Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Tuning into Mandoline

My Mandoline
My 8-year old Mandoline

I tune into the radio when I am in the kitchen. The relaxing talk and tunes from radio help to make the routine job of cutting and cleaning go easy.

Just like music, mandoline is a nice thing to have in a kitchen. It makes it a breeze to prepare vegetables for salads, curries and raitas. And also for chips and bajjis. The replaceable inserts that come with mandoline are extremely useful for different styles of fine and uniform chopping. I use mandoline regularly to cut vegetables like carrots, potatoes, karela and cabbage. Also beetroot, cucumber, plantain and radish. Time saved on cabbage cutting alone makes the mandoline a must have in the kitchen, if you ask me.

Cooking can be a satisfying and enjoyable activity when we have right tools and happy vegetables. For me, a sharp mandoline with its quick and clean cutting blades is the right tool that will make chopping vegetables a happy job.

How about you? Are you a fan of Mandoline? Here are some mandoline tunes from Amazon.com (plastic and stainless steel).



Tools and Utensils from My Kitchen:

Grain Mill (Tiragali)
Sumeet Mixer and Grinder
Skillet to Preapre Pancake Puffs and Ponganalu

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Indian Utensils,Mahanandi Selections (Sunday May 25, 2008 at 8:31 pm- permalink)
Comments (19)

The New Home of Mahanandi: www.themahanandi.org

19 comments for Tuning into Mandoline »

  1. I also have a plastic type mandoline. Very sharp blades, excellent to cut all kinds of vegetables. Love it and regularly use it.

    Comment by Ramani — May 25, 2008 @ 9:27 pm

  2. I have a great mandoline which I got as a gift from a student (isn’t that sweet?) I am always afraid I’ll cut myself, but I do use it often.

    Comment by Kalyn — May 25, 2008 @ 10:03 pm

  3. Indira, which mandolin amongst these do you recommend/use ?

    Comment by mystic — May 26, 2008 @ 12:26 am

  4. I have MIC stainless steel mandoline. It is such a beautiful piece, I have gone beyond fan stage, I treat it like special museum piece. I think it’s worthy of such worship. 🙂

    Comment by Sumathi — May 26, 2008 @ 12:29 am

  5. never did get a mandolin, and always wondered if i should – thanks i’m going to hunt for one!

    Comment by arundathi — May 26, 2008 @ 5:31 am

  6. Indira,
    I am great fan of ur writing and recipes.I infact searched for the same mandoline you mentioned in your Cabbage curry.Never found it.If you can let us know which one you use and where to buy it.It will be very helpful.
    Thanks
    Sandhiya

    Comment by Sandhiya — May 26, 2008 @ 7:42 am

  7. I’m convinced now. You ARE a mind reader.

    Comment by Kay — May 26, 2008 @ 9:43 am

  8. Ramani and Sumathi: Good to know that you are also fans of mandoline. I wish I have that MIU variety.

    Hi Kalyn: Lucky you. Yes, like knives, mandoline sharp baldes takes time to get used to.

    Arundathi: It’s a nice thing to have in the kitchen, makes chopping cabbage, karela and platain painless.

    Mystic and Sandhiya: Mine has plastic body with 3 types of stainless steel blade attachments. Old model, I don’t think it’s available in the market now. If price is not an issue, I say go for good quality stainless steel version like MIU. Plastic body is also good but some veggies like plantain and karela stain the white surface. Most important thing we have to look out for in mandoline is the blade sharpness.

    Kay: proud owner or planning to buy one? 🙂

    Comment by Indira — May 26, 2008 @ 12:45 pm

  9. I love my mandaline and use it quite often to thin slice onions, karela, carrots etc.

    Comment by Gini — May 26, 2008 @ 4:06 pm

  10. Indira, you are a mind reader indeed. The other day I scraped my thumb on mandoline while cutting beetroot. I have three – two from India – and one standing version from IKEA which I use a lot. I say you are a mind reader because I am planning to buy a better one – these days we are more into healthy eating, incorporating more and more varieties of vegetables into our diet. I always try cutting in diff ways each time and this I think brings a diff taste to the dish whether raw or cooked.. and my good friend Mandolin definitely helps :)Thanks for the timely post I dont need to look them up.

    Comment by Aparna — May 26, 2008 @ 6:42 pm

  11. I have never used a mandoline nor seen one except on your website Indira. Can you tell me if you can chop vegetables as you do with a knife please? Can we control the size of the pieces?

    Comment by Sandhya — May 26, 2008 @ 6:44 pm

  12. Planning to buy one. 🙂 I was just thinking today morning that I should check your blog to see if you recommend any particular type and here I come, a whole post dedicated to Mr.Mandolin.

    Thank you!

    Comment by Kay — May 26, 2008 @ 7:01 pm

  13. Wow! Its so nice to see an article on mandolin. I have read lots of sites for instructions and then started using my OXO mandolin.. For some reason, I dunno if I am doing it wrong, but my onions turn mush when I cut it with the mandolin. Somebody, said they used it to cut onions. Can you please tell me how its done.

    Right now my mandolin is sitting in a lonely corner. 🙁

    Comment by Smitha — May 27, 2008 @ 8:04 am

  14. The first time I used the mandolin, i cut my middle finger and that too while hosting my first dinner party after I got married. I stay far away from the mandolin….but, hey, i didn’t clean the kitchen that night!

    Comment by Trupti — May 27, 2008 @ 4:44 pm

  15. Hi Indira,

    Nice post. I live in UK and would like to get one. So can you please give me the exact name of what would you suggest? (Especially for cabbage). Thanks for getting back.

    Comment by Malar — May 28, 2008 @ 5:20 am

  16. Hey Indira,
    Do you have any extension on the MAngo Manthram deadline? Also, I can submit on Saturday night at the latest if there is no extension. COrrect?

    Comment by bonziegal — May 28, 2008 @ 1:27 pm

  17. Oh well, I have the same one as in Pic above! And recently I did chop my finger off when I made vegetable chips ( and blogged abt it too;-)) so that I get pampered from fellow bloggers!!! hehehe! But I cant agree more with you..Thats one of the indispensable things in the kitchen!

    Comment by DK — May 28, 2008 @ 3:19 pm

  18. We have to be very very careful with these mandolines ..
    especially the japanese one. I had very bad experiences with that
    I use it for cabbage, carrot and banana. It really shreds cabbage so well
    But I and my husband we always end up cutting our fingers.
    It happens so fast. u cannot even realize.

    So we gave up the convinience of mandoline, just not to get hurt.
    How much ever we try , we almost always ended up geting hurt.
    the blade is very sharp. even while cleaning it is difficult
    I guess we have to use some holder king of thing

    Comment by Anitha — May 28, 2008 @ 4:45 pm

  19. I went through the listings at Amazon and added some of my favorites to the post. Check them out to purchase and I hope you find them useful to your needs.

    Mandolines are no different from sharp knives or any kitchen tools. The fact of the matter is that if you are not familiar with this tool or cautious enough, you will slice your fingertips off – it’s very easy to happen. My advise for newbies is be careful and attentive when you use this tool. Mandolines do a great job at slicing vegetables, but only in the hands of a cautious cook.

    Comment by Indira — May 28, 2008 @ 6:05 pm

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