Cooking tips

Thank you very much Sumathy.

Love,
Dew.

 

Kitchen Tips

KITCHEN TIPS​

• For soft Dosas, add some boiled rice to white gram and rice, while grinding.

· Put some neem and turmeric pieces or garlic flakes in the container where you store rice or grains, in order to keep away insects.
· To adjust salt in curries add roasted rice powder.
· If the curd is too sour, add 4 cups of water to it. After half an hour, remove the water collected on top.
· When you cook dal add some refined oil or garlic. It will reduce gas trouble.
· Keep rice flour and basin in a polythene cover in refrigerator when you want tem stored for a long time.
· Add some vinegar in the boiling water before steaming potato.
· For crispy dosas, add a teaspoon of tur dal gram) and some fenugreek seeds while soaking rice
· Add a pinch of corn flour to the jar of salt to prevent it from getting damp.
· While chopping raw bananas and potatoes, put the pieces in a bowl of water to avoid it from turning black.
· A bay leaf added to the flour container will keep the flour free from moisture.
· To peel garlic flakes easily, wash and soak them in cold water for about an hour.
· Green peas will retain their original colour, if you add a pinch of sugar while boiling.
· Leafy vegetables will remain fresh longer, if wrapped in news papers when you are storing.
· If you don't have any cream to add in the soup or gravy, add a mixture of butter and milk.
· Apply some oil on the sides of the vessel in which you boil milk, in order to avoid it from overflowing.
· After extracting butter from milk cream, add a little milk or curd to the residue and boil. You will get soft 'Paneer'.
· For thick cream, cover the milk vessel with a thin muslin cloth and refrigerate over night.
· Barley powder will increase the taste of meat and vegetable curries.
· You can make tasty chappathi by mixing equal proportion of wheat flour and barley.
· While boiling eggs, put a hole with a pin on the rounded portion of the egg so that the shell won't break when boiling.
· Keep boiled eggs in cold water for 5 minutes, this will make removal of the shell easier.
· Cut boiled eggs with a knife dipped in hot water to avoid breaking.
· Boiled eggs will last longer, if you store the shelled eggs in a bowl of cold water in a refrigerator.
· If the bread is too soft to cut into pieces, hold the knife close to a flame and then slice the bread with it.
· If you need only the egg white, for storing the remaining yolk, cover the yolk with water or milk and keep in a cool dark place. Just drain off the liquid before using the yolk.
· Add a little powdered lemon rind to puddings or deserts to avoid the smell of egg.
· If you want to make crispy potatoes or banana chips, sprinkle salt water over them while frying.
· Soak almonds in warm water for a minute, if you need to peel them quickly.
· If a curry turns out too salty, garnish it with some grated coconut mix with cumin powder.
· Add a pinch of sugar while cooking spinach, it will retain its green colour.
· Dal will cook well, if you add a little sesame oil while cooking.
· To make the 'poori' more tastier, add one tablespoon semoline for each 100g wheat flour.
· Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda while mixing the dough for 'chappathi' to make it soft.
· For making soft sauce, add some paneer.
· Adding turmeric will help pickles from getting spoilt.

 

Dear Mrs. Padma,

Those were some very useful kitchen tips.

Thanks a bunch for posting, appreciate it!!

Keep the good work coming!

Regards,
Ragini.

 

1.If apples taste sour,you can cut them into pieces and make chutney along with chow chow ,red chillies,tamarind ,hing and udad dal.You have tofry all the ingrdients.
2.Mix 2 spoons of coconut oil and 1 spoon of ghee and heat it.Sprinkle it on the top of any chips you make.They taste good.
3.When you prepare add coconut milk instead of coconut,appams turn out spongy.
4.For potato,yam,ladies finger fries,add 2 to 4 drops of lemonjuice,these fries would consume less oil.
5.When make dosas,add some coconut milk,dosas will be very tasty.
6.When rasam boils,add some mint leaves,rasam tastes excellent.
7.When sambar becomes more spicy,add some bengal gram flour to it.
8.When you remove rasam from the stove add some curry leaves powder for better taste.
9.If you add some amchur powder to uppuma after removing it from the stove it gives a different taste.
10.Fry banana stem in ghee and prepare chutney the usual way.It will be very tasty.
11.You can prepare bajjis out of cucumber.
12.When you prepare thenkuzhal murruku,you can add boiled potatoes for a completely different taste.
13.When you make masal vadas,add a handful of sago and moong dal.Vadas will turn out very crispy.
14.When boiling cabbage,add a piece of ginger to remove the bad odour.
15.When you prepare dal chutney add some horse gram dal,fry it along with other ingredients.It will be tasty.
16.Fry tuvar dal,coriander seeds,methi and red chillies dry and powder and store it.You can mix a spoon of it in butter milk.Boil it for 2 mts.Garnish it with mustard seeds.Your moor rasam is ready.
4.

