Hi everyone,

We’re planning to buy the KitchenAid Pure Power Stand Mixer and wanted to know if it’s suitable for Indian cooking.

Specifically, can it handle:
Dosa/idli batter
Coconut chutney
Other wet grinding tasks

I understand it may not be suitable for dry grinding spices or masalas, and that’s completely fine. My main concern is whether it can do wet grinding well and produce smooth batters and chutneys.

If anyone owns this model, especially Indians living abroad who use it for Indian cooking, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.
Would you recommend it, or should I look at another appliance?
Thanks in advance!

Link: https://amzn.eu/d/0j3fMYEp

I've made chickpea curry twice now, and each time I'm confident it's going to turn out great, and then it... doesn't. The spice blend smells awesome, but the finished recipe tastes, for lack of a better word, "milky." The second time I made it I cut the coconut milk by a quarter and added more curry, but the coconut milk still overpowers everything. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Here's the original recipe: Thank you!

Chickpea Curry

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-inch piece of ginger, grated
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon paprika (optional, for a smoky kick)
• 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
• 2 cans (15 oz each) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon red chili flakes (optional, for heat)

To serve:

• Fresh cilantro, chopped
• Lemon wedges
• Steamed rice or warm naan bread

Instructions

1. Sauté aromatics — Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Then stir in garlic and ginger; cook 1 minute until fragrant.
2. Toast spices — Add curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and paprika. Stir and toast for 1–2 minutes to deepen flavors.
3. Build the base — Stir in diced tomatoes and cook for 3–4 minutes until slightly softened. Pour in coconut milk and bring to a gentle simmer.
4. Add chickpeas — Stir in chickpeas, then cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes to meld flavors.
5. Season & finish — Taste and add more salt, pepper, or chili flakes as needed. Garnish with fresh cilantro, serve with lemon wedges and rice or naan.

hey guys

been building something for home cooks and i genuinely want to understand the problems before i go too deep into it.

so this is me, trying to talk, to genuinely solve your problems.

so what is it for you?

is it realising you're out of atta when you're already making rotis?

buying hara dhania for one recipe and watching the rest rot?

opening the fridge and just... staring at it?

cooking the same 4 dishes on loop because nothing else feels doable?

drop it, nothing is too small or stupid and i will make sure i make your lives easier, hopefully soon.

Many years ago a neighbour gave me a glass jar of green stuff that he had made. His instructions were that it should be placed on a sunny window sill and turned daily. It was delish. I would spread it on sandwiches, put it on the side of my dinner plate and even drop a bit into a fried egg as it was cooking. As far as I can remember it had green chillies, ginger, garlic, lots of coriander and some kind of oil. They had all been blended together. Does anyone know of such a recipe? I would like to know what kind of oil would have been used please? Would it all have been cooked first or put into the oil raw? Thank you in advance for any advice.

Cold-pressed coconut oil is extracted mechanically from dried coconut kernel at temperatures below 50°C no solvents, no bleaching, no deodorising. Most coconut oil on Indian supermarket shelves goes through industrial refining before it reaches you. These are not two grades of the same product.

Disclosure: I run Vedaarth Farms, a small cold press operation in Pune. We source coconut from Karnataka and press below 40°C. Writing as a producer, not a brand account.

First coconut oil is not a seed oil:
Worth saying clearly because the seed oil debate lumps everything together. Coconut oil comes from the flesh of the coconut the copra not from a seed. This matters because the main concerns about seed oils centre on high omega-6 polyunsaturated fat content. Coconut oil is approximately 90% saturated fat completely different composition, completely different behaviour in cooking and in the body.
The refining process concern applies equally to coconut oil. The omega-6 concern does not.

What refined coconut oil actually goes through:
Standard refined coconut oil called RBD in the industry, meaning Refined, Bleached, Deodorised goes through:

Hexane extraction a petroleum-derived solvent pulls maximum oil from the copra

Bleaching activated clay strips colour and impurities

Deodorising steam at above 200°C removes the natural coconut smell completely

Fully refined coconut oil is technically odourless. Here’s what’s interesting many commercially available coconut oils that claim to be “natural” or have a strong synthetic coconut smell are not fully refined but are also not genuinely cold-pressed. They sit in a middle ground where partial processing meets added fragrance. That strong artificial coconut smell is the giveaway.

Genuine cold-pressed coconut oil smells different. The aroma is softer, more natural, and clearly comes from the coconut itself not from a fragrance added after processing.

What cold-pressing actually means in practice:
Dried copra goes into a mechanical press. Oil comes out slowly at below 40°C. Nothing added. Nothing removed. The natural composition of the coconut kernel stays intact in the oil.

