Time saving Tricks for indian Cooking

Onion and garlic are like any other veggies. They can be cut and safely stored for a few days in the fridge without any problems. The important thing (as always) is that hands and utensils are clean and the cut veggies stored in airproof containers.

 

Hello Ladies,

I am sure you will know this, just to refresh..
1. Grate the fresh coconut and store it every 4 days once
2.Cut the vegetables previous night, if there is any time saving required for next day morning
3.I Plan Dosas for week ends, since week days it will be dry adn not warm if we pack it for kids/husband/ourselves..Week ends you can serve and relish hot dosas!!
4. For week days(5 days only), I plan :
1 day Idli
2nd day, left over Idli batter will go to my kid's lunch box as Paddu(cut some coriander leaves, green chillies, onions)
3rd day and 5th day, Upma/Avalakki etc..
4th day-Buy Bread from bakery..pack it as sandwhich or apply honey/butter/jam and pack..We also need a day break in the whole week...

Let me know if there are any sugegstions

 

Preserving daal for a period of over 10 days is quite unhygienic i believe, the food might lose all its protein.

 

Thanx for the tip, it will be very useful for me

 

Gals as far as possible eat fresh food. It is not advisable to store cooked food in fridge and use it for a long time. INdian climatic condition does not suit storage even if stored in fridge. My mom never advises even storing cut veggies overnight in fridge. The moisture in the veggies is lost if done so. Those days when fridge was introduced it was made fun of as "Pazham petti"( Box for storing left overs.) Very rarely I store left over kuzhambu(Not sambar). Mostly I use it for storing idly batter, veggies, milk n curd. IN my office recently a doctor gave a speech against using stored food which is carcinogenic. Why take risk friends?

 

Hi Ruhi,
Never store cut onions .Doing so promotes the growth of harmful bacteria which is not good for our health.

 

Hullo everybody .
For saving time , i always make large quantity of the basic dry masalas needed for every day cooking and store in tupperware airtight in freezer .
Like these , some examples .
1. For Sambhar : dry roast and grind together : Hing , methi seeds , channadal , urad dal , red chillis ( byadgi chilli for colour ) , copra shavings , daniya seeds , currypatta( karivepilai ) you can keep this powder even for 10 days in freezer . It will not lose flavour . Add just before switching off the sambhar .

2. vangibath powder : same as above , but with added cloves, cinnamon , cardamom and pepper . The powder can also be sprinkled on curries / poriyal

3 . Mor kuzhambu mix . : toordal , cumin ( jeera), daniya , haldi , red chillis , dessicated coconut ( or Kopra ) . Just heat lightly in dry pan . Make very fine powder . For use , mix in curds with salt and veggie . Heat till just bubbles . Dont boil too much . The powder can be kept even for a month.

4. Pepper Rasam powder : ( dry all these in hot pan and grind well ) toor dal, cumin, daniya, pepper seeds , curry leaves , shredded garlic. This powder can be kept in fridge for very very long , in airtight box . For use , boil tamarind water with salt . Add some powder , adjust water nd boil one minute . Garnishwithmustard seeds crackled in ghee.

5. All purpose powder : fry in little oil : Hing ( solid) , urad dal , red chillis till golden red. Drain alloil on kitchen paper . Cool and powder well.
This is handy for instant Thogayal - just add to coconut shavings and salt and grind coarse . Or to cleaned Coriander leaves, pudina ( mint ) , tender ridge gourd ( peerkanka ) etc . Will get tasty chutney / thogayal to eat with rice .
Or the powder can be sprinkled on boiled or sauteed vegetables , for a side dish .
Or , if Dosai milagaipodi is less , add this powder to make the quantity more .

 

Thank you. This is very very helpful. Just one question- do you wash the daals and pat them dry before dry roasting them? Specifically the udad daal and chana daal. I get a little worried with the white powder residue on these daals, so tend to wash them multiple times before making recipes with them.

 

Thank you !
I buy ProNature dals , so i dont wash them before roasting . The heat itself will kill off germs . But you can wash and dry well for your peace of mind . No problem .