hrastro, what is there for elaborating, after your detailed post ? :hatsoff. Sorry , if I had sounded someone as a knowledgeable cook .. I am not a great cook... Thanks to my adjusting husband and son duo, I do click as a cook...gigglingsmiley What I meant is that I do keep in stock always, moong dal, split as well whole, black eyed peas, green peas which could be made as sundal or koottu even without soaking for hours together.. All I do is soak in hot water for 15 minutes and or dry fry in the kadai, in case of black eyed peas.. and give one whistle in pressure cooker.. Kosumalli is also one thing I serve even for guests.. different item and healthy as well... Addition I make sprouts of the lentils , as you mentioned,and store it in freezer which we consume as salad ,just mixing a little salt, pepper, lemon juice... It is filling and healthy... I have served this to guests as well ! Even we can mix the different sprouts and consume as salad or make sundal... Every now and then, I make tomato thokku, onion garlic kuzhambu, pulikaichal, curry leaves kuzhambu, ginger thokku, coriander leaves podi (sambhaarap podi) , Ellu podi and store it in fridge.. The recipe is almost known to everyone or google has it all.. It comes handy to pack for lunch boxes... And also when we do not feel like cooking, all we need to do is cook rice, add ghee or sesame oil mix one of the above mentioned items and indulge !! Avocados, I buy every other week. Guacamole is one of my frequent items ... I also make milk shake ... As to make a quick kheer for guests, beetroot just like carrot will be my go to veggie.. Just peel the skin, grate and pressure cook for a whistle, add milk, condensed milk or little sugar boil till desired consistency.... Till date it has been my hit with guest in sweet item.. Regards, Pavithra
Dear @hrastro, Amazing thread. Thanks for posting a link in Shans thread. I would have missed it otherwise.
@hrastro Another marvelous thread from you! These recipes are awesome and so simple to follow! Thank you! :bowdown:bowdown:bowdown
hrastro and @Laks dear thank you for the sweet message you both have posted about me in Finest forum in reply to my nomination. But I am not expert in cooking , I collect recipies from various places. Before marriage I had collected many recipies. Actually I did not know much about cooking and I was married to a family where each and everyone was expert in cooking including the men. I was just a learner at that time. I learnt from my husband. I am so surprised to read about your this thread and so many tips which will be helpful for everyone including me. I worked for 38 years and my husband used to help me in the kitchen while I was working. After retirement I gave him retirement in the kitchen but after my Cataract operation he started helping by keeping rice and boiling milk and then I take over and make Sambhar, Bhaji etc. I like cooking and trying different recipies but except Sambhar powder and Milagapodi I dont make any other powders. I make everything fresh and dont store much in the fridge excep tthe rice flour, idli rava, maida, Rava, basin, pickle and vegetables. I dont know whether I am out of the topic
Dear Vijima Sorry for the late response! You're right amma! We wanted to read exactly what you used to keep ready - you have come up with the podis and the basic grocery stock items. Credit goes to your DH too, he used to help with the kids and the housework Nowadays - while moms dont have time, even the kids dont have time to even play, and the husbands have very irregular timings at office. When we were kids, we used to help our mom at home, we used to eat whatever was in the plate without any fuss and also we never had knowledge and demands of different cuisines - only north indian and south indian Nowadays kids usually demand pizza, burger, pasta, paneer etc... The husbands usually have stress related stomach issues or diabetes or they are on diet... And we struggle to keep out all those chemicals out of their food ! So we need so many tips
Homemade cream cheese ? Not really !! Better than cheese ? Not really!! But definitely - no chemicals and preservatives and oh so useful Although I refer to it as cream cheese to the kids, this is just homemade yoghurt drained of water overnight in the fridge. I have an old Preethi coffee machine that I do not use any longer. It has a jar with a filter just enough for half litre of homemade yoghurt. I pour it on top of the filter, and keep the whole jar in the fridge. By morning, I have a creamy thick hung curd. How to use? You can use this as it is, just spread it on chapati or burger, instead of mayonnaise. You can flavour this with finely chopped onions or cabbage or capsicum (or a combination) and use this like a coleslaw spread. You can add flavours to this and make shrikhand (Add strawberry crush to make strawberry shrikhand) or add elaichi and powdered sugar! I make some thin crisp wheat cups using whole wheat bread dough (wrap the bread dough around greased tiny cups and bake till crisp) - I add a cooked sabji or rajma to these cups and add this "cream cheese" and a tiny bit of cheese slice and bake for 5 minutes - kids devour it happily! You can use it for stuffing pita bread and kaati roll. Add it to smoothies or lassis to thicken it.
