Cookaholics Bulletin Board

All,

So sweetie and MIL got me a Preethi ECO Twin wet/dry food grinder for bday. I've been thinking of getting one of these for a long time.

Linky: http://www.perfectpeninsula.com/EcoChef.html

I'm very exited to be able to make thai curry pastes and vadai and mexican and spanish pepper pastes, etc, without spending 1/2 hour over a mortar and pestle.

However, I'm also wondering about some of its parts. It didn't exactly come with an instruction manual, you know? It has two extra blades, for example, and no indication what they are for.

Anyway, if anyone has one of these, advice appreciated. I'm sure I'll figure it out. Expect writeups sometime later.

It looks like one blad is for wet stuff, one for dry stuff and one for chutney in the special chutney jar.

All,

So I put the Preethi through its first trial. I made a recipe from Fish Indian Style, which involved making a paste of peppers, cilantro, coriander, cumin, fresh coconut meat and garlic, covering the fish with it, and then steaming it wrapped in banana leaves.

I used the larger pitcher with the insert to make it smaller, since the ingredients only filled it about halfway, and the "grider" blade, which is actually quite blunt.

The Preethi is loud. Like a diesel engine in your kitchen. I think I finally have something with which to retaliate against our upstairs neighbor and her industrial sewing machine. You also need to hold the lid on; do not let go while the Preethi is running.

In about 15 minutes, though, it made a nice paste. Like what I would have gotten in 40 minutes of heavy pounding with the mortar & pestle, after chopping everything fine. The fish dish was very tasty, and will be made again.

Cleaning the Preethi was easy, like a Vita-mix: fill 1/4 way with warm soapy water and turn on. Much easier than an FP. I can see that my kitchen is going to be filled with harsh grinding noises for a while.

And no, I still don't know what those other blades are for.