TOP 5 COOKING TIP AND TRICKS OF THE DAY 4

To make puris soft and fluffy use milk instead of water when kneeding the dough.

To ensure that dal cooks quickly, add a little bit of oil and turmeric powder to it before pressure cooking.

 

To brown onions, add a little salt to the pan. This speeds up the process.

 

In our warm climate bananas tend to get over-ripe. To stop the process of ripening put bananas in the refrigerator. The skin may turn black, but the fruit itself will remain firm.

 

Never store onions and potatoes in the same bag or container. Separate them to prevent the potatoes from rotting.

 

TOP 5 COOKING TIP AND TRICKS OF THE DAY 3

To ensure that your pasta absorbs the flavour of the sauce, don't cook the pasta in advance. Toss it is sauce, immediately after the cooking liquid is drained. Cooked pasta absorbs flavour best when hot.

If you want to give salad a subtle garlic flavour, rub a cut garlic pod on the inside of the salad bowl before you toss the salad.

Dry herbs and spices loose their flavour when exposed to heat and sunlight. To make sure they retain their aroma, keep them in an air tight container inside a dark, cool cupboard.

To help tough meat like lamb or beef tenderize, marinate it in vinegar, curd, mustard or mashed papaya overnight. Wipe off the marinade and then cook.

When cooking vegetables don't add salt until the very end. Adding salt early can dehydrate vegetables and reduce their nutritional value.

Top 5 Cooking tip and tricks of the day 2

When boiling pasta add salt generously, at least one teaspoon per litre of water. The pasta will absorb only as much as it needs, adding extra flavour dish.

To maintain the freshness of herbs like parsley, coriander, basil or curry leaves put them in a plastic bag, blow air into the bag so that it puffs up like a balloon and put the inflated bag in the refrigerator.

Before grating cheese, rub some oil onto the grater. This will ensure that the cheese doesn't stick to the grater.

To give mashed potatoes a creamy consistency, stir in warm milk.

If you want to quickly ripen some tomatoes, put them in a brown paper bag and store in a dark corner.

Top 5 Cooking tip and tricks of the day 1

Vegetables that have been lying in the refrigerator tend to look dull and lifeless. If you want to make a salad, and need your veggies to look fresh, soak them in cold water with a few drops of lime for about 15minutes and they will look bright and delicious.

Slicing cheesecake and other cold desserts is tricky. If you want to make clean slices soak your knife in warm water for a few minutes, then wipe it dry and use to make a clean slice.

To prevent pieces of cut apple or pear from turning black, squeeze a little lime juice on them or sprinkle a little bit of crushed mustard.

When boiling potatoes add a pinch of salt to the water. This loosens the potato peal and makes peeling boiled potatoes a lot easer.

Before cooking cauliflower keep in soaking in water mixed with a teaspoon of vinegar for about fifteen minutes. This not only loosens the dirt and grit but also kills any insects that may be lodged between the florets.

Tips On Cooking

Tips On Cooking :

