Why the wooden chekku matters for sesame
Sesame is a delicate seed. Push it through a fast steel expeller and the friction heat carries off the aroma that makes nallennai worth buying in the first place. Refine it after that — bleach, deodorise, filter to water-clarity — and you're left with a neutral cooking oil that could have come from anywhere.
The marachekku turns slowly enough that the seed never overheats. What comes out is dense, golden-brown and smells like roasted sesame the moment you open the bottle. That aroma is not a flaw to be processed away. It's the entire point.
Why customers choose ALAI
- We press it ourselves. Our own chekku unit in Tamil Nadu, our own quality checks. No third-party bottling, no blending with refined oil to bring the price down.
- Unrefined and filter-settled. No bleaching agents, no deodorisers, no hexane, no added preservatives.
- Clean, sorted sesame. Sourced from local growers and cleaned properly before pressing.
- Small batches, pressed to order. Sesame oil is at its best fresh. We don't press to fill a warehouse.
- The nose test works. Open the bottle. If it smells like nothing, it isn't nallennai.
How to use it
Everyday cooking — the base oil of Tamil kitchens. Tempering, kuzhambu, poriyal, kootu and rasam. Its flavour is assertive, so it carries a dish rather than hiding behind it.
Pickles — the traditional choice, and the reason your grandmother's maavadu and lime pickle kept for a year without refrigeration. Sesame oil sits properly on top and seals the jar.
Ellu sadam and puliyodarai — where sesame oil isn't optional. Use anything else and it tastes wrong.
The oil bath — ennai kuliyal, warmed and worked into the scalp before a Saturday or Tuesday bath. Still practised in most Tamil households, and this is the oil it was always meant to be.
Oil pulling — a spoonful swished on an empty stomach, the way it has been done for generations.
A note on frying: unrefined sesame oil has a lower smoke point than refined oils, so it's superb for tempering and shallow frying but not the best pick for long deep-frying sessions. Use coconut or a refined oil for that, and keep this one for flavour.
Product details
| Brand | ALAI |
| Extraction | Wood pressed (marachekku), low temperature |
| Type | Unrefined, unbleached, undeodorised |
| Ingredients | 100% sesame seed. Nothing else. |
| Also known as | Gingelly oil, nallennai, til oil, ellu ennai |
| Available in | 250 ml / 500 ml / 1 L / 2 L / 3 L / 5 L |
| Packaging | Food-grade PET bottle, tamper-proof seal |
| Shelf life | 12 months from packing |
| Storage | Cool, dry place away from direct sunlight |
| FSSAI Lic. No. | 22426306000092 |
A note on sediment and colour
A little sediment at the bottom of the bottle is normal in unrefined oil — it's fine sesame matter that settles after filtering. Colour also varies slightly between batches depending on the seed. Refined oil is uniform because it has been stripped; ours changes a little because it hasn't.
