Family cooking: you need this amazing onion gadget

I don't like chopping onions - who does? - and my Life At the Stove has changed since I got my hands on this fantastic gadget. The Alligator turns big, stinky onions into a perfect - and I mean PERFECT - small dice in a matter of seconds.

I challenge the cheffiest chef in the world to produce a pile of diced onion as perfect and evenly sized as the tiny squares that pop out of the Alligator, every time.

No, it's not one of those silly cylinders with an up-and-down chopper blade: it's far cleverer.

The device consists of a plastic casing holding a 2mm x 2mm stainless steel grid, which is sharpened on the underside. You peel and halve your onion, put it under the razor grid, give it a bloody good smack with your fist, and Bob's your onion.

Some tips for using the Alligator:

For a perfect dice:

* top and tail and peel the onions. Cut them in half vertically (ie, from top to root).

* place the onion halves cut-side down on a chopping board and, with a sharp knife, make a horizontal cut through the onion (your knife should be parallel with the chopping board). If it's a very large onion, you may need to make two cuts.

* Put the sliced onion half into the Alligator. Cover the top of the gadget with your hand to prevent bits flying everywhere, and with the other fist deliver a sharp downward blow. Newer models of the Alligator come with a plastic hood that prevents onion pieces flying around.

* Step back and admire your fine dice.

The Alligator is also good for young celery, spring onions, carrots (but they should be cut horizontally into 2 mm-thick 'planks' first), garlic, apple slices, potato slices, courgettes, bell peppers, and so on.

Also:

Sharpness: If you use the Alligator daily, as I do, you will find it gets blunt after a year or two of use. It can't be sharpened, so you will have to buy a new one. But well, well worth it.

Cleaning: Use a nail brush or dishwashing brush to clean bits and pieces from the stainless steel grid. The 'receiving' end of the gadget - ie the cubed plastic bit that the blades bite into - has at its base an ingenous little plastic device, a sort of grid within a grid, that can be lifted out with a fingernail, scrubbed free of onion pieces, and then slotted back into place.

Available from Thrupps in Johannesburg, and online.

Print Friendly

Killer kitchen gadgetry for the yuppie chef

I was blown away by some of funky, clever designs at the Sunday Times. Yuppiechef (which sells only via the Net, and offers free - no jokes - delivery to anywhere in South Africa) definitely stole the show. This slick and good-looking site ('your one-stop killer kitchen gadget shoppe') is the work of Cape Town entrepreneurs Andrew Smith and Shane Dryden of Live Alchemy. Nice work, you guys.

There wasn't single item on their stall that I didn't want to own, immediately, and browsing their site now, I can add another two dozen gadgets to my wish list.

Top of the list? These beautiful glass water carafes, from Danish design company Eva Solo, which come with their own insulating zip-up neoprene wetsuits. At R740 each, they ain't cheap, but a girl can dream, right?











Another brilliant gadget: a set of flexible silicone 'poach pods' from FusionBrands (R90 for two). You float them in a pan of boiling water, break an egg into each one, and then turn them inside out to pop out the eggs. I also loved this witty rabbit pepper-grinder (see pic below) which has a pop-off tail for refilling purposes. Comes with a matching white salt grinder. I'm tempted to show you more of their gorgeous wares, but I don't want to spoil your fun - hop over to Yuppiechef and have your own little drool. And if you're into cool kitchen-tool spotting around the world, check out the Yuppiechef blog.


Print Friendly