Cooking Tips and Tricks

As the blog title is "Everything Fussy Now Easy"so how can I miss writing some tips here. Cooking is no more fussing use these tricks and see how much time you will save. I am a mother of young two kids with no domestic help or a baby sitter. I was working but had left my job.

There are some ingredients though, that are common in most Indian dishes though and preparing them ahead of time can further cut down on cooking time. Learning about cooking comes naturally to some people just like the act of cooking, while for others this is not natural and we must learn some cooking tips to get going.

• If you aren’t sure how fresh your eggs are, place them in about four inches of water. Eggs that stay on the bottom are fresh. If only one end tips up, the egg is less fresh and should be used soon. If it floats, it’s past the fresh stage.
• When boiling eggs, add a pinch of salt to keep the shells from cracking.
• To clean an electric kettle with calcium buildup on the heating element, boil a mixture of half vinegar and half water, then empty.
• Add one teaspoon of lemon juice to each quart of water when cooking rice, this will keep rice fluffy.
• If your salt is clumping up, put a few grains of rice in with it to absorb excess moisture.
• Vegetables that have been lying in the refrigerator tend to look dull and lifeless. If you want to make a salad, and need your veggies to look fresh, soak them in cold water with a few drops of lime for about 15minutes and they will look bright and delicious.
• While boiling milk, a little water can be added to the vessel before adding the milk to avoid the milk from sticking to the bottom.
• Remove the stem of the chilly while storing them whole. Another method is to make chilly paste and store it for a long time.
• When boiling potatoes add a pinch of salt to the water. This loosens the potato peel and makes peeling boiled potatoes a lot easier. 
• Before cooking cauliflower keep in soaking in water mixed with a teaspoon of vinegar for about fifteen minutes. This not only loosens the dirt and grit but also kills any insects that may be lodged between the florets.
• Before grating cheese, rub some oil onto the grater. This will ensure that the cheese doesn't stick to the grater. 
• To make price soft and fluffy use milk instead of water when kneading the dough.
• Never store onions and potatoes in the same bag or container. Separate them to prevent the potatoes from rotting. 
• To get the maximum juice out of a lemon or a lime, roll it hard on the kitchen counter using your palm. This releases more of the juice.
• 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.
• Whenever you add curd to the gravy, beat it well and add gradually, to avoid lump formation.
• To separate each grain of rice, add a few drops of lemon and a tsp of oil to rice before boiling the rice.
• 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.

TIME SAVING TIPS IN KITCHEN

There's no better way to save time in the kitchen than to have easy access to all of your tools and ingredients. Imagine how much more smoothly your culinary efforts will come together if you never have to fumble around looking for a grater, spatula or a peeler.

• Plan Your Menu for 4 - 5 days in advance. I usually plan this on Sunday evening considering the choices of my 5 years old kid and my oldest kid (My husband).
• Stock your vegetables and Fruits in advance for a week this will save time and efforts.
• Always keep 4- 5 chopped onions in a labeled zip pouch or an airtight plastic box.
• Keep 6 -8 finely ground onion paste.
• I also store 8 -10  peeled garlic cloves, few finely chopped garlic cloves in a date labelled box or Ziploc bag.
• Cleaned and peeled Ginger and some ginger paste in Ziploc bag.
• Keep coriander in a Ziploc bag after removing its stem if you want you can also keep after chopping it.
• Store ready made tomato puree  also you can make it at home if time permits.
• Invest in a good food processor I use Philips HR 7625A that will be your cooking best friend.
• Store your processed cheese grated.

          Last not the least 5 minutes of advance preparation in the night is equal 

For half an hour of morning fuss.

Please do like posts and let me know your response and comments and any query will try responding at the earliest.

Take care.