• To make 1 cup of dal, add atleast 2-3 cups of water, depending on the type of dal.
• Soak whole pulses overnight and other dals for one hour before cooking.
• Always add hot water to the gravy to enhance the taste.
• Add 1 Tbsp of hot oil to the dough for making Kachories or Kulchas.
• Always use heavy bottomed vessels to make desserts, in order to avoid burning.
• Make desserts with full cream milk, to get thick creamy texture.
• Whenever curd is to be added to the masala, it should be beaten well and add gradually.
• Chop some extra vegetables, for next day stir fry.
• Use the leftover dal water to make rasam or sambar.
• Never discard water in which vegetables are cooked, use it in gravies, soups, rasam or kolumbu.
• Onions and masala are fried in the cooker body itself, raw vegetables are added to that with enough salt and water. Cook under pressure according to the cooking time of the vegetable. This method helps us minimise our cooking time, use of utensils and nutrients are also preserved.
• If poppy seeds are used in grinding, soak it in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes, if you are grinding it in a mixie.
• While boiling milk, always add a little water at the base of the vessel to avoid the milk from sticking at the bottom.
• Add a tsp. of hot oil to homemade pastes of garlic, ginger or green chili, along with salt to make it last longer and taste fresher.
• Store raisins in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will stay fresh for much longer. Pour very hot water over them if they had harden, after that drain them immediately, and spread on a paper towel to dry. You can also leave a spoon in the vessel in which the milk is being boiled at low heat so that it does not get burnt at the bottom
• Add a few drops of lemon a tsp of oil to rice before boiling to separate each grain.
• Never discard the water in which vegetables are cooked, use it in gravies or soups.
• Put tomatoes in a large bowl and cover with boiling water Leave it for about 5 minutes. Take out one by one, piercing them with a sharp knife, the skin will peel off easily.
• Immediately after boiling noodles put them in normal cold water to separate them each.
• If you forget to soak chana/Rajma overnight. Just soak the chana/Rajma in the boiling water for an hour before cooking.
• Curd in winter - Set in a ceramic container and place it on the voltage stabilizer of your refrigerator.
• Potatoes soaked in salt water for 20 minutes will bake more rapidly.
• Roasting is a dry heat method of cooking - it does not use water. The flavors roasting draws forth result from the process of browning. As the surface of the meat browns, and its juices and fats drip down and brown on the surface of the hot roasting pan, it adds to the flavour of the meat.

Tips For Gravies

Tips For Gravies:

• Always use ghee or vanaspathi with or instead of oil, which gives a good flavour to the gravy. If oil alone is used, it does not get separated easily from the ground mixture, as ghee separates from it.
• Fry the ground masala in reduced flame, so that it retains its colour and taste.
• Little plain sugar or caramelised sugar added to the gravy makes it tasty.
• When tomatoes are not in season, tomato ketchup or sauce can be successfully used in the gravies.
• To retain colour in the gravy always use ripe red tomatoes. Discard green portions if any.
• Good variety chillies and chilli powder also gives colour to the gravy. As far as pos sible try to use long variety red chillies. Dry it under sun for few days and powder coarsely at home. Always the coarse powder gives good taste in gravies and pickles.
• While using ginger and garlic paste in curries, always use garlic at 60% ratio and ginger at 40% as ginger is very strong and may make your dish sharp and pungent.

Tip of the Day – Juicing a Lemon or Lime

Tip of the Day – Juicing a Lemon or Lime

When you need to juice a lemon or lime, place it on a hard surface and roll it back and forth under your palm, applying pressure, for about a minute before juicing. The helps break down the cells and will result in more juice with less effort.

Tip of the Day – Never Refrigerate Bread…Freeze It!

Tip of the Day – Never Refrigerate Bread…Freeze It!

The best way to keep bread is at room temperature. After 2-3 days, you should wrap the bread well, put it in a freezer bag and freeze it.  Never store any bread in the refrigerator, because the cold temperature (38º-40º) accelerates the crystallization of the starches, causing the bread to stale much faster. When I bake a bread, as soon as it cools completely, I cut it, freeze half immediately and keep the other half cut-side down on a cutting board covered with a clean cloth. When that’s consumed, I take out the frozen half, defrost it at room temperature or wrap it in foil and bake in a 450º oven for 10 minutes and it tastes just as good as the day it was baked.

5 Grilling Tips Everyone Should Know

5 Grilling Tips Everyone Should Know

Before you head outside to start cooking, brush up on these grilling tips you may not know.
By Teri Tsang Barrett

1. Know your heat source. There are two types of heat sources to use when grilling: direct or indirect heat. Foods grilled over “direct heat” — when the heat source of lit burners or hot coals sits directly beneath the food — are typically fast-cooking foods like steak or asparagus. Foods grilled over “indirect heat” — when the heat source comes from off to the side of the food, whether it’s by turning off burners or banking hot coals to the other side — are slow-cooking foods like potatoes or brisket. Foods can be started over direct heat to develop a nicely charred exterior before being finished over indirect heat to ensure that the center is cooked through without burning the exterior.

2. Oil the grates with a brush to keep foods from sticking.
For fragile items like fish, brush both the grates and the food for extra nonstick insurance.

