TIPS AND TRICKS TO HELP YOU WITH INDIAN COOKING!
26 May 2022 | DIYA RAJGURU
The kitchen is where all the action is. Ours and our family’s well being begins in the kitchen. Not just in terms of food, but overall well being of the family and the home. Whether it is preparing quick fix, age-old traditional medicines, preparing plant food, preparing a few face scrubs, composting peel, and trying to achieve a zero waste lifestyle, whatever our intentions are, they all emanate from the kitchen. So here are a few tips, tricks and hacks that will always come in handy.
Here are few "Indian Kitchen Tips" you wish you knew before:
1. Winter essentialsWhen cold days are around the corner, the nasties are around the corner as well - itchy throats, running nose, clogged ears and what not! Before rushing to the doctor, why not try these home made, organic toffees and syrups? All you need is a bit of ginger, lemon juice, a dash of jaggery, and a couple of teaspoons of coconut oil. Bake them together and store as toffees. Check out the recipe below. You could also make a homemade cough syrup with warm water, lemon, ginger juice and some honey. Keep sipping on this during cold winter days and night, to relieve congestion.
2. Prevent milk sticking to the bottom of the panEver got frustrated with all the while residue on the milk pan, as you slow-boil milk? You can reduce this by a great deal, with just a simple hack. Simply apply a layer of ghee or clarified butter, on the bottom and sides of the pan. The pan will come out clean, without much milk sticking to it, and cleaning it will be a breeze. 3. Reuse kitchen wasteOur kitchens churn out so much waste in the form of peels, tea residue, pulp, etc. here are a few ways in which you can reuse them.
Soak banana peels in water for a few days, and give the potassium-rich water to plants. The same is true for onion peels as well. Soak onion peels in water for upto 48 hours, and nutrient rich plant food is ready.Potato peels can be cleaned and made as crunchy potato chips. You could air fry or bake them. Lemon peels and orange peels can be used as scrubs. Or you could soak them in vinegar, let it sit for a few days and make an all purpose cleaner out of them. Leftover tea can be sun dried, powdered and fed to plants. They replenish the soil with essential nutrients that help plants grow well. This is especially important with plants that are self-contained within a pot, as the soil needs to be constantly topped up with ‘plant food’. What's more, the spices infused in our tea, have a strong scent that insects don't like, so our tea fertilizer can work great as a natural pesticide. Lime zest can also come in handy to make a refreshing body scrub. All you need is 1 and a half cup sugar, half cup coconut oil, a quarter teaspoon of peppermint essential oil, and the zest of one lime. Combine it all, and use your body for that refreshing feel. Regrow new plants from seeds. You could plant avocado, mango or lychee seeds. It will be a fun way to involve the children in some soil science as well.
1. Winter essentialsWhen cold days are around the corner, the nasties are around the corner as well - itchy throats, running nose, clogged ears and what not! Before rushing to the doctor, why not try these home made, organic toffees and syrups? All you need is a bit of ginger, lemon juice, a dash of jaggery, and a couple of teaspoons of coconut oil. Bake them together and store as toffees. Check out the recipe below. You could also make a homemade cough syrup with warm water, lemon, ginger juice and some honey. Keep sipping on this during cold winter days and night, to relieve congestion.
2. Prevent milk sticking to the bottom of the panEver got frustrated with all the while residue on the milk pan, as you slow-boil milk? You can reduce this by a great deal, with just a simple hack. Simply apply a layer of ghee or clarified butter, on the bottom and sides of the pan. The pan will come out clean, without much milk sticking to it, and cleaning it will be a breeze. 3. Reuse kitchen wasteOur kitchens churn out so much waste in the form of peels, tea residue, pulp, etc. here are a few ways in which you can reuse them.
Soak banana peels in water for a few days, and give the potassium-rich water to plants. The same is true for onion peels as well. Soak onion peels in water for upto 48 hours, and nutrient rich plant food is ready.Potato peels can be cleaned and made as crunchy potato chips. You could air fry or bake them. Lemon peels and orange peels can be used as scrubs. Or you could soak them in vinegar, let it sit for a few days and make an all purpose cleaner out of them. Leftover tea can be sun dried, powdered and fed to plants. They replenish the soil with essential nutrients that help plants grow well. This is especially important with plants that are self-contained within a pot, as the soil needs to be constantly topped up with ‘plant food’. What's more, the spices infused in our tea, have a strong scent that insects don't like, so our tea fertilizer can work great as a natural pesticide. Lime zest can also come in handy to make a refreshing body scrub. All you need is 1 and a half cup sugar, half cup coconut oil, a quarter teaspoon of peppermint essential oil, and the zest of one lime. Combine it all, and use your body for that refreshing feel. Regrow new plants from seeds. You could plant avocado, mango or lychee seeds. It will be a fun way to involve the children in some soil science as well.
