Useful Tips

• When you soak rice and urad dal for idlis and dosas, wash everything thoroughly before soaking. Later use the soaked water while grinding. If you wash rice and dal after soaking you will lose most of the vitamins.
• Excess salt in any dish can be brought down by adding diced potatoes, tomatoes or a teaspoon of sugar. 
• When you are making vadas, if the batter is watery - you will have the problem of oil splattering when you fry it. Add a tablespoon of ghee to the batter and your problem will be solved.
• Don't salt meat before you cook it. Always  salt meat halfway through cooking. (little less than what is required). Then taste the meat when it is done and then add salt as needed. 
• To thicken any gravy or soup add corn flour to it. It is an excellent thickening agent. Remember to mix it in good water before adding to avoid lumps. 
• While making any pasta add salt to the boiling water in which you are cooking it. That will be the only chance you get to salt it. Add salt after the water boils. If you add it before , it will take a longer time to boil. 
• To avoid sticky rice, soak washed rice in water for at least ten minutes before cooking. A teaspoon of oil can be added to get separate grains of cooked rice. 
• While make any deep fried dish, if the hot oil starts foaming and rises in the pan, add a small piece of tamarind to the oil. This will prevent foaming and spill over. 

• If you want to have soft idlis, do not beat the batter before pouring idlis. The air bubble sin the batter helps you to get soft idlis. Beating the batter removes these air bubbles. 
• Chill onion is refrigerator before cutting to  avoid tears. One other way to avoid tears is to soak peeled onion is water before cutting. 
• To get crisp, golden dosas add a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds to the urad dal and grind it. 
• To make a healthy chicken dish remove the skin from the chicken. This will remove the major fat content on the chicken. 
• Add a pinch of sugar while cooking any green leaf vegetables. This will help maintain the bright green color. 
• For maintaining the bright color of any vegetable don't forget to put it in ice cold water as soon as you blanch them.To keep apples from turning brown, add little citrus juice like the juice of a lemon or orange and toss apples in it.

• A pinch of turmeric powder added to all kinds of dal when cooking hastens the cooking process. 
• Remove the stems from chilies before storing them. This will keep them fresher for a long time. 
• It is better to use round dishes in the microwave oven rather than square or rectangular dishes as round dishes spread heat faster. 
• Oil applied to dal before it is cooked helps it to cook faster by softening the proteins.

• While cooking potatoes, Cut them into half and add a pinch of turmeric. This makes the potatoes cook faster.
• While cooking toor dal, add a pinch of turmeric and a drop of oil. Toor dhal cooks faster.
• While cooking pulav, wash the rice in water and spread it on a cloth or paper for drying. Leave it for around 15-30 min. This makes the rice grains separate.
• While cooking pulav in kadai (i mean not using cooker), do not mix the ingredients frequently, if u mix it, the rice becomes paste. So after 10-15 min of cooking, just open the lid and have a look. If you feel it is cooked, gently mix the contents once or twice.
• Use water always in 1(rice): 2 (water) for pulav. After 10-15min of cooking, if u feel water is less, just add little water.
• Always cook pulav on very low flame.

• While making chapathi, leave the dough for 30 min to make soft chapathis.
• Over roasting/burning/over frying any spice changes the taste of the dish. So be careful while handling the spices. (Mustard turns bitter when fried for a long time).
• Puri dough should be made little harder than chapathi dough. This prevents puri from retaining more oil when it is deep fried. Also once dough is prepared, make the puri immediately.
• While adding tadka(seasoning) to any curry or dal, add it once the curry/dal is completely cooked. Close the lid immediately & remove from flame. This will retain the seasoning aroma. Do not cook after adding seasoning.

• Put the brinjal(eggplants) pieces or peeled smoked brinjal in water for around 10 mins. Discard the water. This removes any bitter taste from them.
• Do not hold any spice powder packets directly on the dish while cooking, the hot vapors get into the packet and spoil the powder. 
• Take out the required amount of powder on a spoon and then add it to the dish.Always use a flat bottomed pan for cooking (except for frying puris, they need depth), this helps in equal distribution of heat. Also, use broader vessel compared to thin tall vessel.
• If your kitchen stove has got black mess on it, spread some baking soda and rub lightly. Leave it for around 15mins and give it a good rub and wipe off. The hard mess usually comes off easily.

• For good fermentation of idlis and dosa batter.
• While cutting boiled potatoes, dip the knife in water. This avoids sticking to knife.
• While grinding coconut during cold days or while grinding frozen/cold coconut, use warm water. This helps in easy grinding and also avoids the fat floating on top.
• Add 1/2 tea spn of sugar while cooking beetroot in cooker. This avoids the spreading/splashing of color.
• To remove the black marks from the stove top (the kind of stoves in US particularly), spray some oven cleaner, leave for around 10mins and then gently scrub them off. Difficult marks come off easily.
• Never put garlic or cardamom, which are not peeled in hot oil. They pop up and can cause serious burns. If you need to use them whole, slightly open up the skin from one side.                         

• Add a little salt when frying tomatoes, this helps to get them mushy faster.
• To remove black stains in cooker or vessels, add a small piece of lemon and 1/2 cup water. Heat for few minutes and wash immediately
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