hrastro dear thank you for your reply. I was waiting anxiously for your reply and used to see everyday whether there is reply from you. Glad to receive your loving reply. I just want to share what I do oflate , dont know whether it will be of use Since only two of us we cook one glass of rice everyday. But sometimes the food remains. In the night we have snacks only. So evening if there is balance rice I boil moong dal and make Pongal for the night. Most of the time I make dosa for night . We dont have a grinder and since only we are two we dont need also. So I grind fresh in the Mixer whenever I decide to make dosa. I grind only one glass, 3/4th rice, 1/4 urad dal and little methi and grind it after soaking. we have only 3 dosas each in the night and next day if balance batter is there , I add wheat flour in that and make dosa. If I make Morkuzambu in the morning then evening I make Idli Rava Kozakattai because kozakattai tastes good with morkuzambu I like to cook tasty food and matching food. I mean if I have to make some roasted vegetable then I make Rasam because rasam and roasted vegetable tastes good, I like it. I decide what to cook in the night and next day morning only I cut the vegetables and make everything fresh. Mostly by 8 a.m.my cooking is over and the washing machine finishes its job
@hrastro, Wonderful and definitely a very very informative thread to all our Ilites. for me, keeping things prepared makes my job easy and tension free in the morning whee hours. 1. I always have a stock of idli moulage podi, paruppu podi and karuveppilai podi. This makes my job very easier after a tired trip or after a busy shopping day and even on some sick days. 2. I don't stock pickle from store. I make ready made thokku from tomato, ginger, gongura,mango and garlic for every 2 weeks in turns. Less oil, less salt, no preservatives and yummy too. 3. I grind idli batter twice during a week. On sunday and on wednesday. While doing that I make an extra batter like ragi dosa, Quinoa idli, pesarattu, brown rice dosa. That saves time and also I need not worry about the next day's breakfast. 4. I make sprouts one time a week by soaking moong, kala channa, channa in turns. I soak them friday morning and by sunday night they are ready of the week. 5. Make ginger- garlic paste at home with a dash of turmeric powder. Can store for 3 weeks. Saves time and no preservatives. 6. paneer and yogurt are made at home. I make yogurt every other day and paneer every 2 weeks once. 7. I get Kanji maavu, sambar powder, dhaniya- chilli powder (ground in 50:50 ratio) and vathakulambu powder from mom. 8. I get sukku podi from my MIL. If it gets over, i make my own. This has sukku(dry ginger), pepper corns, coriander seeds finely powdered. We make a kasha yam with palm sugar and have them every sunday night. 9. I also get some ma laddu powder from Mil. I just have to heat some ghee and add to it to make some laddu. These are some of the few things I do to save time and make my job easier. Will pen in more when I remember things.
@hrastro, Another great thread by you with lots of great tips. You are an inspiration in a lot of things. Some of the things I do 1. Homemade vaangi bath, puliyodarai, curry leaves powder, cilantro paste always stocked in the freezer for a quick variety rice 2. I make paneer once in 2 weeks and use the whey water to knead 3 or 4 types of dough for roti/parata (with dal or kasoori methi or ajwain or shredded cauliflower or just plain), apply oil, wrap it tight and freeze it in freezer bags. Now my atta for dinners for 3-4 days is ready 3. I grind idli batter on Thursday morning along with my regular cooking. Along with it I grind one more type of batter - adai/pesarattu/millet dosai. So the idli batter takes care of a lot of the breakfasts for the week and the additional batter for 1 or 2 dinners. 4. Every alternate Friday, I do veggie shopping, so Friday morning of the shopping day, whatever leftover veggie is there in the fridge I use it to make a vegetable chutney or puree for gravy base and freeze some. Veggie tray gets a quick clean and left out to dry & be ready for the fresh stock in the evening. So between all the batter/dough, some chutney and gravy base with paneer being available, breakfast & dinners are comparatively a quick fix (max. of 30 minutes)
