kitchenspecialist

You can try CocoaT mini pregrinder from cocoatown.com. It grinds the nuts into a nice paste. It comes with two jars - small jar can grind upto one cup of nuts. You can see the CocoaT mini pregrinder at this youtube video - it made chocolate powder from cocoa nibs in less than a minute. CocoaT mini pregrinder is easy to use and clean. It is also grinds very fast. Stainless steel jars are hygienic. Wire cord stores inside the storage compartment at the back. The two jars store nicely on the base unit for a compact, space saving storage. It is also very affordable at 149.99 You can also use CocoaTown melanger if you are grinding larger quantities of nuts. Just chop the nuts in the mini pregrinder and grind it in the melanger. It makes a very nice paste. If you want to add sugar, first grind the nuts into a nice paste and then add the sugar and let it grind for some more time. It is available from cocoatown.com

WE bought a new dishwasher few years ago so the kitchen looks nice. I use the dishwasher may be twice or thrice a year. Problem is we can not load the plastic boxes (even in the top rack sometimes they melt) or non-stick items in the dishwasher. Ditto for the Mixer grinder jars, lids and gaskets. If I put couple of stainless steel pots I use for cooking Indian food, the bottom rack fills up. You still have to rinse the dishes and then load them nicely and decide what goes where. So it is easier to hand wash all the dishes. It gives me a wind down time in the night. Also it is an incentive to use the dishes wisely so not too many accumulates. When I do use the dishwasher, I open it as soon as it finishes rinsing. I make sure none of the bowls or cups in the top rack flipped and filled with water. I tilt the glasses so water drains off their top. I also try to drain the water from the pots and pans in the bottom rack also. It helps to prevent the soap residue or fogging of the glasses in the dishwasher.

Have you tried Mango juice? Especially now is the mango season to enjoy. You can make mango juice just by blending it in the blender (after removing the skin). Make sure to use mixer grinder similar to Innomix Surya which pulverizes the fiber and the juice is more homogeneous. You can also make a milkshake with milk and mango slices. You can also make a milk shake with banana, mango and jack fruit (fresh fruit is available in some International farmers markets or in a can in Asian stores). We also make avacado juice. You can add little sugar if you want.

I just saw your post today. Are you still looking for the commercial grinder / mill for hard spices? How much do you want to grind in a batch? Do you want a stainless steel hammer mill or can you use mild steel hammer mill? If you can send us the information, we can suggest a cost effective option less than $1000 (including s&H in continental USA)

We all want to have the items cheaper. But we have to look at the reality. Imported items sold in USA have additional cost for the merchants selling them - transportation charges, duties and taxes etc. Also cost of doing business is more in USA - we need to add the employee salaries, rent for the facility, utility costs and more. All these charges are built in to the selling price. The businesses exist to make money so they can create jobs and stay in business. when we travel, if we can bring the items from a foreign land it is cheaper. But do we add the airfare, the time we had to spend to buy the product etc? And do we add the extra baggage fee, if we have to check in extra luggage with all our cheap purchases? Also with electronics and electrical appliances we need to factor in additional things - is the voltage same as the one where we will be using, is it covered under warranty, can we get replacement parts etc. Also the selling price goes down when more people buy it because the sellers can bargain with their suppliers based on the volume. SO it is always catch 22 for specialty items. People do not buy that often because we think the price is more expensive than in the origination country. The sellers can not lower the price because it takes too long to get the return on their investment.

If you are trying to buy the blender mainly for drinks, you should try Innomix Surya. It is a heavy duty mixer grinder that makes smoothies in less than a minute. It comes with two stainless steel jars (small one grinds one cup of ingredients and the larger jar two cups of ingredients. In addition, you can powder your nuts, grains and more. I make my smoothie with nuts (2 each of cashews, pecans, walnuts and almonds), 1/3 apple, 1/2 banana, 4-5 strawberries. No sugar needed. Innomix Surya right now has a special price of $99.99 till 4/15/11. Get more information on this mixer grinder at http://www.innoconcepts.com/InnomixSurya.htm

I use my Vita Mix for blending chutneys when the ingredients are still hot. When I get back from work, if I have to make chutney, I do not have time to saute them and then grind in an Indian blender after the ingredients cool. I just half cook the ingredients, put it in the vita mix and within two minutes, the chutney is ready and it also finishes cooking when grinding. Tomato Chutney: Ingredients: Onion - 1 - chopped Tomatoes - 2 - medium size seasoning: mustard seeds asafoetida curry leaves Spice powder (you can make it in bulk and refrigerate it for at least two months in the refrigerator.: Urad dhal - 1 cup Chana dhal - 1/2 cup red chillies - 15 curry leaves coriander seeds - 2 Tbsp Saute all the ingredients in oil and powder them coarsely in a mixer grinder. Making the chutney: Heat the oil in an iron skillet and season it with mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida. Then add chopped onions. Once the onions turn colorless, add chopped tomatoes. Once the tomatoes are soft, remove it from the heat. In Vitamix, add 4tbsp of spice powder. Add the sauteed oinon and tomatoes. Blend for 2 minutes. (do not blend it to a very fine paste. It has to be little bit coarse). Add salt to taste. This tomato chutney can stay in the fridge for a week. You can eat it with idli, dosa, chapathi or rice.

