Vegetarian Mané Thindi: Kitchen Tips

Dear Readers,

These are kitchen tips from various sources on the internet. I have compiled the ones I find useful. I hope you find them useful too.

INDEX

To make bread Halwa, boil little milk and put bread pieces in it. Add sugar and stir it until the sugar melts and the milk evaporates. Then add ghee little by little, stir it until it comes to Halwa consistency. Finally garnish with nuts and raisins.To make bread crumbles - Most of the people have breads in their home.Take 2 or 3 pieces and place them into microwave for 2 to 3 min.After completing take them out and let it cool for 5min.they will become hard and make powder with hands.This powder will useful to make cutlets,burgers.when preparing bread upma a few peanuts can be added which makes the dish tasty and nutritious too for the kids.
To keep Bhatures soft for a long time add a boiled potato to the flour and then mix it well.
For fluffy chapatis, knead the dough little loose. Give it a good massage for 2 min. Roll the chapati evenly throughout. There is no need to add oil or to let the dough stay for awhile.It all lies on how you knead and roll. Add little sugar when you kneed the dough and use all purpose flour to roll chapati.
For softer chapati, while mixing the wheat flour add 1/2 cup of milk to it.
Mix chapati dough with curd instead of water to make it tasty.
Add soft bread (just soak in water) while making flour. Diet chapati will be very soft.
Another tip to make soft chapatis, first you take flour in a bowl. Add salt and little oil to the bowl. Add boiling water and mix slowly until a soft dough is formed. Keep it aside for 15 min and make chapati.
To make pooris soft and tasty we have to add some milk and hot oil to the flour while mixing and keep for 10 minutes.
To prevent oil from spilling while deep frying-put a small piece of tamarind in the oil.
When adding oil for stir-frying, drizzle the oil down the sides of the wok. When deep-frying, to tell if the oil is hot enough, simply stick a chopstick in the wok. When the oil sizzles all around it, you can begin adding the food.
The oil must reach a good temperature to brown the exterior of the food quickly while cooking it. That temperature is almost always between 350-370F degrees.Use canola oil for frying. It is low in saturated fat, has a high burning point, and does not detract from the flavor of the food you are frying.
Avoid crowding food that is deep-fat-fried. The food must be surrounded by bubbling oil, and you must keep the temperature from falling too much. If you add too much food to a small amount of oil, the temperature will plummet, and the food will wind up greasy and soggy.
Add a spoon of Rawa (Sooji) to one cup of flour. Poori would be more crispy and last fresh without dipping in for a long time.
Place rolled out Poori in fridge for Five minutes before frying, they will consume less oil and will be crispy
Add 4-5 drops of lime or lemon juice in cold oil then fry.
To make Pooris more crispy add a little rice flour to the wheat flour while kneading.
Snack with leftover Rotis. Do not worry if you are left with Rotis. Put chapati on pan with low flame. Take a cloth and rotate Roti on both sides by pressing till it becomes crunchy. You can save them in an air tight container. You can apply little ghee on Roti and eat like a snack.
A bay leaf added to the flour container will keep the flour free from moisture.

DOSA RELATED

Add 1/2 or 1 tsp of Besan flour by dissolving it in water to Dosa mixture Which gives a good colour and taste to Dosa.
Dosa to be crispy (moru moru dosa) -Tip 1: You can add 5tbsp of sooji or rava to 3 cups of batter. This way Dosa will be crispy. Tip 2: Leave for 30 sec on the tava while making dosa nd later make it very thin by smoothing it thinly.
Just add cooked rice when u grind the flour. For quantity 1cup Urad Dal, two cups rice, quarter cooked rice, if you do this you will surprise to watch your Dosa color.
Crispy Dosa - Add few slices of onion while grinding batter. Rice should be coarsely grind.
Add warm water or little hot water to grind your batter this will easily ferment the Dosa batter in winter.
Crispy brown Dosa - add 1 table spoon of Chana Dal when you soak rice for Dosa.
To get spongy dosas - while grinding the rice and urad dhal, add a handful of washed rice flakes to get spongy dosa.
While blending Dosa mixture (rice, Urad Dal & Fenugreek seeds) add 1 medium boiled potato then allow this mixture to ferment overnight. & enjoy a crispy & tasty Dosa like in restaurants.
Usually people grease the pan with onion before putting the batter. But instead of onion you can use a half cut potato and grease the pan so that you can take the Dosa very easily form the pan as well as it comes very crispier without sticking to it.
To get Dosa moe crispy add little sugar to Dosa batter.
For a Paper Roast Dosa, add 2 spoon of corn powder in a small amount of batter.
To avoid over sourness in Idli or Dosa batter, add coconut milk in it. It reduces the sourness.