4. Almond milk and almond pulpIf you are vegan, or you love almond milk, make it right at home. Soak, peel almonds and blend with a dash of water to extract milk. Delicious, unadulterated almond milk is yours to enjoy. What about the pulp? Simply mix it with dough and make rotis, or mix it with flour to bake cookies. No waste, all health! 5. Aloevera exfoliating sugar scrubAloevera has several soothing properties, especially freshly cut Aloe gel. Combine it with raw sugar and use it as an exfoliator. Radiant skin is now yours in a jiffy!
6. Avocado oil and its magical propertiesAvocado oil has innumerable skin friendly benefits, especially when it comes to dark circles. Some dark circles appear due to ageing when the skin under the eyes begin to thin down, and the veins and blood vessels show up. Avocados are an excellent source of vitamin K, which is known for helping to shrink blood vessels and improve circulation, making those dark circles less noticeable. The oil sometimes can also help thicken the skin beneath the eyes. Another way to use avocado oil to improve the appearance of dark circles is to combine it with another dark circle-fighting ingredient such as caffeine. Mix ground coffee and almond oil, and let it sit for days. Strain the mixture, add avocado oil, and use it as an under eye moisturizer. Avocado oil can also be used to treat diaper rashes. Another alternative for the same is good old coconut oil!
7. How sweet is your sweet melon?Ever bought sweet melon home, cut it, only to find out that it is unripe and not so sweet. Well, here’s a tip to buy ripe ones, and enjoy them sweet. Simply look at the steam area. If the stem has begun to crack, then the ripening has begun. If it is firm and the crack around the stem doesn’t show at all, it is unripe and will not be as sweet. 8. Starchy pasta water - the stain remover!It was by accident that I discovered that the turmeric stains on my white silicone ladle actually disappeared when I immersed it to stir the pasta. Lo and behold! The yellow stains were completely gone. Try it out! 9. The ABC of juicing and pulpIt is the rage now - Apple Beetroot and carrot juice. Blend it all together, strain over muslin cloth and sip on goodness. But wait! Do not throw the pulp, that is rich in fiber. Add it to curries, or to the dough and consume them in any other innovative manner! 10. Keep that tea or coffee piping hotIt happens sometimes. We make our cuppa and we leave it down on the counter for a few seconds. Something comes up, and by the time we return to our cups, it has turned cold. What do we do? Toss it? Reheat it? When you reheat it, the taste drops by several notches. The same goes for microwaving too. Here’s a simple tip. Instead of heating the beverage, immerse the cup in boiling water, and the beverage will heat up, without losing its flavour or taste. 11. Test the purity of honeyThere are two ways to find out if honey is pure. The first is the heat test. Heat some honey and observe it. If it is indeed pure, the honey will caramelize and will not foam. On the other hand, impure honey will not caramelize and will begin to bubble and foam, because of the presence of sugar. The other test is the freeze test. Pure honey will never freeze. Place a jar inside a freezer, and it will not crystallize. You can still pour it out, whereas impure honey will crystallize when frozen.
12. Use conditioner to reverse the shrunken sweater or blanketHas your favorite sweater or blanket accidentally gotten inside the dryer and shrunk? All you have to do is mix hair conditioner in cold water and submerge the shrunken sweater in it. Gently pull out the sweater after a few hours and work your way into restoring it to its original shape.
13. Doklas or khaman turns red or orange?This happens when the turmeric reacts with the eno or baking soda. To prevent this,all you have to do is add the turmeric first before adding the baking soda, and squeeze fresh lemon directly over the soda to fizz, and then whisk it into the batter.
14. Why do potatoes sprout? When potatoes sprout, what should we do? First check if they are stored close to the oven or gas? If sprouts are small, peel it off or cut it out. If they are big, cut them out along with the eye. Bigger sprouts means larger presence of toxins that cause gastric distress. The eye and sprouts alone are toxic. And the rest of the potato can be used. However if the potatoes begin to turn green and look like emeralds, it signals the build up of chlorophyll and is best tossed.
[This list will be updated regularly, so do bookmark it for easy reference.]
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