- Almonds: To remove the skin of almonds easily,
soak them in hot water for 15-20 minutes.
- Ants: Putting 3-4 cloves in the sugar container
will keep the ants at bay.
- Biscuits: If you keep a piece of blotting paper
at the bottom of the container, it will keep biscuits fresh for
a longer time.
- Butter: Avoid the use of butter. If it is essential
to use, use a butter containing low saturated fat or with plant
stanols (which avoid absorption of cholesterol by our body) or
similar substitutes.
- Apples: Apply some lemon juice on the cut surface
of the apple to avoid browning. They will look fresh for a longer
time.
- Banana: Apply mashed banana over a burn on
your body to have a cooling effect.
- Bee and Scorpion Sting Relief: Apply a mixutre
of 1 pinch of chewing tobacco and 1 drop of water. Mix and apply
directly and immediately to the sting; cover with bandaid to hold
in place. Pain will go away in just a few short mintues.
- Bitter Gourd (Karela): Slit Karelas at the
middle and apply a mixture of salt, wheat flour and curd all round.
Keep aside for 1/2 an hour and then cook.
- Stuffed Karela Celery: To keep celery fresh for long time, wrap
it in aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator.
- Burnt Food: Place some chopped onion in the
vessel having burnt food, pour boiling water in it, keep for 5
minutes and then clean.
- Chili Powder: Keeping a small piece of hing
(asafoetida) in the same container will store chili powder for
long time.
- Chopping: Use a wooden board to chop. It will
not blunt the knife. Don't use a plastic board, small plastic
pieces may go with the vegetables.
- Coriander/Mint: You can use dried coriander
and mint leaves in coarse powder form in vegetable curry or chutney,
if fresh ones are not available.
To keep them fresh for a longer time, wrap them in a muslin cloth
and keep in a fridge.
- Cockroaches: Put some boric powder in kitchen
in corners and other places. Cockroaches will leave your house.
- Coconut: Immerse coconut in water for 1/2 an
hour to remove its hust.
- Dry Fruits: To chop dry fruits, place them
in fridge for half an hour before cutting. Take the fruits out
and cut them with a hot knife (dip it in hot water before cutting).
- Dough/Rolling pin: If the dough sticks to the
rolling pin, place it in freezer for a few minutes.
- Egg peeling off: Make a small hole in the egg
by piercing a pin before boiling it. You will be able to remove
its skin very easily.
- Egg fresh: Immerse the egg in a pan of cool
salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh; if it rises to the surface,
it is certainly quite old.
- Garlic: Garlic skin comes off easily if the
garlic cloves are slightly warmed before peeling.
- Ghee: Avoid the use of ghee. If it is necessary,
substitute it with canola oil. Even for making halwa, you can
partly substitute it with oil.
- Green Chilies: To keep the chilies fresh for
a longer time, remove the stems before storing.
- Green Peas: To preserve green peas, keep them
in a polythene bag in the freezer.
- Idlies: Place a betel (paan) leaf over the
leftover idli and dosa batter to prevent them sour. Do not beat
idli batter too much, the air which has been incorporated during
fermentation will escape. If you add half a tsp of fenugreek seeds
to the lentil and rice mixture while soaking, dosas will be more
crisp. Idli Sambhar Recipe Sooji Idli Recipe
- Fruits: To ripen fruits, wrap them in newspaper
and put in a warm place for 2-3 days. The ethylene gas they emit
will make them ripe.
- Frying: Avoid deep frying. Substitute deep
frying with stir frying or oven bake. Don't pour the oil, but
make a habit of spraying the oil in the utensil for cooking. Heat
the utensil first, then add oil. This way oil spreads well. You
will use less oil this way.
- Left Overs: Don't throw away the foods left
over. Store them in Fridge. Use them in making tasty dishes.
Moog dal Khakhara
- Lemon/Lime: If the lemon or lime is hard, put
it in warm water for 5-10 minutes to make it easier to squeeze.
- Lizards: Hang a peacock feather, lizards will
leave your house.
- Milk: Moisten the base of the vessel with water
to reduce the chances of milk to stick at the bottom.
Keep a spoon in the vessel while boiling milk at medium heat.
It will avoid sticking the milk at the bottom of the vessel.
Adding half a tsp of sodium bicarbonate in the milk while boiling
will not spoil the milk even if you don't put it in the fridge.
Nutrition Value of Milk
- Mixer/Grinder: Grind some common salt in your
mixer/grinder fro some time every month. This will keep your mixer
blades sharp.
- Mosquitoes: Put a few camphor tablets in a
cup of water and keep it in the bed room near your bed, or in
any place with mosquitoes.
