Item: Vitamix 32-Ounce Dry Grains Container Overall Impression: Not essential but extremely useful A Vitamix is a hefty (yet worthy!) investment and if you've taken the plunge, you might now be wondering whether you really need to spend more on an additional Dry Grains Container. How different is it from the Vitamix's Standard/Wet Blade Container? Here's what we found... Characteristics and Specs: The Vitamix 32-ounce Dry Grains Container measures 9.8 inches tall. The container is made of BPA-free Eastman Tritan copolyester and has stainless steel blades and a vented lid and lid plug. Favorite details: Ounce, cup, and milliliter measurements on the sides of the container. Easy to clean using the self-cleaning feature. Potential problems: None personally encountered. Grinding ingredients for longer than recommended (usually 1 to 2 minutes) may cause permanent damage — so follow instructions. Also, according to the manual, if you grind herbs and spices on a regular basis, you may encounter discoloration, strong odors, and the need to replace dulled blades.

Yes, if you process a lot of dry grains and/or dough. Good for small kitchens? The container isn't terribly large, but people with very limited space might not want the extra component to store. The Vitamix is renowned for being able to do "everything," and the container that comes standard with the machine does a pretty remarkable job. However, there are a few things it doesn't process quite as well, namely dry materials and dough. vitamix shopping channel showstopperThe Dry Grains Container is specifically designed to handle ingredients like grains, cereal, coffee, and bread dough. blendtec twister jar ebayAlthough the standard or wet container can be used for dry ingredients, the Dry Grains Container is more efficient and effective.ninja xl master prep professional blender nj600 reviews

A quick glance at the wet and dry containers tells you that the blades are designed differently. In action, the wet container's blades pull food down, while the blades of the dry container push food up and away, simulating kneading. I put these two containers to a side-by-side test with wheat, rice, oats, and beans and found that the Dry Grains Container worked faster and produced a more uniform grind. hamilton beach hbb250s commercial rio bar blenderCleanup was also neater. As someone who regularly purchases gluten-free flours, I was amazed at how quickly and easily I could make my own (and for less money, too). If you only occasionally grind flours or other dry ingredients, and don't care about using the Vitamix for bread making, than you can probably get away with just the standard wet container. However, if you're a Vitamix aficionado that really wants to delve into making your own flours, cracked grains, spice blends, and whole grain breads, then the Dry Grains Container can be a powerful component in your Vitamix setup.

→ Find It! Vitamix 32-Ounce Dry Grains Container, $130.75 at Amazon Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes. Specially designed blades grind whole grains into fresh flours, mix batter, and simulate the kneading process to easily prepare dough for baking. Engineered for Whole Grains The blades in our Dry Grains Container are specifically designed to create a reverse vortex, pushing dry ingredients away from the blades to prevent packing. Measurements on Container + Lid Every Vitamix container is clearly marked with ounce and cup measurements. Even the lid plug has a 2-ounce measurement line. The angle of our spill-proof container spout lets you serve blends with a mess-free pour.

With a drop of dish soap and warm water, your Vitamix machine can clean itself in 30 to 60 seconds. What comes in the box Compatibility: Dimensions: Capacity: Weight:Blades: Material: Care: Manufacturer: We stand behind the quality of our containers with full warranties, covering all parts, performance, labor, and two-way shipping at no cost to you. V and I enjoy having friends over for casual gatherings on the weekends. Typically, people tend to meet for dinner on the weekends, but dinner-time is not at all my favorite time for entertaining. I'm an early bird who is up and about at 5 AM (yes, even on the weekends; especially on the weekends when there are so many fun things to look forward to). By 6 in the evening, I am pretty tired and crabby and not much fun to be around. Brunch or lunch is my preferred social hour. You do your cooking in the morning, enjoy your friends and still have many more hours left in the day to relax or do something else. A couple of weekends ago we had just such a gathering scheduled and I made my favorite brunch trio of idli, sambar and chutney.