I made spinach in yogurt sauce to eat with rice and chapathi today. Ingredients: 1 pack frozen spinach (if you have time to get the fresh spinach and wash it and chop it - use one bunch) 2 cups yogurt (plain, preferably homemade) salt to taste For grinding 3 chilies (I use Thai peppers which are hotter) 5 pieces of coconut (each 1/2" by 1/2") tofu (one piece 2" by 3" by 1/2" thick) 1 tsp cumin seeds For seasoning (tadka) 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 1/2 tsp urad dhal (blackgram -skin removed) few curry leaves pinch of asafoetida Oil -4 tsp oil Heat the oil in a saucepan or skillet (I use the iron skillet for my cooking) and add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds pop, add the urad dhal and the curry leaves. once the urad dhal turns golden brown, add the asafoetida. Add the chopped spinach and saute till the spinach is cooked. In a mixer grinder (I use Meenumix mixer grinder) grind the coconut pieces, cumin seeds and green chillies. Grind to a nice paste adding a tbsp of yogurt. Once the coconut is ground well, add tofu to the mixture and grind again. In a container pour the yogurt, add the ground paste and the cooked spinach. Add salt. You can eat this with rice or chapathi. Variations of this recipe : You can use the palak instead of the spinach. You can steam the spinach instead of sauteeing it. Make sure to drain the water after steaming. You can boil the whole mixture, if you want it hot and not cold. For the dahi, I got the starter culture from India. I make my own yogurt at home once in two days.

We do the rice noodles little differently. We grind the soaked rice just like you did. Then we take the batter and pour it in a oiled plate with about 1" wall. We put some wooden sticks between the plates and stack two or three plates. In a 5 qt pan with lid, we fill the bottom with 1/2" water and stack the plates. (you should raise the bottom plate using the slotted plate or a small dish filled with water.) Let the batter cook for 10-12 minutes in steam. Check the center with a toothpick and make sure it comes out clean. Then we squeeze it though the noodlemaker and the rice noodles come out. YOu can season it 50 different ways. Now we have a new machine called Sevaimagik (Sevai is the Tamil word for rice noodles). This is a pressure cooker modified for making the noodles. you pour the batter, cook it for 20 minutes without putting the weight valve on the top. Once the batter is cooked, you just drop the weight valve and within minutes, the noodles come out and get collected in the plastic tray. It is a real neat thing. I have given the link where you can see the video how it works. http://www.innoconcepts.com/sevaimagic.htm manufacturer's website - http://www.sevaimagic.com/ In this process we are not using lot of oil, so it is healthier. It is also very easy to make the noodles.

Now we have Inno Melangeurs and CocoaT Grindeurs specifically designed for chocolate procesing. The roller stones assembly come as one piece for easy cleaning and to reduce the chocolate liquor waste. Specially designed conical stones enhances the grinding process. Our Grindeurs can easily produce chocolate liquor at 30 micron size. These are also great for the marzepan, Gianduja and other nut pastes. More details can b found at cocoatown.com.

Thanks Chris. We are getting the stock in 2-3 weeks. Since people have to wait, we have $20 discount on the Pride+ grinders. We have the bigger Grind+ in stock. Moopheus - regarding your question, the Sumeet or any Indian mixer grinder like Meenumix is for grinding coconut pieces, ginger garlic paste etc. When you grind in a mixer grinder, the material is shredded at high speed and it generates a little bit of heat. In stone grinder like Ultra Pride+, the material is crushed between two granite stones and the batter remains cool. Only thing is you need to grind soaked grains. If you want to grind coconut or ginger garlic paste, it has to be minced before adding to the grinder. The big ICGC or ECGC commercial grinders can handle upto 1/2" pieces of ginger garlic and thin slices of coconut.

I want to thank your forum for introducing John and Kerry to me. I learnt a lot about confectionery industry from them. We have been selling these grinders from www.innoconcepts.com for 16 years as the authorized distributors for USA. We started selling these to Indian markets mainly for making idlis and dosas. But over the years, our grinders have been used to make chocolates, tofu, and other ethnic foods. They have been also used in laboratories in specialized applications. We modify these grinders for different applications to suit the customers' needs. Our modified melangers are used for making chocolate (visit cocoatown.com for the products for chocolate industry). WE also have commercial size Grindeurs (Grinder+ Melangeur combo) available for small to mid size chocolate companies. We have these available in 110V or 220V versions. We ship these to anywhere in the world. You can make Marzipan in these grinders as long as you crack the almonds into bits in a food processor or Meenumix / Innomix mixer grinders for home use or in pulverizers for the commercial operation. We can use the bigger commercial units to grind the whole almonds. But I am going to try grinding the whole almonds in the smaller Pride+ and will post the results.

If you want to make the yoghurt the Indian way, you can read on! I boil milk (non-fat, 1%, 2%, 4% or any milk) in the microwave. 3 pints of milk in a corning square bowl takes about 20 -30 minutes depending on the power of the microwave. You have to wait till the milk boils and bubbles to the top of the container. Remove the container from the microwave and let it sit for about 45 min - 1 hour depending on the season and temperature inside your house. Once the milk cools to luke warm (we feel the milk with our finger, transfer the milk to a storage container (I have two 1/2 gallon containers just to make yoghurt). If you do not like the thin film on the top, you can remove it. Add one spoon of starter culture. If you do not have one, use Bulgarian style buttermilk. (I have my starter culture from India - our yoghurt is different as we use the yoghurt with rice, as side dish, in lassi etc). If It is the summer season, you can leave the fermenting container in the room temperature. If it is winter, switch on the oven light (not the oven just the light) and place the container inside. Place the lid loosely on the top. The yoghurt will be ready in 4-6 hours.