- Noodles: When the noodles are boiled, drain
all the hot water and add cold water. This way all the noodles
will get separated.
- Onions: To avoid crying, cut the onions into
two parts and place them in water for 15 minutes before chopping
them.
Wrap the onions individually in a newspaper and store in a cool
and dark place to keep them fresh for long time.
- Oven: Watch from the oven window to conserve
energy because the oven temperature drops by 25 degrees every
time its door is opened,
- To clean the oven, apply a paste of sodium bicarbonate
and water on the walls and floor of the oven and keep the oven
on low heat for about half an hour. Dried food can easily be removed.
- Paneer: To keep paneer fresh for several days,
wrap it in a blotting paper while storing in the refrigerator.
Do not fry paneer, immerse it in boiling water to make it soft
and spongy.
Homemade Paneer
- Papad: Bake in microwave oven.
Wrap the papads in polythene sheet and place with dal or rice
will prevent them from drying and breaking.
- Pickles: To prevent the growth of fungus in
pickles, burn a small grain of asafoetida over a burning coal
and invert the empty pickle jar for some time before putting pickles
in the jar.
Pickle Recipes
- Popcorn: Keep the maize/corn seeds in the freezer
and pop while still frozen to get better pops.
- Potato: To bake potatoes quickly, place them
in salt water for 15 minutes before baking.
Use the skin of boiled potatoes to wipe mirrors to sparkling clean.
Don't store potatoes and onions together. Potatoes will rot quickly
if stored with onions.
Potato Vegetable Curry
- Refrigerator: To prevent formation of ice,
rub table salt to the insides of your freeze.
- Rice: Add a few drops of lemon juice in the
water before boiling the rice to make rice whiter.
Add a tsp of canola oil in the water before boiling the rice to
separate each grain after cooking.
Don't throw away the rice water after cooking. Use it to make
soup or add it in making dal (lentils).
Add 5g of dried powdered mint leaves to 1kg of rice. It will keep
insects at bay.
Put a small paper packet of boric powder in the container of rice
to keep insects at bay.
Put a few leaves of mint in the container of rice to keep insects
at bay.
Rice Pulao and other recipes.
- Samosa: Bake them instead of deep frying to
make them fat free. Don't fry the filling potato masala.
Preserve the samosas in freezer. For eating, take out of the freezer
two hours in advance and bake them over low temp.
Samosa Recipe
- Sugar: Put 2-3 cloves in the sugar to keep
ants at bay.
- Tadka: Use sprouted mustard seeds (rayee) and
fenugreek (methi) seeds for your tadkas. Both of them when sprouted
have more nutritional values. Also this add flavour to the dish
and can be more beneficial, besides giving decorative look to
the dish. Submitted by MS Itisha Madhav ( itisha_madhav@yahoo.com)
- Tomato: To remove the skin of tomatoes, place
them in warm water for 5-10 minutes. The skin can then be easily
peeled off.
When tomatoes are not available or too costly, substitute with
tomato puree or tomato ketchup/sauce.
Place overripe tomatoes in cold water and add some salt. Overnight
they will become firm and fresh.
- Tamarind: Tamarind is an excellent polish for
brass and copper items. Rub a slab of wet tamarind with some salt
sprinkled on it on the object to be polished.
Gargles with tamarind water is recommended for a sore throat.
- Utensils: Use nonsticking utensils. Use thick
bottom utensils, they get uniformly heated. For electric stoves,
use flat bottom utensils.
Add a little bit of common salt to the washing powder for better
cleaning of utensils.
- Vegetables: Don't discard the water in which
the vegetables are soaked or cooked. Use it in making soup or
gravy.
To keep the vegetables fresh for a longer time, wrap them in newspaper
before putting them in freeze.
Chop the vegetables only when you are ready to use them. Don't
cut them in too advance. It would spoil their food value.
Vegetable Curry Recipes
- Sink (Blocked): To clear the blocked drain
pipe of your kitchen sink, mix 1/2 cup sodium bicarbonate in 1
cup vinegar and pour it into the sink, and pour about 1 cup water.
In an hour the drain pipe will open.
- Soup Salty: Place a raw peeled potato in the
bowl, it will absorb the extra salt.
Soup recipes
- Yoghurt (Home Made): To set yogurt in winter,
place the container in a warm place like oven or over the voltage
stabliser.
- Yogurt: If the yogurt has become sour, put
it in a muslin cloth and drain all the water. Then add milk to
make it as good as fresh in taste. Use the drained water in making
tasty gravy for vegetables or for basen curry.
To keep the yogurt fresh for many days, fill the vessel containing
yogurt with water to the brim and refrigerate. Change the water
daily.
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