Mini Processor?

[JanetB]

Ok - so I'm new to the world of appliances that do the work for you.

Just got a miniprocessor - of course - just lost the directions too. I believe they went out with the box.

Does this thing actually chop things into pieces larger than mincing? For example - I would like to use it for prep work for recipes like paella - which calls for chopped peppers and onions. I can't figure out how I could get it to do this - and it is a really simple little machine - the only choices are low and high speed. The model I have is a Cuisinart.

Thanks

[sneezles]

Janet
It's really a matter of practice, I think. I would recommend using low and pulsing for a couple of seconds-to see how large or small the pieces are. My first time using the mini, I ended up with onion puree but was making beans so it didn't matter

[Joyce]

I don't know if anyone has heard of it, but I find a "chopomatic", or zyliss chopper easier to use. You place what you are chopping on a board, put the chopper on top, and hit the top so the blades rotate and chop. You can stop at the consistency you like. Someone else can probably explain this better than I. I think pampered chef sells one of these along with a company called Zyliss.

[RobinC]

I have both the Cuisinart Mini Food Chopper and the Pampered Chef food chopper. I tend to use the Cuisinart chopper for things that need finer mincing, such as herbs. I also use it for mixing together sauces. I don't particularly like it for chopping onions. I usually end up with some big pieces and some itty-bitty pieces.

The Pampered Chef food chopper works as mentioned above. You place the food to be chopped on a cutting board then place the chopper over it. With each plunge of the copper, the blades rotate 90 degrees. It works great for onions, nuts, peppers, etc.

[lindrusso]

I agree with RobinC about using the mini-processor for chopping - to get anything close to even-sized pieces, you end up pulverizing things. So, I use it only when I want to mince or purée - everything else I chop by hand.

[Ed]

Hi,

I just recently bought a hand operated food processor at a kitchen shop for about $7.

This thing works great and is much quicker and easier to use than setting up the electric food processor, (either the regular one or the mini one).

IMO this hand cranked one does a fine job and you don't wind up with mush trying to get something chopped up fine.

I looked for a while to find this and I finally did and now I use it regularly. It's fairly easy to clean up too.

Ed