Kitchen Tips

Discussion in 'Recipe Central' started by Bhugan, Feb 12, 2006.

  1. srividhyaselva

    srividhyaselva New IL'ite

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  2. shwethashukla

    shwethashukla Junior IL'ite

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  3. mani22

    mani22 Silver IL'ite

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    Re: Some Useful Tips from LEFT OVERS

    tu ji great hoooooooo...thnks for loads of tips...can u share some tips on keeping milk away from curdling
     
  4. sshradha32

    sshradha32 Senior IL'ite

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    Fying Tips :)

    Oil it Right: Go for an oil with a high smoke point. Vegetable, canola, sunflower and rice bran oils are considered good as they can be heated to high temperatures without burning.

    Pick a thick base pan: The secret to a perfect fried snack is a frying pan with a thick base. Choosing a thick base frying pan ensures that the oil you use is heated slowly and evenly.

    Pat dry before frying: Use tissue paper to absorb all extra moisture content from your snacks, prior to being submerged in a hot oil. This will prevent oil splattering.

    Add salt only after frying: It is always advisable to add salt, only after you have fried your snacks. Salt has a high water content. Sprinkling salt when frying your snacks could lead to oil splattering. Also, when you add salt after removing from the hot oil, chances of salt sticking on your snack increases.

    Fry in Parts: To ensure that your snacks are evenly cooked and crispy, fry in parts. The less amount of snacks you fry in one go, the more evenly they will turn out.
     
  5. ZenSojourner

    ZenSojourner Silver IL'ite

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    I suggest peanut oil for deep frying, when you can afford it - watch for a sale at groceries. Canola for most other things. Other oils I use occasionally are olive oil and mustard oil, and dark sesame oil when I'm cooking something Thai or Chinese.

    Over the years I've found the best way to save coriander leaves (called cilantro in most grocery stores now) is to harvest it with the roots still on and keep it in a glass of water in the fridge - I used to have a glass jar with a ceramic lid called a "Parsley Keeper" that worked great for this. I spent a bunch of money on various doo-dads trying to replace that jar and none were as good.

    Nowadays you almost can't get coriander leaves/cilantro with root on - organic cilantro sometimes has part of the root still attached. Either way it keeps best (even with no roots) in a tall glass (MADE of glass, not a plastic one) with a couple of inches of water, in the fridge, with the thin plastic bag you put it in at the grocery store loosely over the top. Dump the water out and put fresh in at least every other day. Sometimes it even sprouts new fronds this way. Will keep a couple of weeks easily. A simple solution, after spending all that money trying to find a special thing to keep my cilantro fresh, LOL!

    Fresh curry leaves, I couldn't get at all 35 years ago, but now most Indian groceries do carry them. I find they keep best in the freezer in a zip loc freezer bag. If you let them thaw they will be a mess, so I take what I need out of the freezer and put the rest right back, then zip the leaves right off the stem and into my popu, then they are just like fresh. I never have them long enough to get dried out in the freezer - a few weeks at most. This only works if you are cooking with them - if you want to make a podhi you need fresh, never frozen. I've never tried in a chutney but I'd use fresh never frozen for that too.
     
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  6. krishnaamma

    krishnaamma Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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  7. stillwaters

    stillwaters Gold IL'ite

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    i do certain things to make my life easier

    i make all masalas like onion curry masala , coriander green chilli masala , jeelakara karam ( onion jeera red chillies ) , methi rice masala , palak rice masala , tomato rice masala , pulihora masala , tamarind paste , ginger garlic paste , ullikaram masala etc in large quantities and keep in the deep freezer by freezing them into cubes and storing in ziploc bags
    i take out the required quantity of cubes in the morning of the day i want to cook,
    i also clean and chop all vegetables and store in the freezer in ziploc bags like - french beans , tindora , all green leafy vegetables , turia , lauki , karela , cluster beans, cabbage, carots , cauliflower , capsicums , peas , fresh rajma and many more
    just put a little oil in the pan add veges and masala cover and cook - saves 3/4 of the time used up in preparation of ingredients for cooking
    i also make double portion of all chutneys and freeze 1 portion for later use
    i grind raw mangoes in large quantity when in season and freeze to make mango dal & coconut mango chutney when not in season
    i make enough alu parathas or methi parathas etc for 1 family meal and freeze them for use in emergency guest situation , or sickness or when you return from travel.
    i also freeze some payasam , carrot halwa or suji halwa for emergency use.

    these tips have helped me to maintain my sanity while raising 2 kids and working insane hours as a physician.
     
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  8. bhartisehgal537

    bhartisehgal537 New IL'ite

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    Waoh.. Nice Post.. Useful Tips.. I will definitely take care of these tips while working in kitchen.
     
  9. waiting4rmlong

    waiting4rmlong Gold IL'ite

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    Can someone pls share how to store rice flakes or rice from small insects which they generate automatic if we have large quantities
     
  10. MridulaRamaraju

    MridulaRamaraju New IL'ite

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    Hi.. waiting4rmlong ... I somewhere read that pudina leaves protect food from insects or worms... try store some pudina leaves in rice bag.. I never tried though.. I hope this tip works... :blush:
     

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