3. Leave the food alone until it lifts easily from the grill.
The easiest way to tell if it’s time to turn your food is by gently lifting it at one end — if it lifts easily, it’s done. If it sticks, leave it for a few more minutes before checking once more. A good rule of thumb to follow is to leave food to grill undisturbed on one side for a minute or two to allow grill marks to form.

4. Go beyond burgers.
Experiment with sweet foods like fruit (peaches and pineapples are ideal contenders; pat the surface dry, brush with olive oil and season with sugar or salt), pound cake or angel food cake. The sugars in sweets will caramelize for great grill marks.

5. Flare-ups are caused by drippings.
The shooting flames that erupt when grilling are typically the result of drippings catching on fire and burning off. The first step is to safely move the food out of the line of fire using tongs; this should remove the source of the drippings fueling the fire. If the flames don’t die down almost immediately, starve the flames of oxygen by covering the grill — the flare-up should then cease. Only as a last resort should the grill be doused with water or flour, as both will ruin the food.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/5-grilling-tips-everyone-should-know/index.html?oc=linkback

10 Foods That Aren’t From Where You Think

There are plenty of foods that are either named after places or are assumed to come from certain places. The following is a list of certain food origins that we’re frequently wrong about.

10German Chocolate Cake

German chocolate cake is delicious, but its name is lying to you; it’s not German at all. It was named after a German, though: a man named Sam German. He didn’t invent the cake itself, but back in 1852, he created a chocolate bar. It was different from normal chocolate (at the time) because it was made for cooking, and it came to be called Baker’s German Sweet Chocolate.
The first time the recipe for this cake was published was way back in the late ’50s. It was advertised in a Dallas newspaper and became popular almost immediately. The demand for German’s baking chocolate skyrocketed, and his name became synonymous with the dessert.

9 Baked Alaska

The Baked Alaska dessert was actually invented in New York City, most likely in 1868—the same year the US purchased Alaska from Russia. Charles Ranhofer, the chef who named it, called it Baked Alaska to cash in on the fame of the recently completed deal. It was considered a luxury at the time, since making ice cream in the 1860s was a laborious process and wasn’t yet mechanized.

8 French Dip

The French dip sandwich, perhaps unsurprisingly, isn’t from France. It was invented at Phillipe’s in Los Angeles, in 1918. The first sandwich of its kind came about by accident. The restaurant’s namesake, Phillipe Mathieu, was making a sandwich for a police officer when he accidentally dropped the roll into hot oil. The officer (supposedly named French) bought it anyway. He loved it so much that he returned the next day with his friends and they all ordered their rolls dipped in oil.
Another restaurant in the area, Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet, also claim the invention of the French dip. In their version, they dipped the bread in jus (like au jus) to make it softer for a customer that was on her way back from a dentist’s appointment.

7 Coney Dog

The Coney dog may be attributed to Coney Island, but its true origins lie a few states west: Michigan. Much like the French dip, the exact origin is unknown, as there are three different eateries that claim they invented the iconic dog. All three restaurants are located in Michigan. So there you have it. While we can’t be sure of the exact origin, we know it’s definitely not from New York.

6 Curry Powder

The curry powder we know today is nothing like the original spice it was supposed to mimic. It was heavily influenced by the British, and in India it isn’t even referred to as curry. They call it masala, and there are many different varieties. The curry powder we know best is what the British produced when they tried to replicate the flavors they encountered in traditional Indian cooking. True Indian curry powder is custom-made to accompany whatever food is being prepared.

5 Maraschino Cherries

Maraschino cherries may have an Italian-sounding name, but they actually come from Croatia. Originally, Maraschino was the name of a liquor made from the Croatian Marasca cherries. Then fresh cherries were preserved in their own alcohol, and that’s what a Maraschino cherry is (or was). In the 1800s, they made their way to the US, where Americans replaced the Marasca cherries with Queen Anne cherries, which grew in Oregon. In 1912, the USDA formalized the term, and any non-Marasca cherry had to be labeled as an imitation product.
The Maraschino cherries you buy at the grocery store today are made using a different method, one that’s alcohol-free. First they’re brined in a liquid calcium solution. Then they’re placed in sweetened, artificially colored syrup.

