Cooking Tips

1. When making ginger-garlic paste at home, add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of vinegar to the mix. It won't change the taste much and
will allow you to store it in the refrigerator about about two weeks.
2. Whenever you are deep frying papads, pakodas, potato wedges or puris add pinch of salt to the oil to reduce the amount of oil
absorbed by the food.
3. Do wash your vegetables before peeling or cutting, to preserve the water soluble vitamins.
4. Do soak potatoes and eggplant after cutting, to avoid discoloration.
5. If you boil vegetables in water, do not throw the water, keep it to make gravies, soups or kolumbu.
6. To avoid crying while cutting onions, after peeling cut them in half and soak in water for about 10 minutes before cutting.
7. While using ginger-garlic paste in curries, always use garlic at 60% ratio and ginger at 40% as ginger being very strong makes your dish
sharp and pungent.
8. If poppy seeds are used in grinding, soak it in hot water for 10-15 min, if you are grinding it in a mixer grinder.
9. In case you forget to soak chana/rajma overnight, soak the chana/Rajma in the boiling water for an hour before cooking.
10. Potatoes soaked in salt water for 20 minutes will bake more rapidly.
11. You need not kneed the wheat flour everyday. Prepare enough dough that will satisfy the roti needs for you and your spouse for two to
three days and store it in a refrigerator
12. You need not cut vegetables everyday. Cut them on a holiday and keep those diced and chopped vegetables in air tight containers and
refrigerate.
13. To get good smell and yummy taste of biryani add more onions and fry it more in oil along with little tomatoes.
14. To store fish for more than a day and still keep it fresh, first clean it, rub it with salt, add turmeric and a dash of vinegar, and then freeze.
15. While cooking chicken or meat, you should first cook it over high flame to seal the juices and then you can lower down the heat and
cook till it becomes tender.

16. Keep coriander leaves in a muslin (cheese) cloth bag in the refrigerator. They will remain fresh for a longer time.
17. Remove the stems of green chilies while storing them .This will help them to stay fresh for long.
18. Wrap the fruits and vegetables in newspaper before refrigerating to keep them fresh for long.
19. Little plain sugar or caramelised sugar added to the gravy makes it tasty.
20. To retain colour in the gravy always use ripe red tomatoes. Discard green portions if any

21. Always add hot water to the gravy to enhance the taste.
22. Whenever curd is to be added to the masala, it should be beaten well and add gradually.
23. While boiling milk, always add a little water at the base of the vessel to avoid the milk from sticking at the bottom.
24. Add a few drops of lemon a tsp of oil to rice before boiling to separate each grain.
25. 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.
26. Immediately after boiling noodles put them in normal cold water to separate them each.
27. If you forget to soak chana/Rajma overnight. Just soak the chana/Rajma in the boiling water for an hour before
cooking.
28. Don't salt meat before you cook it. The salt forces the juices out and impedes browning. Instead, salt meat halfway
through cooking, then taste when the meat is done and adjust the salt as needed.
29. To peel garlic skin easily:  Removing garlic skin is tedious and can consume a lot of time, especially when you’re
in a hurry. Warm garlic cloves in the microwave slightly and you’ll see the skin peeling off without difficulty. Also, you can
submerge them in water for about 10 minutes before peeling the skin.
30. If you have read the recipe wrong and ended up adding a tablespoon of salt, rather than a teaspoon, don’t despair. You
need not throw it away. Excess salt in any dish can be brought down by adding diced potatoes, tomatoes or a teaspoon of
sugar.