Yes, I admit it, the UK demonstration for the Thermomix is doesn’t resonate immediately to the Indian palate. But what it does do it shows you all the functions of the Thermomix and with a little bit of imagination, one can quickly see how these functions and recipes can be easily adapted to the Indian home.
I’m from India, which is one of the oldest and richest food cultures in the world. Indian cuisine is well known for being one of the world’s spiciest, most influential, diverse and unique. As Indians differ from one another by religion, region, state, language and caste, our cuisine varies so much that we have positioned ourselves as one of the world’s most diverse. The beauty of being an Indian living abroad is having both a great appreciation for different Indian cuisines and a palate that enjoys all gastronomies.
Now, I am not typically Indian. Having been born in India, I lived abroad most of my life and am now settled in London, married with kids to my Polish husband (we could be spies in another life). But I am pukka Indian. My household, despite my location and marriage, is run like my mother’s. We eat Indian cuisines at least 3-4 times and I cook enough to feed any visiting friend, neighbour or distant ‘aunty’ coming to visit the capital and always have enough food on hand for afternoon tea. My 7-year old daughter’s favourite food is butter chicken, rice and gobi aloo while my 4-year old sons is masala dosas with coconut chutney. We laugh that he will need to marry an Indian girl or take our housekeeper, Anitha, with him when he eventually gets married as he eats more chapattis and paratha’s in a week than an adult.
We use the Thermomix for traditional Indian meals but still create those intensified flavours, with speedy preparation, and consistently excellent results, while the cooking and stirring is done for you, meaning less washing up and more time for other things, like relaxing after helping with homework or reading a book! What’s even better, with the cost savings on a daily and weekly basis, we are able to save the extra pennies & pounds for that trip back to India.
So here are my top 20 reasons why a Thermomix is useful in an Indian household.
Staples
- Chapatti Dough – save 15 to 20 minutes of mixing and kneading time – many Indians make these every day – weighed, mixed and kneaded for you in 2 minutes
- Rice – plain basmati, jeera rice steamed with cumin and ghee (clarified butter) – perfect steamed rice every time
- Garlic & Ginger paste – peel and mince garlic in seconds
- Garam Masala/grinding spices – fast, excellent results, can grind even the hardest of spices perfectly
- Tamarind – can be prepared in just a few minutes instead of having to plan ahead and soak for several hours, perfect result every time
- Coriander & Chilli Paste – stunning blending, basic technique, versatile ingredient, means you don’t have to have fresh coriander and fresh green chillies available all the time and can therefore spontaneously decide to cook Indian food
- Balti Paste/Tikka Paste – roasting & grinding spices (wet and dry grinding/ blending), cooking and stirring done for you, easy to make and have on hand
- Fresh Coconut Chutney – mincing coconut with all other ingredients for an excellent fresh chutney in seconds
- Lime Chutney – an hour’s worth of chopping in less than a minute, all the cooking is done in one TM bowl with no mess, excellent flavour
- Yoghurt – easy to make at home with TM, fresh, delicious, can easily do Greek style, save money on every batch Main course
Main course
- Dahl – no sticking on the bottom of the pan, all the stirring is done for you
- Khadi – the importance of yoghurt in Indian cooking (especially for vegetarians), no splitting, fast and easy preparation, cooked all in one TM bowl with the stirring done for you
- Paneer – perfect and very easy, temperature control for heating the milk, save money
- Dokra/ Dokla – savoury cake mixed in seconds, steamed perfectly in the Varoma
- Dosa/ Idli batter – weigh, soak, grind all the ingredients in one bowl and allow to rise, pour out of the same bowl after fermenting. You can even steam the idli in the Varoma while making Sambhar.
- Samosas – mincing ingredients (vegetables and/or meat), easy samosa pastry dough
- Lamb Kebabs – mincing lamb for better flavour, crumbing, kneading
- Curries – grind and roast spices, add meat or vegetables and walk away. Let the Thermomix stir and cook the dish for you.
Desserts
- Sorbet and Kulfi – both are fast and easy with Thermomix
- Carrot Halva – chop carrots, save time – cooking and reducing with all the stirring done for you!
