India’s first voice-first culinary app is here and we decided to put its smartness to test
The app features dishes like Imarti, a traditional sweet dish made by deep frying vigna mungo flour batter in a circular flower shape
Dear Tinychef, there are other people in this world besides vegetarians, vegans and a category called ‘I eat everything.’ For instance, some do not eat beef or pork for religious reasons, and then there are those who have seafood allergies or are eggitarians. When I select ‘I eat everything’ on the app, despite leaving out pork in the selection, I get bacon recipes for my breakfast meal. Sure, it is a technical glitch that can be fixed. Barring that, this smart, futuristic-ish (because apps like these are already abundant in the West) kitchen-assistant app has the potential to change the way we eat home-cooked meals in India.
ADVERTISEMENT
Apart from being a repository of Indian (and many global) recipes from chefs all over the world, Tinychef uses voice to search, plan, shop and cook. Born in 2017, it was originally known as Klovechef and is a collaboration between tech entrepreneur Bahubali Shete, celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Zelish, a food tech startup. Its new version features customised meal planning, automated grocery shopping and smart cooking with voice assistance and seamless command sharing with smart appliances. However, not all features are currently active in the beta version. In the customised meal planning, based on your preference, you can get a three-meal-a-day plan for upto five days and have the liberty to replace a dish if you want. It also allows you to choose a plan based on the ingredients you already have in your pantry, or a flexible one, wherein you can create a shopping list of the missing ingredients.
On the landing page, we like how the recipes are sorted into fun and easy categories such as kid-friendly, it’s ice-cream time, classic Emirati recipes and under-30 minutes
On the landing page, we like how the recipes are sorted into fun and easy categories such as kid-friendly, it’s ice-cream time, classic Emirati recipes and under-30 minutes, among others. Many are usual suspects (vegetable upma, dal fry, dum aloo), but scroll further and you’ll find few unusual ones, too (imarti, gur mawa roti and kaddu puri). We didn’t find enough diet-specific meal plans like keto or paleo, though. You can even set reminders, change food preferences, and take a look at the list of your most-liked dishes in one place. Recipes can be easily with friends and family via WhatsApp and you can send it to Alexa and Google Speakers for a step-by-step narration. Although a great concept, we did not find it as seamless as we expected it on the phone.
The automatic meal planning has a feature to scan your grocery bill and add items to your virtual pantry. This one-click feature, where your shopping list can be directly exported to a grocery shopping website or app, is still in development stages—and that, we know, will be a game changer. For now, we will have to make do with saving it on a document. Apps like these are going to be a norm soon and we’re glad someone is working toward making life in the kitchen a tad easier.
Available on Google Play and iOS
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