4 Ketchup

Ketchup may seem like an American invention since it’s a featured condiment for almost every American food from meatloaf to eggs. However, ketchup originated from a different type of sauce from China, which was made from fish. Five hundred years ago, Chinese sailors were sailing down the Mekong coast when they found a sauce made from fermented anchovies. The sauce was popular in Vietnam, and the Chinese sailors gave it the name “ke-tchup.” This name is in the ancient language Hokkien, and the last syllable, “tchup,” means “sauce.”
In the 17th century, British traders made their way to the region, and they ended up discovering ke-tchup. One hundred years later, they were hooked and ke-tchup became a prized possession.

3 Sauerkraut

“Sauerkraut” means “sour cabbage” in German, so you’d think it was a German invention. While it goes well with most German food, the original was Chinese. It came about around 2,000 years ago and was enjoyed by laborers building the Great Wall. The only real difference is that the Chinese fermented their cabbage in rice wine. The Germans draw out the water with salt.
It was popular with Chinese workers because it was a good vitamin source, stored easily and did not spoil, and was a cheap and widely available food.

2 Bologna

The bologna we eat today is nothing like the food it’s originally based on. Bologna is supposedly named after the city in Italy, but the meat it is most similar to is mortadella. Mortadella is actually from Italy but only slightly resembles bologna. It’s often eaten by itself or as part of an appetizer platter with cheese, bread, or sliced peppers and tomatoes. bologna is a sliced, processed meat and is most often used in sandwiches.
Mortadella is of much higher quality and uses only the finest pork meat. It is liberally sprinkled with cubes of pure pork fat and minced, mixing everything together. The original stuff from Bologna will be marked as such and will have added pistachios and black pepper.

1 Tempura

While we may attribute tempura cooking to the Japanese, it was actually a Portuguese innovation. Evidence lies in old Moorish cookbooks from the 13th century that feature tempura recipes. The word “tempura” is actually thought to have derived from the Portuguese word “temporas” which means “Lent.” This makes sense, as the Catholic population would eat fish on Fridays and eventually decided to fry it—possibly because everything tastes better when it’s fried.
Portuguese sailors (including traders and missionaries) spread it throughout the world, and it took hold in Japan in the 16th century. It spread to England as well, and is now part of their world-famous fish and chips.

 

Top 10 Basic Cooking Tricks

This is a first for the List Universe – a cooking topic. This list will teach you 10 very basic cooking tips to guarantee restaurant level perfection every time. The basis for most of these methods is from the French technique.
1. How to boil an egg

The perfect hard-boiled egg should have a moist and bright center – it should not be pale yellow and powdery and there should definitely be no signs of green around it (this signifies overcooking).
To perfectly boil an egg, you need a pot which is large enough to hold the number of eggs you want to cook without them touching – but do not let it be so big that the eggs can move around the pot. Fill it with just enough water that the eggs will just be covered when you add them. Bring the water to the boil and add the eggs one by one with a spoon so that you don’t crack the shells. Set a timer for 8 minutes. After exactly eight minutes take the eggs off and run cold water into the pot until the eggs are completely cold (this stops the cooking process). You will now have perfect hard boiled eggs.
2. How to scramble an egg

The best type of scrambled eggs, in my opinion, is French style – the French style is much more like a sauce than the English style which is usually dry. In the early days of this method, the chef would use a double-boiler to cook the eggs so that the result was like custard. The method here is faster and has more body. You can use 2-4 eggs per person depending on how hungry people are.
In a large pot put a knob of butter (between 25-40 grams) and turn the heat on low. While the butter is melting, crack your eggs in to a bowl. Once the butter has fully melted (it should not be bubbling or the heat is too high) add a large pinch of salt and ground pepper to the eggs and mix with a fork until just combined (don’t overmix the eggs). Do not add anything else to the eggs at this time. Pour the egg mixture in to the pot and stir constantly. If the mixture does not seem to be thickening you can turn the heat up just a little. You should soon start to see curds appearing which are the parts of the egg that have cooked. keep mixing at a moderate pace until almost all of the egg has changed to curds. There should still be a small amount of runny egg left. Take it off the heat immediately. Add another knob of butter and stir until it is melted, then add 3-4 tablespoons of cream (you can use more if you prefer the eggs slightly runnier). Taste for salt and if needed, add more. You should be able to pour this thick mixture.
3. How to make an omelette

