Tips for Idly Batter / इडली बैटर टिप्स / ఇడ్లీ పిండి చిట్కాలు

Idly Batter Tips :

• Make sure the batter is light in weight. It is possible by grinding urad dal fluffy, by adding water little by little in regular intervals.

• The more airy your urad dal is, the lighter your batter and so is your idly.

• You should be able to see airy bubbles in the urad dal batter while grinding. If you drop a tsp of urad dal batter in a bowl of water, then it should float. Then its is correctly ground.

• Grind both batters separately and then mix. Then only you will get more volume of the batter.

• If you live in a hot temperature country, try keeping the batter for less time to ferment.

• If you are living in cold temperature countries, grind the batter and keep it inside the oven with oven light on. It will help in fermenting.

• Add a fist full of cooked rice while you grind rice, this will give extra soft idli.

• Another tip to get dream soft idli is to soak a fist full of poha/aval or sago/javarisi along with rice.

Read More

Tips for Cutting & Peeling / ముక్కలు కట్ చేయటం, వలుచుకోవటం

Tips for Cutting and Peeling :

Wash vegetables before peeling or cutting to preserve the water soluble vitamins.

Peel vegetables as thinly as possible to preserve the minerals and vitamins.

Soak potatoes and eggplant after cutting, to avoid discoloration.

If you boil vegetables in water, do not throw the water, keep it to make gravies.

To avoid browning of apples after cutting, apply a little lemon juice on the cut surface. The apples will stay and look fresh for a longer time.

Keep coriander leaves in a muslin (cheese) cloth bag in the refrigerator. They will remain fresh for a longer time.

Remove the stems of green chilies while storing them .This will help them to stay fresh for long.

After peeling onions cut in half and soak in water for about 10 minutes before cutting to avoid crying.

Soak almonds in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes .The skin will peel off easily.

Chopping vegetables can be done in different ways using a sharp knife and a wooden chopping board. Cutting on a marble slab will blunt your knives.

Remove the outer leaves and husks from the corn (bhutta). Holding the corn upright with the flat end firmly in a board, take a sharp knife and run it down between the kernels and the cob to strip them away.

Wrap the fruits and vegetables in newspaper before refrigerating to keep them fresh for long.

Chopping dry fruits - Freeze them first for one hour & then dip the knife into hot water before cutting them.

Read More

Kitchen Tips / Cooking Tips / कुछ बेहतर कुकिंग टिप्स / వంటింటి చిట్కాలు

• If by mistake you have added more salt in your curry than required, then apply this trick. Make a small ball of flour dough and put it in the curry . Boil curry for 5-7 minutes and remove the ball . This would soak up all the excess salt.

• If you want to make a rich and thick gravy , then add 3-4 tsp of CASHEWNUT PASTE to your curry . It would also enhance the flavors and nutritional properties of the curry.

• To prevent oil from spilling while deep frying , put a small piece of .........'TAMARIND' in the oil.

• Take ‘Water and Vinegar’ in 1:1 ratio (Half & Half) and clean the refrigerator with this solution using a soft cloth/sponge . All the smells and stains will go away instantly.

• While making ginger, garlic or green chilly paste...........add some oil and salt at the time of grinding. This enhances their flavors as well as shelf life.

• To make ‘INSTANT SAMBHAR’…………use the leftover dal/lentil. Add some water, sambhar masala and some boiled vegetables if you have in your refrigerator. Temper it and serve hot.

• While making 'Sugar Syrup'......put 2-3 drops of 'Lemon Juice'. Syrup won't crystallize.

• For INSTANT TOMATO PUREE .....pressure cook tomatoes with little salt, cool, grind in a mixer and strain the juice. Deep freeze this juice in an ice tray. Store these tomato juice ice cubes in freezer and use them to make soup, gravies whenever you are falling short of time or have run out of tomatoes.

• To remove the skin of garlic easily , put the cloves of garlic in hot water for about 10 minutes . Now peel…… and you can see the difference

• Always store spices in air-tight containers and keep them in a cool , dark and dry place . Never keep them over your kitchen gas/stove . Humidity , heat and light will cause the herbs and spices to loose their flavors and aroma

• After boiling noodles , strain away the hot water and immediately put the noodles in ice-cold water for about 5 minutes....and then strain. This helps in avoiding them from sticking together

• If you want to store cut apples , then apply some lemon juice on their peeled/cut surface, wrap with aluminium foil and keep in refrigerator . This helps in avoiding browning and keeps the apples fresh for a longer time

• Put a betel leaf ( Paan ka patta) over leftover idli/dosa batter . This would prevent the batter from becoming sour .

• While boiling eggs, put lots of salt in water. Eggs will not crack.

• To keep green leafy vegetables fresh for a longer time , keep them in an air tight container/packet in refrigerator

• Putting 3-6 cloves ( Laung) in your sugar container will keep the ants away.

• To remove the skin of almonds easily , soak them in hot water for 30 min.

Read More