Cooking Tips

Tips for Vegetarian and Non Vegetarian foods

Vegetarian Foods Tip:

To avoid extra salt :

To avoid extra salt in any dish, better add some Potateos pieces to it, so that the excess of salt might disappear.

To make soft and crispy medhu vadas (Urad dhal vadas):

Add cooked potatoes while grinding the urad dhal.

For paper roast dosa:

     Just add 2 spoon of corn powder in a small amount of batter and get paper roast dosa.

To store curry leaves fresh:

Put the curry leaves with the stem into air tight bottle with some fenugreek seeds

To store coriander leaves fresh:

Cut the stems and put the fresh coriander leaves in an air tight box and keep refrigerated to have a longer fresh life of coriander (or)

       keep coriander leaves in a muslin cloth bag in the refrigerator. They will remain fresh for a longer time.

To store green chillies fresh:

Remove the stems of green chilies while storing them .This will help them to stay fresh for long.

For soft Chapathis:

First  take wheat flour in a bowl add salt and little oil and add boiled water and mix slowly until a soft dough is formed.Keep it aside for 15 min and make chapattis

For fine egg :

When boiling egg add some salt to get fine egg

While adding Curd:

      Whenever curd is to be added to the masala, it should be beaten well and add gradually. 

Kachories and Kulchas :Add 1 Tbsp of hot oil to the dough for making Kachories or Kulchas.

 

Boiled vegetable water:

Never discard water in which vegetables are cooked, use it in gravies, soups, rasam or kolumbu.

To minimize cooking time:

Onions and masala are fried in the cooker body itself, raw vegetables are added to that with enough salt and water. Cook under pressure according to the cooking time of the vegetable. This method helps us minimize our cooking time, use of utensils and nutrients are also preserved.

While grinding poppy seeds :

Soak it in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes, if you are grinding it in a mixer. 

While boiling milk:

Always add a little water at the base of the vessel to avoid the milk from sticking at the bottom. 

Homemade pastes:

Add a "teaspoon" of hot oil to homemade pastes of garlic, ginger or green chili, along with salt to make it last longer and taste fresher.

For fried rice:

Add  few drops of lemon a tsp of oil to rice before boiling to separate each grain.

For noodles:

Immediately after boiling noodles put them in normal cold water to separate them each. 

To soak pulses:

If you forget to soak pulses (chana/Rajma) overnight. Just soak the it  in the hot water for an hour before cooking.

Curd in winter :

 Set in a ceramic container and place it on the voltage stabilizer of your refrigerator.

Ground masala :

Fry the ground masala in reduced flame, so that it retains its colour and taste. 

For tasty gravy:

Little plain sugar or caramelised sugar added to the gravy makes it tasty.

Ginger garlic paste:

While using ginger and garlic paste in curries, always use garlic at 60% ratio and ginger at 40% as ginger is very strong and may make your dish sharp and pungent. 

While adding Coconut:

When coconut is used in ground masala, do not fry for a longer time. 

Crispy  pooris:

To make pooris more crispy add a little rice flour to the wheat flour while kneading.

To keep apples fresh:

To avoid browning of apples after cutting, apply a little lemon juice on the cut surface. The apples will stay and look fresh for a longer time.

While cutting onions:

After peeling onions cut in half and soak in water for about 10 minutes before cutting to avoid crying.

To keep fruits fresh:

Wrap the fruits and vegetables in newspaper before refrigerating to keep them fresh for long.

Chopping dry fruits:

Freeze them first for one hour & then dip the knife into hot water before cutting them.

Non vegetarian Tips:

To clean seafood:

To get rid of the smell of prawns, apply salt and lemon juice to the prawns before cooking. Leave for 15-20 minutes, then wash off and proceed with the recipe. This is usually done with prawns, fish and all kinds of seafood.

Frozen meat:

Meat that is partially frozen is much easier to cut or slice.

To store fish fresh:

If you want to store fish for more than a day, first clean it, rub it with salt, turmeric and maybe, a drop of vinegar, and then freeze. It will stay fresh.

Salty raw meat:

Don't salt meat before you cook it. The salt forces the juices out and impedes browning. Instead, salt meat halfway through cooking, then taste when the meat is done and adjust the salt as needed.

High heat:

When you cook chicken or meat, you should first cook over high heat to seal juices and then lower the heat and cook till tender.

Kebabs:

To avoid kebabs from becoming hard and chewy, marinate them for a longer time and avoid over cooking them.

Mutton:

For better results, mutton should be of a younger animal. It looks pink and not red and texture should be firm. If it is red and looks 'wrinkled', it will be tough