actually had a good experience with this grinder or do they all pretty much end up burning out? I know that in our house we were using it daily, but some posters on amazon say it broke the first time! In the past we have always just used a normal coffee grinder which we set aside for grinding spices. So this £30 machine was a bit of a "treat" for us. I have an ultra pride for big wet pastes, and also an immersion blender which I do sneakily use for wet grinding smallish quantities (even though it doesn't work that well). I'm moving to India in like, 2 days, so I am probably just going to get myself a Preethi or a Sumeet or some other mixie and I'll be happy with that. But I want to recommend a replacement small wet-grinder for my Mum and Dad in the UK (they will be keeping the ultra pride as it is too heavy for me to take with me, so the grinding capacity only needs to be small). Anyone have any tips? Note: We tried the John Lewis Revel-look-alike and it is rubbish, so not that one!

Pani puri and vada pav. I could live on those.

Steven, have you cooked much with yoghurt? I just wondered if you might get some of the creaminess you may or may not be seeking that way. The middle east and south asia has many dishes in this area, I am sure there are other places that do too.

^^^ Thanks for the clarification, and that's how we buy muslin too.