 

Hi Kanaka,

Valuable tips and some were very new too, Thanks a lot .


Cheers
vaidehi

 

Indian CookingTips
If you have forgotten to soak pulses like chana overnight, just put the chana in a flask full of boiling water for an hour. They are ready for cooking.


Adding a cupful of grated carrot or beetroot to the coconut while making coconut burfi will give you natural colouring and nutritional benefits.

To refresh stale bread, sprinkle it with water, wrap it in a foil and heat it in the oven on 200 ºC for about five to ten minutes.

Adding a spoonful of curd to ladyfingers while cooking will ensure that they do not stick to the vessel or turn black.

Peel and cut potatoes and boil them in water to which a little vinegar is added. They will be done in no time and will retain the texture as well.

While grinding the batter for idlis replace 1/5 quantity of rice with pressed rice (poha). This will make the idlis fluffier.

Place rolled puris in the fridge for ten minutes before frying them, they will consume less oil and will be crisper.

To make dosas more crisp, add a little fenugreek seeds to the lentil and rice mixture while soaking.

Rather than using food colors, use a mixture of limewater and turmeric to get (almost) tandoori color.

Always add salt to the water while boiling vegetables. This enhances their natural flavour and diminishes the need to add salt at the table.

Add a pinch of salt to the oil while frying "pakodas" or "koftas" and you will use up less oil.

To preserve the white colour in cauliflower and cabbage, add a teaspoon of milk or milk powder while cooking.

When soups or stews get slightly burnt you can renew the taste by transferring it gently and carefully into a clean pan and flavouring with curry powder or mustard to camouflage the burnt taste.

The art of making good naan khatais lies in beating of the mixture till it becomes light and fluffy. Also only vanaspati should be used to make them.

When boiling potatoes for cutlets add the salt to the water itself as potatoes absorb salt better this way.

Onions will brown faster if half a teaspoon of salt is added to the onions while frying.

While cooking ladyfingers (okra) add a few drops of lemon juice or a spoonful of yogurt to avoid becoming sticky.

Use crushed vermicelli to coat your cutlets for a change. The cutlets will have a nest-like appearance.

Onions will boil faster if you make X-shaped cuts in the root ends.

A pinch of turmeric powder and a teaspoon full of ghee added to dal before pressure-cooking it will give it a better flavour.

Source :http://www.indian-tamil-recipe.com/indian-cooking-tips.html

 

storing tips -kitchen

Indian storing tips to make your kitchen life enjoyable

After bananas have ripened, store in the refrigerator to help slow down ripening. The skin will turn dark brown, but this does not damage the fruit inside.
Put two to three cloves in the container or jar of sugar to keep the ants at bay.
Set lemon juice with sugar and a little salt in ice trays to make cubes which can be used to make instant lemonade.
Dry fifty grams of mint leaves, powder them and add to ten kilograms of rice. Not only will the mint leaves keep insects at bay, they will also impart a delicious flavour to the rice when cooked.
Put chips and biscuits in a polythene bag and store them in a refrigerator to keep them fresh for a long time.
Tie the shelled green peas in a cloth and dip in boiling water for three minutes. Then dip in chilled water for three minutes. Dry under the fan till the extra moisture is removed and then pack into airtight jars or sealed packets. Freeze and use when peas are out of season.
Coriander leaves will stay fresh if placed in a polythene bag and stored in the fridge.
If you have peeled extra potatoes, keep them dipped in water and store in the refrigerator. They will remain for a couple of days. Storing flour in an airtight container and refrigerating it doubles their storage time.
Put two to three cloves in the sugar to keep ants at bay. To prevent ice-trays from sticking to the freezer surface sprinkle a little salt on the surface of the freezer before placing the ice-trays.
While storing green chillies, remove the stems. This will help the chilies to stay fresh for a longer time.
Potatoes rot quickly if stored near onions therefore store them separately.
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To ripen bananas quickly keep them wrapped in a paper bag in a dark place.

