Getting it right

This week’s MasterChef episode was all about getting it right — choosing the right ingredients in the taste test, getting the balance of spices right in a curry and following a recipe perfectly in the pressure test. 

One of the many Kenwood products that gets it right is the Kenwood True Compact Blender BL380. The blender can puree, roughly or finely dice food and blend smoothies, breakfast shakes and soups in seconds. It also has several useful attachments including a multi-mill. This is used for grinding spices to bring out that perfect flavour, finely chopping herbs or nuts and grinding coffee beans. 

When using your Kenwood True Compact Blender there are some useful tips to help you get it right every time.

Tip 1: Blending dry ingredients

Often blending dry ingredients can be tricky. Cut your ingredients into pieces and remove the filler cap. Then, with the machine running, drop the pieces down one by one. Keep your hand over the opening. For best results empty regularly. Use for nuts, breadcrumbs and biscuit crumbs.

Tip 2: Thick mixtures

Thick mixtures like pâtés and dips might need scraping down. If the mixture is difficult to process, add more liquid.

Tip 3: Making mayonnaise or pesto

When mixing oil-based spreads or dips put all the ingredients into the blender, except the oil.  Then, with the appliance running, add the oil slowly through the hole in the lid. This will allow the mixture to become perfectly smooth.

Tip 4: Ice crushing

The blender does a great job of making icy cocktails, such as Margaritas and Frozen Daiquiris, where ice is crushed with liquid.  Also, icy smoothies and shakes are easy to make with the blender.  Ice should not be “crushed” in the blender without adding liquid.  

Tip 5: Grinding spices

The judges were disappointed in most of the contestants’ curries because the blend of spices wasn’t perfect. Grinding whole spices brings out extra flavour and gives any dish a fresh, zesty taste. Add up to 50g of whole pepper corns, cumin seeds, cardamom seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds or whole cloves to the multi mill attachment. Grind for 30 to 60 seconds.

To release the fullest flavour, whole spices often need to be roasted before grinding. (But be careful doing this — roasting spices can be dangerous as we saw with Isle burning her chin while trying to hear mustard seeds pop.)

Tip 6: Chopping nuts

Nuts are full of natural oils and often, when finely chopping nuts, they begin to form a paste. To keep the mixture dry and loose, add a tiny bit of flour to the nuts as you grind to absorb some of the oil. It is best to drop nuts through the filter hole while the machine is running. 

The Kenwood True Compact Blender BL380 comes with a one year guarantee, is easy to clean and can take 1L of liquid when blending — perfect for soups this winter. Get it right with Kenwood!