151. Do not throw away the lemon after squeezing the juices out of it. Put it in the pressure cooker when cooking. This will prevent the inside of the cooker from turning black. Dry lemons are also effective.
152. Rub the surface of a chopping board with a halved lemon to get rid of onion, garlic or fish smell. It works for the hands too.
153. Warm the filter slightly before use while preparing coffee decoction. This will prevent clogging and will facilitate the easy and quick flow of decoction through the filter.
154. A Broiler chicken should have short drumsticks (thigh bone), thick bones, flexible breast bone and firm pink flesh, weighing around 0.4 to 0.7 KG.
155. Lamb (White Meat) requires more cooking in comparison to Mutton (Red Meat). If Lamb / Mutton is slightly underdone, it is not harmful, but Pork meat should always be thoroughly done.
156. Avoid washing grill top with water, instead use rock salt and oil on hot grill and wipe it with a cloth duster before use, it ensures non stick (seasoned) grilling all the time.
157. The strength of flour (atta, maida) can be determined by the amount of water it absorbs while kneading. See to it that kneading is given its due importance while making the dough. More the absorption better is the flour strength-wise resulting in a better product.
158. Do not discard the cut away skin of pineapple, it can be used to make an alcoholic or non- alcoholic drink. The simplest is a drink, made by simmering the skins with water, sugar or honey and a little lime juice. When cool, strain out the solids, and add chopped fresh mint, serve this juice chilled.
159. If there is less butter for making sandwiches, you can extend it by beating in some fresh milk (100 ml per 150 gm butter). Add the milk in a thin stream to the softened butter, beat with a wooden spoon or in a blender / food processor.
160. Roll ripe bananas in a bed of chopped nuts or scraped fresh coconut or desiccated coconut and freeze. This treat tastes and has the texture of an ice cream and can be served as a special and healthy treat to children specially during the summer season.
161. To remove the odour of onions from your hands after cutting or slicing onions, rub a little milk, then wash with a little soap.
162. Do not throw the paper wrapped around butter in the original packing, this can be used instead of greaseproof paper to line your cake moulds.
163. Can-openers function better when dipped in hot water.
164. To measure honey, coat the measuring spoon or cup with a little oil, this will help in honey sliding off easily from the spoon or cup.
165. To remove tea or coffee stains from pots or cups, rub the stained area with a little salt and rinse afterwards.
166. To remove a spoonful of honey from the jar easily, slightly heat the spoon, the honey will come off easily.
167. To remove the lemon rind from a grater run a straight bladed knife across the grater and remove the rest with the help of a toothbrush.
168. If you want to avoid using colour in tandoori chicken, use lime water and turmeric instead.
169. To make vinegar last twice as much, divide the vinegar in two bottles and add water which has been boiled, after a week it will come up to full strength again.
170. You can create your own tea bag by putting the required amount of tea in a muslin bag on a string and adding it to the pot , you can remove this bag easily when the tea has steeped enough and it helps not only in cleaning, but also the leaves can be easily scattered in the garden.
171. To remove unpleasant odours from the oven, place a wide pan with warm water in which used tea leaves have been added and leave it to stand in the oven for some time. Even a bowl of warm water with vinegar or lime juice does the trick.
172. Always use 2 bowls for breaking 2 or more eggs. Use one bowl to break one egg at a time and collect the clean broken egg in the other. If an egg is bad, then that can be identified and thrown and not mixed with the rest.
173. One teaspoon of vinegar added to oil while deep frying foods will prevent them from absorbing too much oil.
174. Give extra colour to tomato soup or sauce by adding a slice of cooked beetroot.
175. If after cooking you find that the soup is too thin, you can thicken it by adding a mashed boiled potato.
176. When making cutlets you can substitute dry breadcrumbs with finely crushed cornflakes.
177. Grease your baking tray and dust with flour before pouring in your cake mixture. The cake will come out easily when baked.
178. To prevent raisins or fruits from sinking in cakes and puddings, coat them with dry flour and add to your batter, they will not sink to the bottom during baking. If nuts are to be placed on the top of cakes or biscuits, dip them in milk first. They will not fall off while baking.
179. Before removing the cakes from the tins, leave it for five minutes to shrink. Always turn it out onto a clean towel and then reverse it on a rack or a flat plate to avoid any markings on the cake.
180. To get light spongy idlis, do not stir the batter when pouring it in the moulds. Instead, mix it well the night before.
181. Chapattis would come out very soft if a little rice flour is used while rolling out the dough.
182. Add a knob of butter to spaghetti or noodles after draining them so that they do not stick together.
183. Coat cutlets with a fine powder of roasted chickpeas if you have run out of breadcrumbs. You can also coat them with semolina.
184. If soda bicarbonate is not at hand, add a pinch of fruit salt to pakora batter to make them soft and fluffy.
185. To prevent gummy noodles, rice and macaroni, add two teaspoon of limejuice or cooking oil to the water before cooking. This prevents them from sticking together.
186. Vegetables cooked with their skin retain a larger part of vitamins.
187. Low heat is best for cooking eggs because too high a temperature toughens the egg white and shrinks the protein content.
188. A few pieces of tender raw papaya added to meat while cooking helps to soften it.
189. When adding beaten egg to meat loaf or meat balls, etc. reserve a little for brushing or coating the surface. This prevents cracking of the surface and gives a uniform brown and attractive colour.
190. Save cooking cost by pressure-cooking chicken and mutton and then proceeding with the recipe.
191. If your chicken curry is too hot, add sufficient curds to make the taste and flavor milder.
Kitchen Tips (151-190)
Labels: Tips