VEGETABLES RELATED

To prevent beetroot colour from sticking to your hands, apply oil to your hands before cutting the vegetable.
To reduce bitterness in bitter gourd - After cutting bitter gourd, soak them in salt and turmeric. Keep them aside for sometime. Squeeze water from the vegetable before cooking or frying it.
Carrots can be kept fresh for a long time in the fridge by removing the head and tail part of the carrot.
Green leafy vegetables can be wrapped in a newspaper when stored in the fridge. This helps the vegetables to stay fresh in the fridge for a longer time than usual.
Another way to keep curry and coriander leaves fresh in the refrigerator is to store them in air tight containers separately.
For onions to saute faster, add salt to them. This also adds more flavour to the curry.
To keep the lemons fresh for longtime apply some edible oil over it before keeping it in the refrigerator.
To produce twice the juice from lemon or lime, place them in jar sealed with water.
If the lemon or lime is hard, put it in warm water for 5-10 minutes to make it easier to squeeze.
Microwave a lemon for 15 seconds and double the juice you get before squeezing
When you are frying Okra, add one spoon of curd in to it. This will remove the stickiness in the Okra. Or you can add lemon, tamarind juice or vinegar to remove the stickiness.
Chew a gum when cutting onion and you will surely not cry!
To peel off the skin of small onions easily, keep the onions in fridge for some time. This will also prevent tears when cutting onions.
Another way to prevent tears when cutting onion is to soak them in water.
When boiling potatoes, add little lime juice in your pan or cooker. This way your cooker won't turn black.
To boil potatoes faster add a pinch of turmeric powder (haldi)
When preparing any curry, if you need the tomatoes to cook fast, add a pinch of turmeric to the tomatoes that are added, tomatoes will become soft in a jiffy!
Add some salt or vinegar drops while washing vegetables and greens to make them clean and germ free, e.g. cauliflower, spinach, etc.
Microwave vegetables before adding them to gravies or curries.,they do not lose nutrients and consume less oil .
For cooking vegetable fast add salt immediately after adding vegetables in oil it will cook vegetables very fast.
When you are making any dry sabzi or curry, add 1-2 teaspoons of thick yogurt at the end, and cook on low flame for 2-3 min. It gives a very rich and creamy texture to the curry.
Wrap fruits and vegetables in newspapers before refrigerating them to keep them fresh for long.

CLEANING RELATED

Adding 2-3 cloves in a container of sugar to prevent ants from entering it.
For removing the stains from the pressure cooker, use a lemon peel or add a tablespoon of lemon juice while cooking.
Using lemon peel in fridge and in trash bags controls any bad odors.
Apply a drop of oil to the spoon before taking honey, it slides off easily and doesn't stick to the spoon.
If safety valve of pressure cooker is blocked and cooker doesn't whistle, fill 3/4 of cooker with water and allow to whistle for 7 to 10 times. Cooker will work normally.
Take a camphor, break it and put it in water. Wipe the entire house with that water. Flies will never come home.
To prevent insects inside rice and dals and to retain it for longer time put a few Neem leaves. Rice and dals stay fresh for longer time.
To remove oil marks from cloths, put some Talcom powder or wheat flour on the mark and leave for 5 min and then rub it and now it can be washed.
To avoid oil stains in clothes, better rub the place where there is oil stains with lemon dipped in salt n then wash with soap. The oil stains will disappear.
To prevent colors from spreading while washing clothes, add a spoon of vinegar to the cold water used for washing.
Place a small cup of baking soda or charcoal inside the fridge to absorb all odors. Fresh baking soda can be replaced once in 2-3 months.
To clean clogged kitchen sink, pour a handful of baking soda followed by 1 cup white vinegar down the drain. Pour another 1/2 cup of vinegar after a few minutes. Wait 1 hour and then run hot water down the drain. Repeat if necessary. Try doing this once a month to prevent clog and odors.
For sparkling mirrors, clean mirrors with paper.
If your kitchenware is burnt, add some vinegar in the utensil and leave aside after some time. This helps in scraping out the burnt remains easily.
When washing grapes, add salt to water. This helps in removing the chemicals from the grapes.

