Making cooking fun, interesting and easy add in a great value to the recipes cooked. Various kitchen appliances eases our work in kitchen by making everyday tasks simpler. While the Indian kitchens seldom had complicated equipments in everyday cooking, now we have gelled so well with these electronic appliances that a working kitchen without them would be challenging to operate. Here are 7 quintessential countertop appliances every Indian kitchen must have to help cooking in limited time and with a lot more variety in everyday cooking.
1. Hand blender
Indian cooking is characterised with lot of chutneys and gravies. For such recipes that calls for blending of wet ingredients, having a hand blender handy is a must. Though the blending can be done with a mixer grinder, sometimes most of the portion size of accompaniments like various chutneys are too less to be using a mixer grinder jar to get the job done. Also when we need smoothies for breakfast or evening, preparing smoothie in hand blender is mess free and easier. Hence, have a hand blender on countertop or at a place which is easily accessible for you to pick up & place it back without hassle.
Recommended product to buy: Philips Daily Collection HR1363 600-Watt Hand Blender
2. Mixer grinder
Hand blender cannot do all grinding jobs alone. Where blender is suited more for wet ingredients and whipping cream, cheese and similar ingredients, a mixer grinder takes take of the harder grinding jobs while cooking. Mixer grinder with different sized jars and blades to grind various dry ingredients or a combination of spices or dals and wet ingredients like wet grinding batters. When you are making a chutney or gravies for a larger number of servings, you will need a mixer grinder to get the job done. This is a slightly bigger countertop appliance and needs a cosy permanent space on the working podium of kitchen. Buying a compact mixer in market helps with space management in kitchen.
Recommended product to buy: Prestige Racer Grinder
3.Coffee Maker
Coffee is a welcome beverage in many households and loved by many. If you are a person who loves coffee to be a part of your lifestyle, you should have a decent coffee maker or an expresso machine on your kitchen countertop. Besides the magic that it casts with its dripping sound of strong filtered coffee or an expresso, it puts you at ease when someone in the family asks you for a cup of steaming coffee with just an addition of hot milk and sugar.
Recommended product to buy: Philips HD7447/20 920-1080Watt Coffee Maker
4. Food processor
- Indian cuisines like coastal cuisine or vegan recipes call for coconut milk and freshly grated coconut. Though most supermarkets in India offers grated fresh & desiccated coconut, we sometimes feel the freshly grated ones at home are juicier and literally fresh, comparatively.
- Many times Indian meals is incomplete without various Indian breads. Hence kneading atta/dough for breads or snacks is a task that is done in almost every day.
-Food processor is an all-in-one equipment that eases these tasks. Juicing, slicing (primarily for salads), fine chopping, grating are all mechanised and much faster than done otherwise.
Recommended product to buy: Bajaj FX 11 600-Watt Food Factory Food Processor
5. Sandwich maker & grill
Sandwich maker and grill comes in handy when you have to pack a quick lunchbox or you are very hungry after work. Just put a bread, smear handy sauces or chutneys and arrange veggies of choice to sandwich and grill to fix the hunger pang. This is a useful appliance when kids at home have activities or term papers around and are at home studying and ask for light food. With these, you can also grill smaller meats and most vegetables or fruits to make your weekends special!
Recommended product to buy: Nova Panni NSG-2439 700-Watt 2-Slice Sandwich Maker
6. Rice Cooker
North Eastern and South Indian cuisines and in general, many recipes in Asian cuisine seldom pass without rice. Rice is a staple food in Asia and more so, in India. Rice is steamed, made to porridge or included in various savoury and sweet pilaf or kheer recipes as well. To prepare most of this recipes with sheer ease, rice cooker is a blessing. It can be stored away in one of the drawers of kitchen when not required. Toss in the veggies with spices, rice and water and flavourful rice pilaf will be ready in a while with the help of rice cooker.
Recommended product to buy: Hamilton Beach 37541-IN 700-Watt Rice cooker and steamer
7. Convection oven
Country kitchens of India never required this equipment since they would easily heat the recipes on stove top and were less exposed to western cuisine. With increasing awareness of what goes into store bought foods and with a consciousness of how easy it is to bake or grill using an oven which were thought to be only gourmet, oven has become a popular equipment in past decades. Resort to a well-equipped oven which does reheating, baking and also grilling since it can save a lot of space in kitchen and recipes from across world cuisines can be presented to family with ease.
Recommended product to buy: Morphy Richards 23MCG 23-Litre Convection Microwave Oven