- Gulab Jamuns – mix and knead the dough, cook syrup, save money, reduce the effort
- Cardamom Cake – seeds out of pods on the reverse blade, grinding cardamom with sugar, mixing cake in a few seconds, wonderful flavour
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I have more specific Indian recipes on this blog and if you would like to purchase the most authentic Thermomix book for Indian cookery, get in touch.
Please contact me using the online form on my website or email on Ankita@onegirlandherthermie.co.uk or call/text/ WhatsApp me at 07977 563537.
Omg you’re article is great and so helpful! I am Polish and I live in the USA and I’m Thermomix consultant. Thermomix is something new here and I have my best friend from India and couple other ladies. And I didn’t know how to present TM to them. And thanks to you I know now how! Will you be posting more stuff about cooking Indian food in Thermomix? On Polish platform we have lots of recipes. One of my favorite ones are chana masala and chicken garam masala. And of course naan bread.
I wish you all the best!
Hi, Marta, Thank you so much for the comments. I really appreciate them. I have plenty of recipes for Indian food that I have converted on the recipe section of my Thermomix, so do take advantage of those too. And good luck with your Thermomix Advisor/ Consultant journey. All the best, Ankita
Hi Ankita how do I access the recipes?
Some recipes are on Cookidoo, but for really authentic ones, you can purchase this book, https://onegirlandherthermie.co.uk/product/indian-cookbook/
Oh my gosh you just described my concerns …I am Polish consultant living in the USA and trying to figure out how to approach an Indian friend and perhaps in the future some of her friends! ????
Powodzenia! ????
So glad I could help you Agnieszka. I hope it helps with your Indian friend, Ankita x
Hi, I stumbled across your post when I googled for thermomix Indian recipes. I am from Malaysia and purchased TM 6 few months ago. I started out very excited trying out stuff for awhile and suddenly ran out of steam! I suddenly felt overwhelmed and found it difficult to select the recipes and even shop for the ingredients (some of which I was not sure off). I was trying to adjust the quantities as mine is a very small household of 2.
I love Indian food and found a few Indian food recipes but just stopped using my TM lately and now am slowly wanting to re-start again. So am very happy to look at your recipes.
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Shashila. Cookidoo can be overwhelming for a new customer, but still with it and see what you like. Do follow my socials (One Girl in the Mix on Instagram and Facebook) as I post all my recipes, either with Cookidoo link or backlink to online recipe). For Indian customers, I also recommend, https://onegirlandherthermie.co.uk/product/indian-cookbook/ as the true authentic book. Take care.
Hey! Thanks for putting this up – stumbled upon it researching the Thermomix for Indian households. Based in London so this resonated even more! Quick one: you know if my Thermomix would work if I moved back to India?
Hi, Cass, yes, absolutely it will still work in India. We work on the same voltage, so they are easily transportable to India. All you would need to do is change the plug or use an adapter. Although nowadays, many homes (including my parents) have the same UK 3-pin plug, so no changes were necessary. If you would like to organise a virtual demonstration or attend my new garden demonstrations, please drop me a note. Thanks, Ankita
There is a whole Indian cookbook published by Thermomix – surely that is indicative of the Indian range of the machine?
‘A Taste of India’ published by Vorwerk/ Thermomix in my opinion is a fusion book. As an Indian, it includes recipes of vegetables that don’t exist in India and also misses out on complementary items. Just like in the UK, you eat fish and chips, in India you would eat idlis with sambhar; one without the other doesn’t complete the meal. This article is simply my point of view for people specifically looking for Indian food to have the full range of options, both available on Cookidoo and on manual cooking.
Hello Ankita,
I came across your website while looking for “Indian recipes on TM”, I want to buy a TM so either I get a TM5 in the after market or TM6 from the OEM. My question is which (TM5 or TM6) is better for Indian cooking, as I read the frying and 160 degree temperature option is only used in guided recipes, so if in these recipes there are not Indian dishes, it won’t make any difference if I use TM5 or TM6. What would be your opinion on this?
Thank you,
Dnyandeep