MILK RELATED

To restore the freshness of ghee for a longer time, fry some Paan leaves in ghee and then store it.
To avoid milk from spilling while boiling - Apply butter to the dish edge and inside top of the pot and then pour milk and leave it to boil. Milk will stop from spilling when it hits the butter part.
For thick curd and for setting curd faster, add a green chili to the lukewarm milk when making curd.

FRYING RELATED

To retain the crispiness of Pakoras, drain them on a brown paper bag.after taking from the hot oil.
Add one table spoon of whole coriander seeds (Dhania) in Pakora dough to make Pakodas tastier and healthier.
To make soft and crispy Medhu Vadas (Urad Dal Vadas), add cooked potatoes while grinding the Urad Dal.
For crispy Vadas, mix a quarter cup of rice for 1 cup of Urad Dal ,soak them and grind. This will make Vadas crispier than before.
To avoid Medu Vadas sticking to the Kadai, put a pinch of salt in the oil.
Cabbage can be a substitute for onion as an ingredient in a Medu Vada recipe.

IDLI OR DOSA RELATED

For soft Idlis, soak a handful of Poha to the mixture for grinding.
To make softer idlies grind Urad Dal into a smoother paste than rice paste. Rice should be ground only three-fourth of a smooth paste.
To avoid over sourness in Idli or Dosa batter, add coconut milk in it.
For softer idlis, use cold water for grinding urad dal and also soak the idli rawa for atleast 2 hrs.
To do fermantation for idly or dosa batters during rainy days or during winters, keep the batter in your oven with its lights on. Avoid keeping the batter in plastic containers.
For making tasty Sambar use tomatoes and lemon juice instead of using tamarind juice.
To make tastier coconut chutney, add one small onion and one garlic clove to it.

CURRY OR GRAVY RELATED

To reduce the spiciness of cooked curry, add 1-2 spoons of yogurt in it and cook until the whiteness of yogurt is gone. You can add boiled mashed potatoes in the curry too to reduce the spiciness or saltiness of the curry.
Add little sugar in hot oil before adding the ingredients. This will give a reddish spicy north Indian gravy color to the dish.
If in any food item has excess salt present, make small balls of wheat flour with water (like how you would make for chapati) and put in the food item. This will absorb the excess salt. You can remove those balls later.
If the gravy is too thin you can add one of these ingredients to thicken it - ground cashews or almonds; paste of little wheat flour with water; tablespoon of cornstarch in water.

OTHER

To check if honey is pure - Take honey in spoon and allow it to fall in a transparent glass of water. If honey mixes with water it is not pure. If it forms lines and sit in bottom it is pure.
Add a pinch of salt to any sweet recipe to enhance the sweetness.
To get soft Gulab Jamoons, add a pinch of cooking soda and one teaspoon of Ghee to the Gulab Jamoon mixture .
When making instant Dhokla, add some amount of citric acid or lemon juice to the mixture.
Store coffee powder in a fridge to retain the freshness of coffee powder for a long time
To avoid wetness in salt during winter store the salt in an air tight container along with some pepper corns inside.
To remove the skin of almonds easily, soak them in hot water for 15-20 minutes
Add a small portion of lemon juice to apple slices to prevent them from turning dark in colour.
If tamarind is a little bit hard and dry, then microwave it in a bowl of little water for a minute..
To melt Jaggery, microwave it for 15 - 30 sec.

2 comments:

Veena IyengarAugust 23, 2015 at 9:07 PM
Hello Mami, I came to read this after hearing it from my sister Prathima who was all praises to you :) The tips certainly will help and I am amazed at the collection of the recipes. I am inspired to cook again!
Yashoda RajanSeptember 17, 2015 at 5:02 PM
Thank you veena.

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