Cooking Tips

• To reduce fat in the chicken by about 10 grams per serving, remove the skin before marinating it.
• If you have forgotten to soak pulses like chana overnight, just put the chana in a flask full of boiling water for an hour. They are ready for cooking.
• To make a soft fluffy omelet heat a non-stick pan and add a little more butter than usual. Now beat the egg and stir briskly (even while frying) with a fork. This way more air goes in your omelet, making it light and fluffy. Cook till done and serve hot.
• Coconut milk when kept overnight in the fridge forms a white layer on top. This layer can be used as fat instead of oil for frying mutton or chicken.
• Add a little oil and turmeric powder to the dal before placing it in the cooker. It will get done in ten minutes flat.
• Adding a cupful of grated carrot or beetroot to the coconut while making coconut burfi will give you natural colouring and nutritional benefits.
• To refresh stale bread, sprinkle it with water, wrap it in a foil and heat it in the oven on 200 ºC for about five to ten minutes.
• Adding a spoonful of curd to ladyfingers while cooking will ensure that they do not stick to the vessel or turn black.
• Sprinkle a bit of salt in the frying pan before adding chicken. It will cut down on the amount of grease splattering.
• Peel and cut potatoes and boil them in water to which a little vinegar is added. They will be done in no time and will retain the texture as well.
• While grinding the batter for idlis replace 1/5 quantity of rice with pressed rice (poha). This will make the idlis fluffier.
• Place rolled puris in the fridge for ten minutes before frying them, they will consume less oil and will be crisper.
• To make dosas more crisp, add a little fenugreek seeds to the lentil and rice mixture while soaking.
• Rather than using food colors, use a mixture of limewater and turmeric to get (almost) tandoori color.
• Always add salt to the water while boiling vegetables. This enhances their natural flavour and diminishes the need to add salt at the table.
• Add a pinch of salt to the oil while frying "pakodas" or "koftas" and you will use up less oil.
• To preserve the white colour in cauliflower and cabbage, add a teaspoon of milk or milk powder while cooking.
• When soups or stews get slightly burnt you can renew the taste by transferring it gently and carefully into a clean pan and flavouring with curry powder or mustard to camouflage the burnt taste.
• The art of making good naan khatais lies in beating of the mixture till it becomes light and fluffy. Also only vanaspati should be used to make them.
• When boiling potatoes for cutlets add the salt to the water itself as potatoes absorb salt better this way.
• Onions will brown faster if half a teaspoon of salt is added to the onions while frying.
• While cooking ladyfingers (okra) add a few drops of lemon juice or a spoonful of yogurt to avoid becoming sticky.
• Use crushed vermicelli to coat your cutlets for a change. The cutlets will have a nest-like appearance.
• Onions will boil faster if you make X-shaped cuts in the root ends.
• A pinch of turmeric powder and a teaspoon full of ghee added to dal before pressure-cooking it will give it a better flavour.