Kitchen Tips–Post II

 

Hi all!

I’ve posted the first set of kitchen tips earlier which can be read here and in continuation to that is this post. I’ve been posting kitchen tips on my fan page and these tips are an aggregation of those. I will continue to post more tips in my FB page and those who are interested in picking up more tips and tricks are welcome to visit my fan page and like it, by which you will get notifications of my posts in future.

In this post I’m sharing 27 kitchen tips which are useful in the kitchen. There are few tips which are useful precautions while cooking and a few are cleaning tips too. In future I would try to put the tips category wise but for now here they are for you to read and try..Please give me a feed back, would love to understand whether you found this useful..

1. When you want to store empty airtight containers, throw in a pinch of salt in them to avoid getting smelly or stinky.
2. While blanching greens add a pinch of soda bicarb to the boiling water. This helps retain color. Also, the blanched vegetable should be immediately immersed in cold water to stop the cooking process.
3. While using cottage cheese (paneer) take some precautions; if you over fry the paneer it turns chewy, best is to soak the paneer in warm water before using, this keeps the paneer soft.
4. While adding dry herbs like oregano or basil, always crush them lightly using both the palms or finger tips. This helps release the flavour and the fragrance.
5. Lemon peel after squeezing out the juice from the lemon can be used to clean the pressure cooker stains. At times we see white deposits, marks inside the pressure cooker. To remove these marks, put lemon peels with 3-4cups water and put the lid of the cooker and give one whistle. Later cool the cooker and wash it with soap. Stains disappear.
6. When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to the water to bring out the corn's natural sweetness.
7. To keep roti/phulka softer for a longer time, apply cooking oil/refined oil lightly on it using finger tips and store in a closed container.
8. Add a pinch of sugar while cooking any green leaf vegetables. This will help maintain the bright green colour. And do not cook the greens for a long time else they will lose the naturally green colour.
9. While making bread, the slower the yeast takes to rise and ferment the dough, the better the flavour of bread.
10. To get the juices of the lemon flowing easily on squeezing first roll the lemon either on the platform stone or between the palms.
11. While using Mushrooms never wash them under water, instead use a damp cloth and scrub out the dirt else use a Mushroom scrubber to clean.
12. It is always a great concern to keep non-stick pan clean and grease free as any oil left on the pan unwashed tends to form a layer on the edges which on reheating becomes hard and difficult to remove.I follow a simple rule for all my non-stick utensils. After using the non-stick pan, use a kitchen towel to wipe the sides and edges. The towel absorbs all the oil, once all the oil is wiped off completely, wash the utensil with soap. If this rule is followed strictly, the non stick utensils can stay good for years.
13. Two precautions while making dosa or pancake..
    1. While making dosa or pancakes on a non stick pan, do not smear oil first as that hinders in the easy spreading. First spread the dosa or pancake and then once it is half cooked apply oil.
    2.Applying oil when it's half cooked ensures that less oil is required in roasting the dosa as compared to when the oil is immediately smeared after spreading the dosa/pancake.
14. If your loaf of bread is starting to go stale, just put a piece of fresh celery in the bag and close the bag. This keeps the bread fresh for a longer time.
15. Sometimes it happens that unknowingly we add more fat/oil ending up the soup, sauce, or casserole too fatty or greasy. To remove that, drop in an ice cube. The ice will attract the fat, which you can then scoop out.
16. Fresh basil keeps much better and longer when the stem is immersed in water.
17. While boiling/blanching cauliflower, add a bit of milk to the water with salt to keep the cauliflower bright white. Shock it in cold water to stop the cooking and then use it.
18. While making fried onions for garnishes and biryani, soak the slices in milk for sometime, then pat dry. Deep fry them. The onions fried in this way stay crisp for a longer time.
19. Removing dry food from the oven can be difficult at times. An easy way to clean it is to apply a paste of sodium bicarbonate and water on the walls and floor of the oven and keep the oven on low heat for about half an hour. Dried food can easily be removed.
20. To get clear ice cubes, use boiled and cooled water.
21. Freeze juices of various fruits in ice cube trays to add more flavour to your juices, smoothies and milk shakes.
22. If by mistake you have dropped an egg on the floor, sprinkle it heavily with salt for easier clean up.
23. While blanching or boiling green peas add a little sugar to the water, this helps retain a brighter green colour.
24. When kneading the dough for Poori add a little besan(chickpea flour) to the wheat flour. This helps make more crispy Poori.
25. While making a sauce, whether a bechamel, marinara or any other, always add the salt at the end once the sauce has thickened completely. This will ensure that the sauce does not turn salty. When the salt is added in the beginning one doesn't know how much the sauce would thicken so there are chances that the sauce gets salty.
26. While baking cookies it is advisable to bake them less than over baking as that makes them hard. Look out for a golden tinge near the edges and remove them immediately.
27. While making yogurt based gravies//curries add a little rice flour mixed in water to prevent the curdling.