Cooking tips

Hi Padma,

Thanks for sharing the tips with us. You are changing your 'avtar photo' often, but the photos are nice.

i have been using non-stick pans and kadai's since i started cooking. recently i bought an iron kadai . i would like to know how to season it .and maintain it. somewhere i read that smearing oil and keeping in oven for 1-2 hours will season it . but i don't have a oven . can anybody give suggestions ? i will be very thankful.

Originally Posted by padmaiyangar

KITCHEN TIPS

• For soft Dosas, add some boiled rice to white gram and rice, while grinding.

· Put some neem and turmeric pieces or garlic flakes in the container where you store rice or grains, in order to keep away insects.
· To adjust salt in curries add roasted rice powder.
· If the curd is too sour, add 4 cups of water to it. After half an hour, remove the water collected on top.
· When you cook dal add some refined oil or garlic. It will reduce gas trouble.
· Keep rice flour and basin in a polythene cover in refrigerator when you want tem stored for a long time.
· Add some vinegar in the boiling water before steaming potato.
· For crispy dosas, add a teaspoon of tur dal gram) and some fenugreek seeds while soaking rice
· Add a pinch of corn flour to the jar of salt to prevent it from getting damp.
· While chopping raw bananas and potatoes, put the pieces in a bowl of water to avoid it from turning black.
· A bay leaf added to the flour container will keep the flour free from moisture.
· To peel garlic flakes easily, wash and soak them in cold water for about an hour.
· Green peas will retain their original colour, if you add a pinch of sugar while boiling.
· Leafy vegetables will remain fresh longer, if wrapped in news papers when you are storing.
· If you don't have any cream to add in the soup or gravy, add a mixture of butter and milk.
· Apply some oil on the sides of the vessel in which you boil milk, in order to avoid it from overflowing.
· After extracting butter from milk cream, add a little milk or curd to the residue and boil. You will get soft 'Paneer'.
· For thick cream, cover the milk vessel with a thin muslin cloth and refrigerate over night.
· Barley powder will increase the taste of meat and vegetable curries.
· You can make tasty chappathi by mixing equal proportion of wheat flour and barley.
· While boiling eggs, put a hole with a pin on the rounded portion of the egg so that the shell won't break when boiling.
· Keep boiled eggs in cold water for 5 minutes, this will make removal of the shell easier.
· Cut boiled eggs with a knife dipped in hot water to avoid breaking.
· Boiled eggs will last longer, if you store the shelled eggs in a bowl of cold water in a refrigerator.
· If the bread is too soft to cut into pieces, hold the knife close to a flame and then slice the bread with it.
· If you need only the egg white, for storing the remaining yolk, cover the yolk with water or milk and keep in a cool dark place. Just drain off the liquid before using the yolk.
· Add a little powdered lemon rind to puddings or deserts to avoid the smell of egg.
· If you want to make crispy potatoes or banana chips, sprinkle salt water over them while frying.
· Soak almonds in warm water for a minute, if you need to peel them quickly.
· If a curry turns out too salty, garnish it with some grated coconut mix with cumin powder.
· Add a pinch of sugar while cooking spinach, it will retain its green colour.
· Dal will cook well, if you add a little sesame oil while cooking.
· To make the 'poori' more tastier, add one tablespoon semoline for each 100g wheat flour.
· Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda while mixing the dough for 'chappathi' to make it soft.
· For making soft sauce, add some paneer.
· Adding turmeric will help pickles from getting spoilt.

Dear Padma madam,
Thank u very much for kitchen tips.this is very useful.

how can i prepare home made butter?
how can i cut palapazham fruit ?

Hi Saikripa,

go through this thread and you will come toknow how to make 'home made butter'

And for Jack fruit, apply oil on the knife and then cut the fruit.

Originally Posted by revathijayagopi

i have been using non-stick pans and kadai's since i started cooking. recently i bought an iron kadai . i would like to know how to season it .and maintain it. somewhere i read that smearing oil and keeping in oven for 1-2 hours will season it . but i don't have a oven . can anybody give suggestions ? i will be very thankful.

Hi revathi,

Today I saw your post. Dont worry. In a tub pour 'rice cleaned water' / 'kazhuneer' and put this tawa in that. daily change the water while you wash rice for cooking. After one week you can use the tawa.. No need for oven. I think this will help you.

For iron kadai also same method.

thanks a lot for the easy suggestion for seasoning the iron kadai. i will try it out. once i start using the kadai for cooking can i clean it the regular way like i do for all other utensils or should i follow any particular method. thanks in advance.

Hi Revathi,

Once you started using the tawa or kadi, you can clean as you do for other vessels. NO problem.

Hi Ladies,

Sometime it happen that when we are hurry and we need to peel off the boiled potatoes.In hurry , it may happen you burn your hands.

So the quick tip is-

Take one potato pour cold water or put it in cold water tap until it cools.Now you can peel potatoes without hurting.Follow it for all your potatoes.