Tips and Hacks

Tips and Hacks

The most essential part of cooking is knowing to alter the dish when something goes wrong. Here are some easy hacks to make the dish delicious.
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Vegetables

When cooking in morming rush, add the chopped vegetables to a bowl and line up on top of dhal in pressure cooker so we can save gas/electricity and cook faster. Lster, you can saute them as you like.

1. Onion 
1. One vegetable that makes us cry if not used right is onion. To avoid getting teary, do not cut the side of the roots at first. Cut in center and proceed till end
2. Never store cut onions 
2. Plantain stem - Put the cut ones in butter milk to avoid decoloring.
3. Brinjal - Do not put cut brinjal in water it becomes slimy while cooking
4. Ladies finger - Add little curd to retain the color

Idly/Dosa Batter

1. Spongy/Fluffy idlies

Everyone loves spongy idlies. To make them spongy and fluffy all that is need is a little poha/aval when you grind the batter. Add handful of poha and soak it in water and grind it. 

2. Idlies not to becomes harder

Remove the idly cooker away from heat as soon as it is cooked. More it stays in heat after cooking it becomes harder when cooled down

3. Alter sour idly batter 

Due to heat sometimes the batter becomes sour so quickly, we just cannot throw them away can we? we can alter and reuse it

• Add few spoons of ragi powder and mix to the batter. Healthy batter ready
• Add two tumblers of plain water leave it without mixing. After an hour, drain the excess water
• Add onion, tomoatoes and make it a paniyaram/ onion dosa

4. Sticky pan

When dosa sticks to the pan it can be easily corrected

• Avoid washing the tawa frequently
• Gently spray oil, use cut onion/potato and wipe all the oil around when its hot before making dosa

Sambar

Sambar is part of everyday cooking and none can resist a finger licking taste.  When each one uses different powder or mix to make sambar, here are some general tips

• Add handful of corriander leaves after cooking, it gives delicious taste and aroma
• Sambar taste increases with boil, more it boils the tastier it becomes

1. Too much salt

When sambar tastes too salty, add a little chilly powder to lessen the salt taste. When it is already spicy add few more boiled veggies to it

2. Too much spice

• When sambar is too spiced up, add little jaggery powder to it
• You can also add grind coconut to it

3. Too watery

When sambar becomes too watery, add grind cocnut mix to it

Rasam

Rasam is healthy recipe used as home remedy and a part of daily lunch. Nowadays, rasam is served as soup in many restaurants widely for its healthy benefits.

• Never boil rasam too much. A gentle one boil is suffice
• Add handful of corriander to enhance taste after switching off
• Lesser the tamarind greater the taste, replace with 🍅 tomatoes

Basmati Rice

The proportion of basmati rice and water is 1:1.  Soak for minimum 15 min and then pressure cook to 1 whistle.

1 Rice:1 Water:1 whistle

Upma:

1. rava : 1 1/2 water