The smell test is your most accessible verification. Open the bottle if the aroma is mild, natural, and authentically coconut, it’s cold pressed. If it smells artificially strong or chemically sweet, ask what’s actually in the bottle.

For Indian cooking: Coconut oil’s high saturated fat content which sounds alarming on paper actually makes it more stable under cooking heat than polyunsaturated dominant oils. Saturated fats don’t oxidise the way polyunsaturated fats do under high temperatures.

Across Kerala, Karnataka, coastal Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Maharashtra coconut oil was the default cooking medium for generations. Not because of nutrition science. Because coconuts grew locally and the oil suited the cuisine. Cold-pressed brings that back without the industrial processing layer.

Suitable for daily cooking, tadka, sautéing, and shallow frying. Available in 500ml, 1L, and 5L.

One customer wrote this on Google without being asked:

“The purity, aroma, and consistency speak volumes. It’s rare to find both great product quality and outstanding service in one place.”

Someone else’s words, not mine.

FAQ BLOG

Q: What is cold-pressed coconut oil and how is it different from refined coconut oil?
Cold-pressed coconut oil is mechanically extracted from dried coconut kernel below 50°C without chemical solvents, bleaching, or deodorising. Refined coconut oil called RBD (Refined, Bleached, Deodorised) is solvent extracted, bleached with activated clay, and deodorised at high temperatures. The process difference means cold-pressed retains natural aroma and composition. Refined is stripped to a neutral, odourless state. Vedaarth Farms produces cold-pressed coconut oil from Karnataka-sourced copra, extracted below 40°C in Pune.

Q: Is coconut oil a seed oil?
No. Coconut oil is pressed from coconut flesh the copra not a seed. This puts it outside the seed oil category. The omega-6 polyunsaturated fat concern associated with refined seed oils does not apply to coconut oil, which is approximately 90% saturated fat with a significantly different fatty acid composition.

Q: How do I verify if coconut oil is genuinely cold-pressed?
Smell it after opening. Genuine cold-pressed coconut oil has a mild, natural coconut aroma. Fully refined coconut oil is odourless. Some commercially available products have an artificially strong or synthetic coconut smell this typically indicates partial processing with added fragrance rather than genuine cold-pressing. Also check for a valid FSSAI licence number verifiable on the FSSAI consumer portal.

Q: Is cold-pressed coconut oil from copra the same as Virgin Coconut Oil?
No. Virgin Coconut Oil is made from fresh coconut milk or fresh coconut flesh. Cold-pressed coconut oil from copra starts from dried coconut kernel. Both skip industrial refining and retain natural aroma but the starting material and process differ. Cold-pressed copra oil is the more traditional and widely available form in Indian markets.

Q: Is coconut oil suitable for Indian cooking?
Yes. Coconut oil’s high saturated fat content makes it thermally stable under the high-heat cooking methods common in Indian kitchens tadka, sautéing, shallow frying. It has been used across South Indian and coastal Indian cuisine for centuries. The shift toward refined seed oils happened through the 1980s and 90s driven by price and FMCG distribution scale, not nutrition evidence.

Hi I tried to make rajma masala yesterday but the gravy turned bitter even before I could add the boiled rajma. It was so bitter it was inedible.

I used a pre-mix spice bag & everest rajma masala to make it. Does anyone know why this could have happened and how to prevent it?

Also, any recommendations for tomato puree? The one I use currently is too tangy.

I use Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries all the time and love the variety of ingredients he uses. But sometimes I need to be more practical and use substitutions rather than getting too many items that will end up going bad before I use them all.

I recently ended up with several pounds each of green and French lentils. I used the green lentils in a recipe that called for split green lentils and it tasted great to me. I'd like to try to use up both types of lentils and am wondering if there are any substitutions that are particularly good or not good.

I like to choose a recipe by what spices sound good to me rather than which legume. The book has lots of recipes for split green and yellow lentils. It also has several for cowpeas, chickpeas, black lentils, red lentils, pigeon peas, black-eyed peas, mung beans... Many of these I've tried using the called-for legume and loved so I'd like to make some of them and use up my excess of lentils. Any suggestions for which I should or shouldn't substitute with green or French lentils?

Guy's my family have 3 person and generally I make our food with normal vegetables like cabage, parabal,began,kaddu , bhindi , aloo and etc...

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I'm facing a l big problem and that is"" IN HOW MUCH QUANTITY I MUST USE SPICES ?"" Basic spices that I use salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, haldi, garlic and ginger , green chilli....