Sandwiches will keep fresh and moist if put in a polyethylene bag or wrapped in waxed paper or in aluminum foil.
Mix in fifteen to twenty cloves with every kilogram of dal while storing to prevent it from being attacked by insects. The same cloves can be reused.
To prevent insects from forming in plain flour store it in clean zip lock bags in a refrigerator. This way the flour will stay fresh much longer.
To retain the crispiness of leftover fried poppadums while refrigerating, keep them in a plastic polythene bag.
To increase the shelf life of dry masalas store them in airtight containers with a cube of asafoetida.
Add a teaspoon of hot oil to homemade pastes of garlic, ginger or green chilli, along with salt to make them last longer and taste fresher.
Keep roasted chapattis wrapped in a cloth in a closed container. This will help keep them from sweating or getting soggy or getting dry. They will remain soft for a long time.
One may cut and keep vegetables, beans, carrots, etc. previous night for an early meal next day. But put them in a bowl, not tightly packed and slip the bowl into a polythene bag, knotting the mouth loosely. This way the chopped vegetables will stay crisp and fresh till used.
Wrap half-cut raw mangoes in cling film before storing in refrigerator. The mango will stay fresh longer.
Moisture causes baking powder to deteriorate faster. To prevent this store baking powder in airtight containers. Anyway it should not be stored for too long as it loses strength over time.
To keep carrots fresh for longer, cut the tops off and place them in a plastic bag in the vegetable crisper of the refrigerator.
Fresh soft dates should be kept in plastic bags in the refrigerator. They will keep fresh for weeks.
Put leftover soup or soup stock in ice cube trays and freeze. The frozen soup cubes can be wrapped and stored in the freezer. This makes it possible to serve small amounts of soup or use the entire batch for another meal.
A pinch of salt added to ginger-garlic paste will help increase its shelf life though it should be stored in the refrigerator. Butter is best kept in the refrigerator, but as it easily absorbs other flavours, it should be well wrapped and kept away from strong smelling foods.
To prevent fresh coconut milk from turning rancid add a pinch of salt to it. This will help preserve it for a few hours. Store leftover fried papads in a polythene bag. They will remain crisp.
To increase shelf life of coffee powder, store it in an air-tight container and place it in the refrigerator.
Fresh coconut milk turns rancid fairly quickly, to prevent this, add a pinch of salt to the coconut milk to help preserve for a few hours.
Butter is best kept in the refrigerator, but as it easily absorbs other flavours, it should be well wrapped and kept away from strong.
Lemon halves shrivel in the fridge when unused. Hence freeze them in polyethylene bags so that they are handy for making cold drinks whenever the need arises.
An open packet of tomato puree may get a mould or fungus. To store the puree for longer, pour it into an ice tray and freeze. This serves the dual purpose of storing as well as, a few cubes can be removed at a time as required.
Freshly cut fruits can be kept for a longer period by adding a little limejuice or a small dose of vitamin C tablet.
Tomatoes can be kept longer if kept in the freezer, this also helps, when the skins of the tomatoes have to be peeled, as it comes off naturally when the tomatoes thaw.
All ground, dry spices should be stored in a dark place as they tend to lose their flavour in the light.
Before storing spices like coriander, cumin, chilli powder, keep them in the strong sun for few hours or lightly roast them in a frying pan.
When storing cheese in the fridge remove from tin, wrap in cellophane or foil and place in covered container to prevent it from hardening.
Place green fruits in a perforated plastic bag. The holes will allow air to circulate while retaining the ethylene gas that fruits produce during ripening.
Cheese will stay fresh longer if wrapped in Clingfilm once seal is broken. Take care to.
Excess tomato puree may be frozen in an ice cube tray. Remove frozen cubes and store in a sealable freezer bag, using as and when required.
Make crumbs of day old chapatis, dry for two to three hours in a wide plate, bottle and refrigerate. Use later like breadcrumbs or as required, will keep for four to five days in refrigerator. Store banana leaves like a roll, wrapped in a moist muslin cloth, then placed n a polythene bag. They will stay fresh for a week, if refrigerated this way.
Stuffed veggies like bittergoutds and potatoes, etc. can be stored in freezer bags, and thawed as required. Make sure to thaw completely before proceeding to cook it. Or else it will crumble easily