10 robot ideas for a typical Indian household
Indian cooking is quite involved and elaborate, regardless of the state where recipe originates from. Most recipes involve the use of oil as the first stage of the actual “cooking”. And the oil kills the robot right in the design phase itself, much like it kills the larger Indian population by inducing heart diseases.
But robots could definitely make the life of an Indian cook easier. Mother’s will no longer force their daughters to learn cooking, and mothers in law will lose the single most effective ammo to harass the daughter in law. However, “Maa ke haath ka khaana” (food prepared by Mommy dear) will no longer form the basis of a mother-child relationship.
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that not all ideas are my original.
- Roti Maker
THIS is non-negotiable for most Indians. (unless you are a South Indian)
It should make soft, fluffy, low fat, hot and fresh rotis. And it would be an added advantage if the robot were to go above and beyond its call of duty and make the most delicious parathas. Luckily for us, this has already been figured out by the most considerate Pranoti Nagarkar-Israni, cofounder and CTO of Zimplistic Inventions . Her wonderful product — Rotimatic is making waves (and rotis) in numerous households in the US and is gaining the blessings of the owners for future advancements.
2. Dosa/Idli maker
For the south Indians, lest they feel left out — Idli/Dosa batter and idli/dosa maker. The need is so dire that this one too has been figured out by Mukund Foods. Their product Dosamatic has already hit the market!
3. Ladoo Maker
No Indian can ever live without these. Perfectly well roasted flours rounded into the perfect balls of protein (and ghee and sugar) packed nutrition. Mommy can just select the laddoo and the next morning kids will have freshly made laddoos for snack in their tiffins. I’m imagining something looking like a big round cookie jar with a hole through which the laddoo is dispensed.
4. Vegetable Plucker
Let’s get into the thick of things — A leafy vegetable plucker. Plucking the curry leaves and coriander every single day is by far the most annoying thing to do. A small microwave sized robot where in you can just plug in the bunches of all the leafy vegetables (ok one bunch at a time!) from one side and only the good are leaves are washed, plucked, cut (if needed), blanched if need be and finally dispensed from the other side. Oh what a hassle that will save.
5. Kitchen Counter Cleaner
A la Roomba for the kitchen top. All I’m asking for is a small computer mouse sized robot that actually nibbles around the kitchen counter and cleans the oil spurts, the turmeric stains, the flour-shower, the shredded coconut particles. An attachment with the help of which the mouse can crawl the walls and ceilings and remove oil stains thereon would seal the deal. Ktop-bot if you will?
6. Masala Maker
Every so often recipes demand grinding spices to make for the most aromatic masalas. I wish there was a small box where you could just put canisters of whole spices and choose the masala that you want. The robot would correctly pick the ingredients, roast them just right and grind them nice and fine.
7. Ghee Bot
No Indian household can function without ghee! And for generations now we have been hammered with the benefits of not just ghee..but of home-made ghee! But making ghee is an art and cleaning the vessel in which it is made, a deal breaker! A robot that looks like a milkshake maker where you just add the butter and out comes golden, the most salubrious ghee is the need of the hour! It’s not as easy as it sounds, because the robot has to be ready to grease its own arms and clean up afterward!
8. The Milk Cycle Bot
Ghee reminds me of the whole lifecycle of milk in an Indian household — from milk -> yogurt -> butter -> buttermilk -> cream -> ghee. If there was a robot that could nurture the lactobacillus at every stage of its life, I am ready to nurture the culture of the robot all my life! I would spare an entire kitchen cabinet for this lactobot!
9. Curry/Dal Maker
North Indian or South Indian, West or East Indian — we all make (and love) our curries and dals. Imagine how cool it would be if you could simply fill up the canisters of a robot with the dal/veggies of your choice and everything else it needs, and with the press of a button, the dal-bot dispenses hot sambar/rasam/kali dal/dal makhani/kadhi. We are not so lazy so we don’t need a robot for rice (oh wait!). So the from the dal-bot to your bowl of rice — it’s chicken soup for the desi soul (!?)
10. Marinot (sounds like marry-not)
A robot that can marinate your chicken or paneer or fish or veggies for a perfect “tikka” for the next day. Something like a microwave I imagine, where you can put your chicken or paneer or whatever it is that needs marination, on the plate. The robot will turn it over, skin it, rub the yoghurt-mix (which it prepares) with the most loving arms onto the item and maintains the temperature just right for all the mouthwatering ingredients to get under the skin (!?) of the chicken!
To be honest the an average Indian household kitchen could really use a refrigerator that can wash, sort, peel/cut/grate/chop/pluck the veggies as needed. And those are then passed on to a curry/dal maker automatically depending on the recipe selected. It would not be complete without the robot serving food at the table and announcing the customary “khana lag gaya hai ji” (food has been served).
It would be utopian if the robot could further “learn” about your “paan” (betel leaf mouth freshener) habit. The evenings will then look something like this. You have enjoyed dinner prepared by robots. The counter cleaner bot is humming away cleaning the counters. The paan-bot is merrily concocting your favourite paan, while you, relaxing on your recliner, are peacefully enjoying life or something like it (pun intended).