There is really only one rule with an omelette – it must not brown. For one omelette take a small sized pan and melt a small knob of butter in it. Turn the heat to medium low. While the butter is melting, crack your eggs in to a bowl, add a good pinch of salt and pepper and mix until only just combined (do not overmix). When the butter has melted and is just beginning to sizzle, pour the egg mix in to the pan. Using a soft utensil like a wooden spoon, stir the omelette the whole time, breaking up any curds that form. When you have only a little runny egg left on the top take the pan off the heat and put it under the grill. Grill until the top has dried completely but has not browned. Remove from the grill, fold the omelette in half and slide on to the serving plate. You can add additional toppings before putting it under the grill if you wish, and you can also drizzle a little cream over the top at the same time.
4. How to cook pasta

Pasta is a very simple dish that can be prepared very quickly. This technique of cooking will give you perfect pasta without spills. Take a very large pot – a stock pot is ideal. Half fill it with water and add enough salt that when you taste the water it tastes like the sea (this is a lot of salt, but it is necessary to bring out the flavor in the pasta – it is the way pasta is cooked in Italy). Do not add oil or anything else to the water. Put the pot on to boil. When the water is boiling vigorously, add the pasta. You may need to give the pasta a bit of a stir from time to time, to make sure it doesn’t stick together. Each type of pasta takes a different time to cook (though it is generally between 8 and ten minutes) – you should find instructions for timing on the packet. Use that timing but start to check the pasta two minutes before the time is up because packet instructions often put a longer time than is needed. To test the pasta remove a single piece and bite it – if it is soft on the outside with a firm (but not crunchy) centre, it is ready (this is called the al dente stage). Reserve one cup of the cooking water, then strain the pasta but do not rinse it and do not strain it dry. An easy way to serve this (which is popular in Italy) is to mix a good sized knob of butter with the pasta and serve it with parmesan cheese. If you are using a sauce, you can add some of the reserved water to it for added flavour.
5. How to cook perfect steak

This is the French method which is always rarer than non-French methods. You need a good heavy bottomed pan or grill and you need to put it on a fiery hot heat. You should use a nice thick cut of steak (I am presuming you are using at least a 2cm thick slice). Lightly salt and pepper the steak on both sides. If you are using a grill, brush the steak with oil, otherwise the rest of the technique is the same. To your hot pan add a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil (it should be just enough to coat the pan – you don’t want to boil the steak in oil). Add a good sized knob of butter to the oil. It should sizzle. Ensure the bottom of the pan is well coated with maybe 1 or 2 millimeters of butter. Add your steak to the pan and do not touch it. It must not be moved in the pan while it is cooking. This will give you a nice crisp on the outside of the meat. Cooking times are:
Bleu (very rare – the best way to eat steak): 1 minutes on each side
Rare: 2-3 minutes on each side
Medium: 4 minutes on each side
Well-done: 5-6 minutes on each side
Just before turning the steak, you can add another small knob of butter to the pan. Turn the steak and, again, do not touch it until the cooking time is done. Remove the steak from the pan, put on a plate, cover with foil and leave to rest for 3-5 minutes before serving. This allows the meat fibres to relax – giving a more tender bite.
6. How to cook rice

