To get the maximum juice out of a lemon or a lime, roll it hard on the
kitchen counter using your palm. This releases more of the juice.
Before frying a fillet of fish, let it rest on a kitchen towel for a
few minutes on each side. The excess water will get absorbed and this
will enhance the flavour of panfried or sautéed fish.
It better to wipe or brush mushrooms clean of any dirt. They absorb
water easily, and washing them under a running tap or leaving them
soaked will make them taste watery.
When making a tomato based pasta sauce, add a little grated or ground
carrot. It adds a small element of sweetness and reduced the acidic,
sourness of tomatoes.
Avoid using tamarind, lime or other souring agents in green leafy
preparations. Acid reduces the nutritional properties of greens.
To prevent rice grains from sticking one has to remove starch. To do
this wash the rice several times till water runs clear, then let it soak
for 20 mins in clean water.
When making ginger-garlic paste at home, add a pinch of salt and a
teaspoon of vinegar to the mix. It won't change the taste much and will
allow you to store it in the refrigerator about about two weeks.
Rubbing your hands on a stainless steel sink or container removes the
pungent smell of garlic, onions or other spices from them.
When baking, always use room temperature butter and eggs. Using these
straight from the refrigerator will make it harder to blend and mix,
affecting the final product.
Cutting bacon or pancetta is easier after they have been sitting in the freezer for a little while and have become firm.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.