Store spices in a cool, dark place, not above your stove. Humidity, light and heat will cause herbs and spices to lose their flavor.
Prepare enough dough that will satisfy the roti needs for your family for two to three days and keep it in a refrigerator. No need to knead the wheat flour every day.
If you're cooking for some important occasion or a person, never try a new recipe and a new ingredient at the same time. New attempts are best suited within your own family or on a normal day.
Toss a little salt onto the cutting board while cutting herbs; it will keep the herbs from flying around.
For working women, cut vegetables on a holiday and keep those diced and chopped vegetables in air tight containers and refrigerate.
Stack some onion-garlic paste in a refrigerator at home. Buy or prepare choice is yours.
Soak different beans in advance and refrigerate once soaked. This will allow you to cook them without having to wait for another day or two.
Garlic removes the odor of stainless steel sink in your kitchen. Make sure to scrub it for minimum 30 seconds to achieve the desired result.
Do not hold any spice powder packets directly on the dish while cooking as the hot vapors may get into the packet and spoil the powder for its use over a period of time. It is advisable to take the required amount of spice powder/masala on a spoon and then add it to the dish.
Fresh basil stays much better and longer at room temperature with the stems inserted in water.
For best results while baking, leave butter and eggs at room temperature overnight.
Before you brew the coffee, add a pinch of salt in the filter with your coffee to enhance the flavor and it also removes the bitterness.
To remove black stains from cooker or other cooking utensils, add a small piece of lemon and 1/2 cup water. Heat for few minutes and wash them immediately.
While cutting boiled potatoes, dip the knife in water. This avoids potatoes sticking to knife.
Recipes by and large should only act as guidelines. Based on your family tradition and taste understanding, feel comfortable replacing ingredients with similar ingredients suiting your needs best.
Rinse the diced onions under cold running water first, then blot dry if kept in open for more than 20 minutes.
To keep coriander leaves fresh for a longer duration, put them in a muslin cloth (bag) and keep this in a refrigerator.
Remove the stems of green chilies while storing them .This will help them to stay fresh for long.
Put a wine cork on the tip of a knife before putting the knife in a drawer adding to the safety quotient.
Roll the lemon/lime/orange hard under your palm for a minute before juicing to get optimal juice.
Invest in good quality spices. They will really bring out the flavor of every recipe prepared delighting the people for whom you put the efforts.
Put vegetables in ice water after boiling them so as to maintain their colors.
To peel the skin of almonds easily soak them in water for 10 minutes.
To make sure you don’t hit and knock the sauté pan every now and then while cooking turn the handle away from you.
To cook potatoes faster cut them into halves and add pinch of turmeric to it. Likewise for Toor Dal, an addition of an oil drop with turmeric powder will help it cook faster.
Add 1/2 tea spoon of sugar while cooking beetroot in the cooker to avoid the spreading/splashing of color on the cooker walls.
Slightly open the skin of cardamom or garlic before putting them in hot oil as they may pop up causing burns
When frying tomatoes add a little salt in order to make them softer quickly.
To avoid browning of apples after cutting and in the event you don’t have an air tight container, apply a little lemon juice on the cut surface. The apples will stay and look fresh for a longer duration till the time you decide to eat them. To make the apples tasty you can also rub little salt over it.
To serve hot and puffy puris for a big gathering, roll and place them in well-rinsed wet muslin cloth for at least an hour ahead of actual serving time. Later they can be fried before serving hot to the guests without losing time on rolling.
For balancing the extra salt in a curry peel and add a potato cut in to half to it. Potato absorbs salt.
Add bay leaf to cabbage while cooking to reduce the odor which otherwise may linger longer in the home.
Fruits and vegetables wrapped in tissue paper before refrigerating stay fresh for long.
To avoid knife edge getting blunt, use chopping board to cut the vegetables instead of marble.
Good food begins and ends with the ingredients. The dishes you cook will only be as mediocre, good, or superb in taste and texture as per the quality of ingredients you put in them. Always use high-quality ingredients whenever available and affordable.
