Quick answer: Start with the oil you use most: the everyday tadka and sabzi oil. Swap that for Essential and keep everything else the same for a week. Then add Magic for the air fryer and tawa, Drizzle for finishing, and try avocado oil in place of vegetable oil in your bakes.
Not everything at once
Habits in an Indian kitchen run deep: your mother's dal, the oil your cook trusts, the tin that has always lived next to the stove. So we never suggest emptying your cupboard on day one. Change one thing at a time and pay attention.
Our first swap
Ours happened during my pregnancy, in our kitchen in Charleston. I cooked our regular meal (bhindi, dal, rotis, rice) in avocado oil. It was Kalpesh who noticed first: the food tasted of the spices, not the oil, and over the next few weeks our everyday meals simply felt lighter to us. We never switched back.
Here's the order that worked for us, and that we suggest to friends.
Swap 1: the morning tadka
The oil you use most is the best place to start, because that's where the swap adds up. Replace your tadka oil with Essential: 1–2 teaspoons for a dal that serves four, rai first, then jeera, curry leaves at the end, hing off the flame. Essential is neutral, so the dal tastes like your dal. The difference you'll notice is a quieter pan.
Swap 2: the kadai sabzi and stir-fry
Bhindi, aloo-gobi, paneer, Indo-Chinese: fast, hot cooking where the pan rarely leaves high heat. Essential's smoke point of around 270°C gives you room. Use a wide kadai so less oil covers more surface.
Swap 3: the air fryer, tawa and rotis
This is Magic's job. A few presses coat an air-fryer basket, a dosa tawa or a baking tray evenly, without the puddle a free pour leaves. One of our customers now gives each roti a single press instead of ghee. Each press is roughly a quarter of a gram, so you can see exactly how much you're using. One oil, two ways: pour it when you need more, spray it when you need just enough.
Swap 4: the weekend bake
Anywhere a recipe says "vegetable oil", you can use Essential one-for-one. It's neutral, so it won't change the flavour of a cake, muffin or banana bread. For bakes where you want a richer, buttery note, try Drizzle. You'll find our baking recipes on our Instagram.
Swap 5: dressings, dips and finishing
Once the cooking is done, Drizzle comes in: a thread over hot dal, a teaspoon in raita, homemade hummus, a lime-and-salt dressing, a finish over grilled vegetables or avocado toast. This is where you want to taste the oil, so no heat.
A simple way to remember it
| Moment | Oil |
|---|---|
| At full heat: tadka, kadai, frying | Essential |
| Thin coat: air fryer, tawa, rotis, baking tray | Magic |
| In the bake: cakes, muffins | Essential (or Drizzle for richness) |
| After the heat: dressings, dips, finishing | Drizzle |
Some like it hot. Some like to finish things off. And some just want to spray and get on with it.
What not to swap
If a dish is built around mustard oil, coconut oil or ghee, keep it. A Bengali jhol, a Kerala avial, a festive halwa: those fats are the flavour. Avocado oil is for the everyday cooking where the oil should stay in the background.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need all three?
No. Start with Essential. Add the others only if you cook that way.
Will my family taste the difference?
In most dishes, no. That's the point of a neutral oil.
Can I bake with avocado oil?
Yes. Swap it one-for-one for vegetable oil.
Keep reading
— Gayatri, co-founder and design lead, The Avo Company