Palmolein (palm oil)

Oils & Ghee

The frying oil behind most South Indian hotel and street food — very high smoke point, almost no taste of its own, and the cheapest thing on the shelf.

What to know

It sets soft and cloudy below about 24°C, so in a cool kitchen it arrives looking like it has spoiled when nothing is wrong. Warm the bottle in a pan of water rather than throwing it out. Because it holds up to repeated frying better than most, it is what a stall reuses all day — which is also why food fried in it at home tastes cleaner than the same thing bought outside.

Choosing it: Sold as palmolein, often simply labelled refined vegetable oil. If the label lists a blend without naming proportions, you are usually buying mostly this.
Storing it: Room temperature, sealed. Long shelf life — the least fussy oil in the aisle.
If you cannot get it: Try: sunflower oil, rice bran oil

Measures

1 tsp ≈ 4.5 g
1 tbsp ≈ 13.5 g
1 cup ≈ 180 g

Cups here are the Indian 200 ml cup, not the 240 ml US cup — a common reason a recipe does not work. Weigh where you can; the grams are the figure we cook to.

Recipes using palmolein

None published yet.