Sunflower Oil

Sunflower oil is pressed from sunflower seeds and refined to a pale gold oil with almost no flavour of its own. That neutrality is its strength in Indian and Sri Lankan cooking: it lets cumin, mustard seed and curry leaf lead a tempering, and it fries bhajis, vadai and samosas crisp without adding a taste. It sits in our oils and ghee department with the other everyday oils.

Refined sunflower oil has a high smoke point, around 225 degrees Celsius, so it handles deep frying at 170 to 180 degrees comfortably. Bottles suit a small kitchen, and larger containers make sense for households that fry every week or cook for functions. Gold Winner is one of the names on our shelf, familiar to anyone who has cooked in Tamil Nadu.

Compared with vegetable and rapeseed oil, sunflower is slightly lighter in colour and taste, while groundnut oil adds a faint nuttiness that many Gujarati and Andhra cooks prefer for frying. For light dishes and baking, corn oil is another neutral choice.

Test the frying temperature by dropping in a pinch of batter: it should rise to the surface within a few seconds with steady bubbles. Filter used oil through a fine sieve once cool and keep it in a separate bottle for the next fry.