Hi Friends,
This section is specially designed for those tips and tricks that we need to apply in our daily cooking in order to prepare a complete and healthy meal, without any hassles. Your kids love fries, burgers, pizzas, but do they like to eat spinach, carrots or fruits. But you cannot always force them to eat all the nutrition rich food. Hence try using these tricks to add nutrition to your daily recipes. I have also included some tips that would help working women and all to make cooking a simple and quick job. Hope you all find these helpful, do send in your tips and do not forget to leave a comment.
For health:
1. Mix 2 tbsp of soyabean flour with whole wheat atta(flour) everyday when you knead dough for chapatis.
Full-fat soya flour is a rich source of protein, iron, vitamin B1, and niacin; a good source of calcium and zinc; a source of vitamin B2; contains 24g of fat, of which 15% is saturated and 60% polyunsaturated; provides 10g of dietary fibre; supplies 450kcal (1900kJ). Low-fat flour contains 7g of fat.
(Reference: www.encyclopedia.com)
2. If your kid doesnt drink milk, make use of milk and water in equal quantities to knead flour (dough) for chapatis.
3. We usually avoid cooking koftas in our daily meals, just to avoid eating fried stuff, so that our calorie intake is low. But this tip may make you smile (only if you are not aware of it). Try baking the koftas, or simpler way is to boil them or shallow frying them in a non-stick pan with very less oil, does the job. They taste equally delicious.
4. Use honey as a replacement of sugar in your salads or drinks.
For cooking in minutes:
1. You can cut the vegetables the previous night.
2. Slice onions, fry them in some oil till they turn transparent and grind to paste. This onion paste can be preserved in refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can use this paste in you vegetables, and since it is fried you dont need to saute it for a long time.
3. Cut the vegetables and cook them in the microwave either partially/totally while you prepare for the gravy or make chapatis, or even when u take bath, later add them to the gravy.
4. If you are in a hurry and want the onion to be sauted quickly, sprinkle some salt in it. Onion will be sauted much quickly than it normally does.
Others:
1. If you forget to soak rajma/chana the previous night, you can soak it in the morning for atleast 2-3 hours and then while boiling add a pinch of baking soda. This will help the rajma cook faster. But restrict the quantity of baking soda to a pinch only.
2. You can boil chana along with tea leaves to add a nice brown colour to chana. Take a small piece of cloth and tie a tsp of tea leaves or powder, drop into the pressure cooker along with chana and boil.
3. While preparing kheer, to avoid milk from spilling add 1-2 tbsp of ghee to the boiling milk.
4. Add 1 tsp of sugar to 2 cups of maida or flour while kneading dough for making ‘puri’. This would help the puris stay puffed for a longer time after frying.
5. Always fry any kind of wadas, pakoras, vadis, tikkis, etc on a low-medium flame so that it is cooked from inside. If you flame is high them they soon change their outer color but are not cooked from inside.
6. If you want to avoid frying your fries or chips, try this option. They taste just as crispy. Cut the potatoes into the shape of fries, then boil them in microwave or on stove till they are properly cooked, but do not over cook else they will break while roasting. Then heat a non-stick pan, add very little or no oil as per your choice. Arrange the chips and roast them on low-medium flame, flip over after intervals till you get that reddish brown color and are crisp. Remove from pan and sprinkle salt, red chilli powder or pepper, mix lightly with hands. And crisps chips are ready.
7. How to prepare creamy curd?
The milk you are using to prepare curd should be warm. To test for the right temperature just dip in your finger into it. The milk should be just hot. To prepare curd you can boil the milk and let it cool till it is still hot (warm) else you can reheat pre-boiled and cold milk too. The put a spoonful of curd in the utensil you are preparing the curd. Using the spoon spread it to coat the utensil from inside. Then pour the milk into it and using the spoon first stir in circular motion clockwise for 1/2 minute and then anticlockwise for another 1/2 minute. Cover and keep it aside in a warm place, untouched and do not move until it is set i.e for atleast 6-7 hours. It takes a longer time to set in winters. Afterwards keep the curd in the refrigerator for an hour and your curd would be nice creamy.
TIPS:
a. Milk should be warm enough.
b. Milk should be mixed with curd in circular movements.
c. Do not move the container or uncover and keep checking ocassionally.
d. You need to give it some time to set. Hence curd sets best when you prepare it and leave it overnight. The best way is to prepare it before you go to bed, and in the morning it is set, then place it in the refrigerator.
8. How to prepare paneer/cottage cheese at home?
Ingredients:
1 litre milk (cow milk if you want a low fat paneer),
1 lemon; cut into 2 halves and deseeded.
Method:
Boil the milk. As soon as it boils, squeeze out the juice of half lemon and stir using a spoon. If the milk doesnt curdle, squeeze out the other half until you find the milk has started to curdle up. Then stir again and let it be on flame till you find the liquid in the milk is clear. Then strain this mixture into a thin muslin cloth. Hold together the edges of the cloth and twist it to remove all the excess liquid from the paneer. Tie a tight knot where the paneer is collected in the cloth and hang it at any of your cloth holders in your kitchen, for 5 minutes. Keep a utensil below to collect the excess liquid. Now remove it from the hanger, untie the knot and open the cloth.
If you want to use crumbled paneer in your recipe your paneer is ready. You can prepare recipes like Paneer Bhurji, Koftas, Paneer Parathas, Other stuffings, etc. Check out our recipes.
If you want to use paneer cubes, then let the paneer be in the cloth, cover it with the cloth and with you hands shape the paneer to form a square. Cover properly and keep a heavy container/utensil/wooden board or any heavy kitchen appliance; over it so that the paneer is pressed well. Let this be for 20-30 minutes. Later uncover and cut into cubes. Prepare recipes like Mutter Paneer, Palak Paneer, Shahi Paneer, Paneer Tikka, Starters, etc. Check out our recipes.
