25 Easy Kitchen Tips for Housewives – Series 6

A few days back I started a kitchen series for housewives to make your work easy. I have included a few more tips as well, to make your dishes tastier. I chose to bind and serialize 25 tips together. And here is series no: 6. You can read its first part here. All the tips have been serialized. Read the 5th part here.

1. Place the serving bowl of salad in refrigerator and make it chilled before use. Your salad stays fresh for long time.

2. Separate clusters of banana and cover the upper portion using aluminium foil. It stays fresh for many days.

3. Place a little herb in each mould of an ice tray and pour a little olive oil. Freeze it. When it is fully set, put them in slip-lock bags and keep in freezer. You can use when needed.

4. Light a candle and place near you, when you cut onions and shallots. It helps you to escape from tears.

5. Add a bay leaf (karuka leaf or vayana leaf) while cooking cabbage to get rid of the intense smell.

6. Put pomegranate in ice water for some time. You can easily peel off.

7. If you have coffee powder in excess, place it in freezer till it sets. Later it can be used while preparing shakes.

8. When you pluck spinach leaves for thoran, no need to throw away thick stem. You can use it in avial, soups and other dishes.

9. If you have leftover fish pieces of fish curry, smash them, add eggs and scramble to get a variety side dish.

10. If you want to fry scrapped coconut for dishes, crush it gently using a mixer. Coconut takes less time to turn red (fry).

11. Make big pieces of jackfruit along with skin and thorns and steam cook it. You can easily remove the outer portion once it’s cooked. Later you can smash easily.

12. Don’t throw away the curd if it turned too sour. Pour it beneath your curry leaf plant. It grows in strength. Cold rice starch (after straining rice) can also improve the growth of curry plant.

13. If your ghee tastes different, boil it adding a stalk/stem of moringa leaves. Once it cools, strain ghee.

14. When you prepare custard, sprinkle a little sugar on top. It prevents the formation of thin layer while cooling.

15. If your potato fry lost crispness, microwave it for 30-60 seconds. It regains the crispness. 

16. If your soup turns excess salt, add a piece of uncooked potato. It absorbs excess salt from your soup.

17. To decorate soups, instead of fried bread pieces, use popcorn. It’s healthier. 

18. While cooking dal, add a little oil. It won’t overflow.

19. If you want to completely remove water from your dish and make it dry while cooking, keep the lid open. 

20. Keep marinated items in refrigerator before frying/use. Keep them in sip-lock bags, and shake them occasionally. If so the pieces get marinated better. Never use aluminium containers. Glass and stainless containers are best.

21. Make marks on big pieces while marinating. Small pieces can be easily marinated. 

22. In Indian marinated dishes, curd and spices (Indian masala) form main ingredients. In foreign dishes, sauces and wine form the main ingredients. Apart from enhancing taste, the process of marination makes the items soft too. Papaya, pineapple and green mango are also used to marinate. 

23. Fish needs 15-30 minutes resting time after marination. Keep chicken half to one hour after marination (based on the size of pieces). Red meat like mutton and pork need at least 2 hours.

24. If there is leftover fish fry, you can add while making omelettes. 

25. Coating marinated fish with beaten eggs, gram flour or semolina before frying can add extra flavour and different taste to your fish fry. 

Image source: Pixabay

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