Indian Cooking Tips

• Before you start working in kitchen, clear kitchen counters.
• Stay organized and put ingredients away once you use them and reduce cluttering.
• You can achieve faster cooking time by cutting meat and vegetables into smaller pieces.
• When you use smaller pans, they need less energy to heat up.
• When you use pan, make sure that the pan covers the burner without going more than an inch beyond it.
• Cover your pots when you can as the water boils faster in closed containers.
• Try to use the least amount of water that you can so that you can save time and energy to boil.
• Ensure that the flame on your gas burner is blue. A yellow flame is a sign that the gas is not burning efficiently.
• You can save fuel by defrosting frozen food in the refrigerator before cooking.
• Do not overcook any food as you may loose its nutrients.
• Dip apples, pears and potatoes in slightly salt water, when you peel them, they will retain their color.
• Baking powders lose strength over time. Place them always in airtight container and use them in very less quantities.
• Keep fresh greens loosely wrapped in a plastic bag so that they will last about one week in the refrigerator, provided the leaves are not wet.
• If you select or cut beans of similar shape and size, you can ensure uniform cooking time.
• You must keep butter always covered as it absorbs odors very easily.
• When you are cooking cabbage, add a whole walnut to the cooking liquid to prevent strong odors.
• Avoid carrots with green tops, as they will be bitter.
• As Cauliflower turns yellow in alkaline water, add a tablespoon of milk or lemon juice to the water.
• You wrap cheese in a cloth dampened with saltwater before refrigerating in order to prevent mold on it.
• Any of the dishes must be washed within two hours if you are washing them by hand.
• To test eggs for freshness, you can place the egg in a cup of water with two teaspoonfuls of salt added. A fresh egg sinks and a doubter will float.
• While working with fish, rub your hands with salt and lemon juice to remove fish odors.

• More Cooking Tips:
   
  
• Mix salt and coconut oil. Apply this on hand, before cutting jack fruit. This protects your hand from the gum of jackfruit.
• Keep dried beans, green peas etc on water for few hours before cooking. This helps to cook it fast and to save fuel.
• Keep the tomato in hot water for 2-3 minutes and you can remove it’s skin rapidly.
• Keep sliced potato in little turmeric and salt diluted in water for half an hour before frying. This helps to get good colour to the French fry.
• Store cardamom in air tight container to keep it fresh for long time.
• If the top of the bowl of your mixer goes tight, keep the bowl inside the refrigerator for some time and try to open again.
• Ripen green tomatoes rapidly by packing them in paper bags.
• Peel vegetables just before cooking.
• Fry snacks in very hot oil. This prevents the snacks from too much oil absorption.
• Put snacks fried in oil over a news paper immediately after it is fried to remove excess oil. Add few drops of lime juice while cooking rice. This gives pure white colour to rice.
• To prevent rice from sticking together, add a spoon of ghee to the boiling rice.