Blender and Mixer for Indian Cooking in USA!

Dear Readers,

Many of my readers have trouble finding the best blender or mixer for Indian cooking in USA and Canada (110 volts). This article is an attempt to detail my experiences with a similar exploration. Please note that I am not associated with any of the brands that I mention below. The article details my personal experiences and opinions.

For a family in a new geography, alongside many other challenges, a small but a regular kitchen challenge has been that of finding the perfect Mixer or/and Blender. It took me pretty long to solve this challenge. In the last 9 years of living in the USA, I have tried many blenders and dry grinders, but never had a perfect result.

Blender- Our first blender was Hamilton Beach (HB), which claimed “500 Watt motor can make even coconut smoothies”. Unfortunately, it was not possible to make a basic smooth tomato puree with this blender. Making coriander (cilantro) chutney in this blender was a nightmare. Whenever I had to use it, I had to prepare myself. I knew it was going to take quite some time to blend even onions and it was frustrating.

When HB (Hamilton Beach) was almost a gone case after a year, a friend recommended Breville blender. It was a little expensive (about $200) but we decided to get rid of the HB and buy the Breville. This was surely far better than HB but still was not perfect for Indian kitchens. It was able to grind wet things like chutneys, tomatoes, and onions. However, the jar needed to be filled up to a certain amount. So if I wanted to make chutney, I needed to use a lot of water and I needed to make a bigger amount of chutney than needed (and if I could not use it, I had to resort to freezing it). Moreover, grinding lentils for kachauri and vade has always been a challenging, and time taking process even with Breville.

Dry Grinders/ Coffee Grinders-- American blenders are designed for smoothies (basic wet grinding can be done with some effort) but they cannot be used for dry grinding. When we were new in the US we discussed with friends, did some research and decided to buy a coffee grinder for dry spice grinding. In the last 9 years, we have bought 5 coffee grinders ranging from $25-$75. Even the cheapest grinder was good at the beginning but after a few rounds, it stopped working. Same thing happened with more expensive grinders. My sense is that these grinders are designed to be used once in a while, but are not designed for grinding needed for a busy kitchen. I got so frustrated that I stopped grinding the regular spices at home and started buying powdered spices from stores. I decided to save the coffee grinder/ spice grinder for dry mint, roasted cumin seeds or for once in a while grinding.

A twist in this tale is that whenever we used to visit India, I noticed that grinding fresh masala for paneer, chole etc. or making fresh chutney is so quick and easy at home. It just takes a minute to do this in India while it is a pain for us in our US kitchen. My family offered an Indian mixer but due to different electric voltages we didn’t get one.

In the summer of 2015, when our fifth coffee grinder stopped working, we started the research all over again for the best grinder for Indian cooking in the USA. We found Preethi Eco Plus Mixer Grinder(on Amazon). This grinder had mostly awesome reviews and buyers noted that this Indian origin grinder is especially designed for 110 volts. We decided to give it a try, and ordered the Preethi Grinder through Amazon.com in July 2015. It was a pleasant surprise when this mixer arrived. This is a true blender/mixer/grinder for Indian kitchens. It came with two jars, one small and one big. Both jars are capable of dry as well as wet grinding. This grinder makes perfect shakes, purees, chutneys, and can also coarse-grind wet lentils for vade or kachauri etc. You can use the jar depending on the amount you are using. Here are some pictures to give you better idea about the mixer-

Here is the Amazon link for Preethi Mixer Grinder.

Preethi Grinder-Preethi Mixie with its two steel jars!

Coriander chutney grinding in Preethi mixie- Making green (coriander) chutney is just so quick and easy in this small jar of Preethi mixie. It took me 18 seconds to make half a cup of chutney!!

Coriander chutney- A spicy, tangy, delicious and fresh coriander chuteny made in seconds...

We have been using this grinder for almost about three years, and are extremely pleased with the results. Hope this article helps you.

1. This article is written on my personal experience!!
2. All the pictures of the blenders and grinders are shown here are original photos from my kitchen.
3. I haven't been paid by Preethi to write this article. I am writing it based on my satisfaction level with grinders, and only for my readers.
4. Note: Unfortunately, my first Preethi Mixer Grinder had stopped working one year after purchase (out of warranty!). After searching for another mixer grinder, we again zoomed in only on Preethi! The new one is working so far! So this choice is correct for me. I make fresh chutney every 2-3 days, and I could never do this in any other brand!

Please do share your views and comments about it. Thanks!

With best wishes,
Shuchi

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