Kitchen wonders

Tips On Cutting & Peeling Vegetables:

1. Wash vegetables before peeling or cutting to preserve the water soluble vitamins.
2. Peel vegetables as thinly as possible to preserve the minerals and vitamins.
3. Soak potatoes and eggplant after cutting, to avoid discoloration.
4. If you boil vegetables in water, do not throw the water, keep it to make gravies.
   
5. 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.
6. Keep coriander leaves in a muslin (cheese) cloth bag in the refrigerator. They will remain fresh for a longer time.
7. Remove the stems of green chilies while storing them .This will help them to stay fresh for long.
8. After peeling onions cut in half and soak in water for about 10 minutes before cutting to avoid watering eyes.
9. Soak almonds in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes .The skin will peel off easily.
10. Chopping vegetables can be done in different ways using a sharp knife and a wooden chopping board. Cutting on a marble slab will blunt your knives.
11. Remove the outer leaves and husks from the corn (bhutta). Holding the corn upright with the flat end firmly in a board, take a sharp knife and run it down between the kernels and the cob to strip them away.
    
12. Wrap the fruits and vegetables in newspaper before refrigerating to keep them fresh for long.
13. Chopping dry fruits - Freeze them first for one hour & then dip the knife into hot water before cutting them.
    

Tips On Frying :

1. Heat the oil thoroughly before adding seasonings or vegetables. Fry the seasonings until they change color, to get full flavour of seasonings.
2. If masala sticks to the pan that shows quantity of fat included is not enough.
   
3. Add some hot oil and 1/2 tsp of baking soda in batter while making pakoras.
4. When coconut is used in grinding masala, do not fry for a longer time.
   
5. If you are making patties or tikkis of potatoes, always make sure that the potatoes are boiled well in advance and cooled before you use them. It would be better if they can be refrigerated for a short time. This helps the starch in the potatoes to settle down and the tikkis will not be gooey.
   
6. Smoke Mustard oil first before using for preparing vegetables etc.. by heating to a point till light white smoke emerges from it. This would remove the potency from the oil.
7. Poori can be rolled and place between well-rinsed wet muslin cloth at least an hour ahead and can be Fried before serving.
8. To make pooris more crispy add a little rice flour to the wheat flour while kneading.
9. Pakodas will turn out crisper if a little corn flour is added to the gram flour (besan) while preparing the batter.

Tips For Gravies:

1. Always use ghee or vanaspathi with or instead of oil, which gives a good flavour to the gravy. If oil alone is used, it does not get separated easily from the ground mixture, as ghee separates from it.
2. Fry the ground masala in reduced flame, so that it retains its colour and taste.
   
3. Little plain sugar or caramelised sugar added to the gravy makes it tasty.
4. When tomatoes are not in season, tomato ketchup or sauce can be successfully used in the gravies.
   
5. To retain colour in the gravy always use ripe red tomatoes. Discard green portions if any.
6. Good variety chillies and chilli powder also gives colour to the gravy.
   
7. As far as possible try to use long variety red chillies. Dry it under sun for few days and powder coarsely at home. Always the coarse powder gives good taste in gravies and pickles.
   
8. 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.
9. Always add hot water to the gravy to enhance the taste.
   

Tips On Cooking :

1. To make 1 cup of dal, add atleast 2-3 cups of water, depending on the type of dal.
   
2. Soak whole pulses overnight and other dals for one hour before cooking.
   
3. Add 1 tbsp of hot oil to the dough for making Kachories or Kulchas.
   
4. Always use heavy bottomed vessels to make desserts, in order to avoid burning.
   
5. Make desserts with full cream milk, to get thick creamy texture.
   
6. Whenever curd is to be added to the masala, it should be beaten well and added gradually.
7. Chop some extra vegetables, for next day stir fry.
8. Use the leftover dal water to make rasam or sambar.
   
9. Never discard water in which vegetables are cooked, use it in gravies, soups, rasam or kolumbu.
10. 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 minimise our cooking time, use of utensils and nutrients are also preserved.
11. If poppy seeds are to be ground, soak them in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes, if you are grinding it in a mixie.
    
12. While boiling milk, always add a little water at the base of the vessel to avoid the milk from sticking to the bottom.
    
13. Add a tsp. of hot oil to homemade pastes of garlic, ginger or green chili, along with salt to make it last longer and taste fresher.
14. Store raisins in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will stay fresh for much longer. Pour very hot water over them if they had harden, after that drain them immediately, and spread on a paper towel to dry.
    
15. You can also leave a spoon in the vessel in which the milk is being boiled at low heat so that it does not get burnt at the bottom.
16. Add a few drops of lemon a tsp of oil to rice before boiling to separate each grain.
17. Never discard the water in which vegetables are cooked, use it in gravies or soups.
18. Put tomatoes in a large bowl and cover with boiling water Leave it for about 5 minutes. Take out one by one, piercing them with a sharp knife, the skin will peel off easily.
19. Immediately after boiling noodles put them in normal cold water to get each noodle separated.
    
20. If you forget to soak chana/Rajma overnight. Just soak the chana/Rajma in the boiling water for an hour before cooking.
21. Curd in winter - Set in a ceramic container and place it on the voltage stabilizer of your refrigerator.
22. Potatoes soaked in salt water for 20 minutes will bake more rapidly.
23. Roasting is a dry heat method of cooking - it does not use water. The flavors roasting draws forth result from the process of browning.

Tips On Leftover Food:

1. Left over rice/pasta can be stored in refrigerator for the next meal. Dont leave them open outside.
   
2. Keep some boiled potatoes in fridge, to make quick sandwiches for breakfast.