Cooking Tips

Cooking Tips, Collected online or from magazine, to make your cooking more easy..!!

• If you 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.

• To make a soft fluffy omelet heat a non-stick pan and add a little more butter than usual. Now beat the egg and stir briskly (even while frying) with a fork. This way more air goes in your omelet, making it light and fluffy. Cook till done and serve hot.

• Coconut milk when kept overnight in the fridge forms a white layer on top. That layer can be used as fat instead of oil for frying mutton or chicken.

• Add a little oil / ghe and turmeric powder to the dal before placing it in the cooker. It will get done in ten minutes flat and also, give it a better flavour.

• 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 C 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.

• Sprinkle a bit of salt in the frying pan before adding chicken. It will cut down on the amount of grease splattering.

• 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.