Food Processor for Indian Cooking – Magimix Review for Indian Kitchens

A detailed review of the use of food processor in an Indian kitchen for Indian-style cooking. Food processors can be used for chopping, slicing, mincing, grating, and pureeing vegetables as well as whip eggs, cream, and make dough for rotis and parathas. Wondering if a food processor would be useful to you and if you should get one? Read on.

After a lot of deliberation, and research, both online and offline, I decided to go ahead and buy a Magimix 3200 XL to help with my cooking needs. Besides the more basic functions like chopping and slicing, the Magimix also comes with a dicing attachment and I was quite excited about that, even though I did have to get it separately and pay extra.

Things to Consider before Purchasing a Food Processor

– Main purpose: are you going to be kneading a lot of dough in your processor? If so, you need to go for a strong machine that can handle it, with a reliable motor. If you are going to be using it more for processing vegetables, then go with one that has the right kind of attachments for slicing, dicing, shredding, etc.

– Budget: food processors come in many different sizes and models so once you have your main purpose sorted, look for options that fit in your budget. If you plan to get a lot of use out of it and it’s going to be your main kitchen helper, invest in one that’s strong and will give you years of food processing fun. More on this below, from an Indian kitchen context.

– Counter space: this is a small yet important piece. You have to plan to leave your food processor out on the counter, otherwise you won’t get much use out of it. You also need to be able to store the attachments and accessories in a handy place to reach easily while you use the machine.

– Where to buy: this entirely depends on where you live. In India, there are many stores online where you can compare and see reviews of food processors. You can even go to a store, check out a few models, and then purchase online if prices are better. This is what I did in Australia since prices vary here dramatically depending on where you buy. After checking out many stores both online and offline, I finally bought my Magimix from Kitchenwaresuperstore. They had very competitive prices and if you find it cheaper anywhere, they will match it. Delivery was before the date promised, and their phone support was fabulous. I’ll definitely buy from them again.

Now coming to the specific food processor I got, the Magimix 3200 XL which is the smallest option, meant for a family of 2-4. Magimix a French brand that makes home-friendly food processors with the same quality and strength as their popular Robot Coupe machines meant for commercial use. The motor comes with a 30 year warranty and the machine is (relatively) silent, efficient, and strong.

I made roti dough in the food processor and it barely moved with the force of it. While I would prefer to make dough in a Kitchenaid stand mixer, if you don’t have one, a food processor is a perfectly fine option since it can do so much more than a stand mixer.

The processor comes with 3 bowls that nest one inside the other and the smallest one is really useful for making small amounts of guacamole, hummus, etc and also for pulsing nuts. In this case, I was making date and nut balls.

I use the large bowl for pureeing large amounts of onion-tomato gravy which I then add to multiple curries through the week. I make this gravy in bulk on weekends to make my weeknight cooking easier. Before I got this food processor, I used to do this in multiple batches in my small mixie jar.

I also made pesarattu batter in the large bowl. The blades are extremely sharp and they don’t really grind the soaked beans, but crush them so the batter was grainy even after a few mins of processing so I wouldn’t suggest using a food processor for making dosa batter but it’s definitely an option, especially for grainy batters like for pesarattu and adai.

I’ve also sliced and grated many many batches of carrots, cucumber, cabbage, beetroot, etc, thanks to the handy attachments the Magimix comes with. It also stacks neatly in a box so you can easily put them away when you don’t need them. There are 2 slicing discs, 2 shredding discs, 2 blades (one for the large bowl and one for the mini bowl), one whipping attachment, and one dough blade which is not sharp but pointed to enable kneading action.

I leave the box of attachments open inside the nearest cupboard to where the processor is so I just have to open the cupboard and grab the blades I need. This is extremely handy, needless to say.

As I was mentioning, the main reason why I bought this particular processor is because of the new dicing attachment. It needs to be bought separately and comes in 3 pieces – a dicer, a pusher, and a blade. Essentially, the dicer has sharp blades placed criss cross and we have to push the vegetable through it with the pusher to get it in cubes. The slicer will slice it into small pieces once it has passed through the criss cross blades.

So far, I’ve tried to cube carrots, potatoes, and beans. Potatoes work really well and you can even cut them for French fries by not using the slicer (you don’t need to operate the machine either). Carrots need to be pre-cooked a bit since otherwise it’s too tough to push through the dicer, so this is a bit of a disappointment. With that extra time needed, I might as well cube them by hand. Beans worked reasonably well as you can see in the picture above. I was able to push a large bunch through at the same time and was done in seconds. The pieces are not super uniform and while I’d love for every piece to be of the same dimension, this will do just fine since it takes only a few seconds. That said, I am not sure convinced that a dicing kit is worth shelling extra for. I’d buy it on sale or when they are giving it for free with purchase of a processor (like they are now).

I am yet to try making pie dough or whipping cream in the food processor. I have heard that a food processor does a great job of mixing pie crust so that will be next. I was waiting to try a few things before posting a review here so it can be as comprehensive as possible.

Overall, if you are considering a food processor for your Indian cooking needs, here are my suggestions:

1. If you want this to be your one main machine for the kitchen, then I’d recommend getting an Indian mixie instead. I had asked for recomendations on my Facebook page a couple of months ago and many people recommended Inalsa and Bajaj. Those brands are definitely worth a try
2. If your main purpose is blending or whipping, I’d highly recommend hand-held blenders. They are cheap and before this I had one which also had a small chopper attachment which I got a lot of use out of
3. If you plan to make roti dough very regularly and that’s going to be your main purpose, consider investing in a stand mixer. I use and love my Kitchenaid stand mixer but there are options in the market too. Get one with a stable and strong motor, that’s key. Kitchenaid India has now launched so you can also contact them to learn more. I am not sure if Magimix is available in India though
4. Get a food processor if you will be doing a lot of slicing, shredding, and grating primarily. I am getting a lot of use out of mine for this purpose. I slice an grate vegetables in bulk and prep them halfway which I then use through the week. This way, I am able to make dinner for us and prepare lunch for TH to take to work. I wasn’t able to pull it off so easily in Singapore so the processor is definitely helping

If you have any other questions or comments, please leave a comment below and we can talk! I hope this post made your decision-making process a bit easier.

This is not a paid review. I purchased the food processor and all opinions are my own.