Our friends offered to bring along a dish. I always say yes to this gracious offer- potluck style equals less work for any one person. And I never worry too much about what-goes-with-what. We might end up eating some strange combinations of dishes but everything is always delicious. This time our pals brought over sweet french toast with maple syrup and juicy strawberries. The camera candidly captured the table laid out with brunch- idlis, chutney and sambar. And a platter of cookies in the background for dunking into tea. Pillowy challah french toast with sliced strawberries- brought over by our friends. Idli, sambar and chutney is a trio that I have made so many times before (and posted so many times I've lost count), but never the same way twice! I keep tweaking the idli recipe to make them fluffier, fiddling with the sambar recipe to make it more like the kind from Udipi restaurants and varying the chutneys because there are so many to choose from. For several years, I made idlis using recipes that call for idli rava.

But there is such a difference between a good idli and a fantastic one- once you have eaten the latter you get spoiled for life. In my hands (meaning, there are surely ways to make the perfect idli with idli rava but I don't know what they are), the fluffiest idlis come about when you use a special variety of rice sold as idli rice- this rice is parboiled. My idli "aha" moment came last summer when V's aunt visited and I watched her make idlis with parboiled rice. Busy with baby and all, it was only now that I got to try my hand at it. If you have an electric stone grinder and if you have access to parboiled rice, you need to read these two posts from the The Yum Blog. I followed their proportion 1 (adding a fistful of poha for better fermentation), and followed all their excellent tips for grinding the batter. Even on that cold weekend, the batter rose gratifying well and the resulting buttery, fluffy idlis made me weep with joy. Update on March 18, 2012: In a comment on this post, Arch suggested that I try Vani's soft idlis.

This weekend, I did and yes, this is an incredible recipe! The only difference is that I soaked the parboiled rice, ural dal and poha all together and ground them all together too. The idlis turned out soft and wonderful. So all in all, I think parboiled rice and poha make for successful idlis in my hands. Idli stand- with molds to make 16 idlis at a time This time around I tried the Udipi Sambar recipe from Peppermill. A recipe from sweet beloved Miri; she is no longer with us but continues to be part of my life. Read her post for a lovely description of why this sweetish, coconut-laced version of sambar is beloved among those of us who ate at Udipi restaurants in Bombay. Here is my adaptation of Miri's recipe. 1. Pressure cook 1/2 cup toor dal. Mash it well and set aside. 2. Heat a little oil in small pan. Add the following ingredients in this order and fry them, then cool and grind to a thick paste (in my case it was more like a wet powder). 1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds

2 tsp. urad dal 2 tbsp. coriander seeds 1/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut 3. You're ready to make sambar. In a large pan, heat 2 tsp. oil. 1 tsp. mustard seeds 1 tsp. urad dal Sprig of curry leaves 4. Add vegetables- I used chunks of red onion this time. Batons of drumsticks, carrot, baby onions, cubes of eggplant, pumpkin all work well. Stir fry for a few minutes. Add salt, red chili powder, turmeric, tamarind paste and jaggery to taste. Add a cup of water, cover and cook for a few minutes. 5. Now stir in the masala paste and toor dal from step 1 and 2. Simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the flavors and consistency before serving. 3. A fresh verdant chutney I use a coffee grinder as my "mixie" and it works for the most part but the coconut chutney made with fresh frozen coconut never seems to be quite as silky smooth as I would like. The idea for using coconut milk instead of fresh/frozen shredded coconut came from Vaishali's post from many years ago.

This recipe will give you beautifully smooth chutney in any old blender. 1. Blend together and scrape into a serving bowl: 1 bunch cilantro, washed and roughly chopped (about 2 cups) 1 chopped hot green chili (or green chili paste to taste) 1/2 cup dalia or roasted chana dal (phutane in Marathi) 1 mini can coconut milk (5.6 oz. or 2/3 cup) 2. Make a tadka or "tempering" with: 2 tsp. mustard seeds 1 tsp. chana dal Anyway, this brunch was a labor of love and so utterly rewarding. Our friends had never tasted idli before and looked quizzically at these snow-white steamed cakes but a few bites later, I heard things like, "Why can't I stop eating these?". That weekend was special for another reason. It was the first time Lila rolled over, leaving us speechless with delight. So that makes it two milestones- Lila taking the first step towards mobility and me making idlis that I am proud to share. That Monday, when co-workers asked the perfunctory question, "How was your weekend?", I could say with absolute sincerity that my weekend had been just perfect.