Rice is, for many people, a terrifying experience but it need not be as it is actually very simple. This recipe gives perfect fluffy rice every time. I prefer to use Basmati rice which is a long grained white rice from India. This recipe presumes you are using long grained white rice – it will not work with other. This quantity will serve 3-4 people.
In a moderately large pot put some vegetable oil and turn on the head to medium. When the oil is hot, add a finely diced half an onion (you can omit the onion but not the oil). Cook until it has softened. Take a regular coffee mug and fill it to the top with rice. Pour it into the hot onions and stir so the rice is well coated. Fill the mug with hot water and add it to the rice – then fill the mug again and add the second cup to the rice (rice in this method is always cooked with a ratio of 1 cup of rice to two cups of water). Add plenty of salt. If you like a nice variation you can add half a cinnamon stick to the water at this time. Let the rice come back to the boil and put the lid on the pot. Turn the heat down to its lowest setting and set a timer for 15 minutes. Do not remove the lid at all during the cooking time. After fifteen minutes, lift the lid and, using a fork, push the rice away from the side of the pot whilst tilting the pot toward you – if there is any liquid left in the pot return the lid and cook for another minute, checking every minute in the same way as just described. When the pot has no remaining liquid, remove it from the heat, remove the lid, and cover with a cloth for 4-5 minutes. That is it!
7. How to mash potatoes

This method is the French restaurant style of mashing potatoes – it will give you perfect mashed potatoes with no lumps. Peel and halve 6 medium sized potatoes and put them in a pot so they fill the pot about 2/3 of the way. Cover with cold water and add a very liberal amount of salt to the pot (you should be able to taste the salt in the water). Bring to the boil and partially cover the pot with a lid. Depending on the type of potatoes you use, cooking time can range from 10-20 minutes. When the potatoes are soft but not falling apart, remove them from the pot and strain all the water off immediately. Put half to 3/4 of a cup of cream on the stove and bring it to the boil (as soon as it boils turn off the heat). Place the potatoes in to a sieve (the same type you use for sieving flour). Using a sturdy spoon, force the potatoes through the sieve – this is hard work but it is well worth it). Once all of the potatoes have been sieved, put them back in the pot and place this on a low heat on the stove. Add a large knob of butter (30-50gms) and, using a wooden spoon, mix the butter in to the potatoes. While mixing start pouring some of the hot cream in to the mix – this will help melt the butter and adds depth of flavor and creaminess to the mash. Use only enough cream to make the potatoes in to a thick paste. Add a good grating of nutmeg. Taste for seasoning and add pepper and more salt if it is needed. Serve immediately.
8. How to roast potatoes

First of all, the best fat for roasting potatoes is goose or duck fat. If you can not get either of these, you should try to find lard or dripping. Peel your potatoes and cut them in to medium sized pieces (halve small potatoes and quarter large potatoes). Melt 50g of fat per 500g of potatoes in a roasting dish. Add the potato pieces and roll them around until they are fully coated. Season with salt and cook at the top of a preheated oven (190c, 375f, gas mark 5) for 40 minutes. Bast frequently with the fat until they are golden and cooked through. Some people like to partly boil the potatoes first, tossing them in the pot until they get a fluffy outer layer. This is perfectly fine to do but you will need to reduce your cooking time in the oven.
9. How to boil vegetables

Cooking times vary between the vegetables, but this method can be used for virtually all types. Clean or peel (as required) your vegetable and cut into bite sized chunks. Add to a pot and just cover with boiling water. Make sure you put plenty of salt in the water. Place the pot on a moderately-high heat and bring to the boil. You will need to test the vegetables from time to time to check whether they are done. The way to tell is that they should be soft but still have a crisp bite. Green vegetables should not be turning pale green or grey. If the vegetables are soft all the way through, they are overcooked. Strain off the cooking water and serve immediately.
10. How to roast a chicken

Roasting a chicken well is actually a very simply task. Add salt, pepper, one bay leaf, one crushed clove of garlic, and a small bunch of thyme to the body cavity. Salt and pepper the outside and rub a thick coating of soft (but not melted) butter all over the skin. Place the chicken breast side down in a roasting pan (this will help to prevent drying of the breast). Cook in a pre-heated oven (200c, 400f, gas mark 6) for half the cooking time (cooking time is determined by this formula: 15 minutes per 450g – 1lb – of chicken, plus 15 extra minutes). Turn the chicken over and finish cooking it breast side up. Once cooked, put the chicken on a warmed platter and let stand for 15 minutes before serving to allow the juices to settle and the meat to relax. You can use a little boiling water to deglaze the pan and use this as the gravy. This method will give you crispy skin and moist flesh.