MEASUREMENTS:
- Rosy aunty: Approximate measurements when cooking.
1 cup = 240 ml water
1 cup = 200 gms dosa rice
1 tsp = 5 grams
3 tsp = 1 tbsp
1 tbsp = 15 grams - Delon: If you are making pulao, for one cup rice, add 2 cups of stock or water.
- Rosy aunty: To prepare coconut milk, you can either use fresh shredded coconut or coconut milk powder If you are using fresh coconut to prepare coconut milk
- Thick coconut milk: Take 1/2 shredded coconut and grind with 1/2 cup of warm water and strain it into a bowl covered with muslin cloth and squeeze it
- Thin coconut milk: Transfer the ground coconut back into the grinder and add required amount of water and repeat the process
- Thick coconut milk: Take 1/2 cup of warm water and dissolve 3 tbsp of coconut milk powder in it
- Thin coconut milk: To prepare thin coconut milk take 3 tbsp of coconut milk powder and dissolve it in a cup of warm water
- If you are using coconut milk powder to prepare thick coconut milk
COOKING TIME:
- Rosy aunty: Potatoes tend to cook further in hot curry so cook till tender, turn off the heat and keep the vessel covered.
- Delon: In general, cook on slow fire and increase heat if needed. When frying fish, cook on slow fire.
- Chrysl: Save gas when cooking meat in a pressure cooker:
Beef or Mutton: After 1-2 whistles, cook on low flame for 30 to 45 minutes, wait for 1 or 2 more whistles and turn the gas off. Open the cooker and check; if the meat is still a bit raw/tough, cook for 5-10 minutes more.
Pork: After 1 whistle, cook on low flame for 15 minutes, wait for 1 more whistle and turn the gas off. Open the cooker and check; if the meat is still a bit raw, cook for 5 minutes more. - Rosy aunty: For quick cooking of onions, add a pinch of salt.
- Oreen: Keep hot water ready in a kettle when you start cooking. Use only hot water during the cooking process.
- Maizy Aunty: To cook beetroot, pressure cook for 4 whistles. If needed, pressure cook for 1 more whistle.
ADJUSTING TASTE, TEXTURE AND SPICE LEVELS:
- Delon: If a curry is too spicy, add a dollop of tomato paste to balance the spice.
- Aunty Yvonne: To make curries thicker or for a nice color, add tomato paste.
- Ivan Uncle: When you have to adjust spice levels in a curry, take a little curry in a bowl. Add the powders to the bowl and mix well. Then add this mixture back in to the curry.
- Delon: When cooking, always go slow on water. Veggies, frozen food and meat have water so let the water come out and adjust accordingly.
- Rosy aunty: If you are not using red chillies, then you can increase the number of green chillies according to your spice level.
- Cellu: Always roast methi/fenugreek seeds before grinding if you don't want it to be bitter.
- Maizy aunty: When making dosas, if you grind raw rice without coconut or cooked rice, the batter becomes a bit dry. Adding cooked rice when grinding makes the batter soft.
- Athena: When straining rice after cooking, run it under cold water to stop the cooking and enjoy individual grains of cooked rice.
- Maizy aunty: When frying panpales, use a new pan to avoid using oil. The panpale still slides off the pan.
- Sheru: Meatballs are tastiest when fried and then added to the curry. Alternatively, you can fry meatballs in an air fryer or boil them with the curry.
- Marina: Boil meat and vegetables in thin coconut milk for additional taste.
- Alice Pereira Mai: You can remove the pork fat when cooking pork and keep it aside. Store in an airtight container and use this fat to fry sardines.
- Ullabai: When making vorn/payasam/kheer, let the dal cook fully to the desired softness first. Once you add jaggery, it stops the cooking process.
GENERAL HACKS:
- Dimple: To avoid watery eyes when cutting onions, place the whole onion in the fridge about 30 minutes before you cut it.
- Shawn: To avoid tupperware from getting stained, line the container with parchment paper before transferring dry, semi dry or fried food.
- Jean: To extend freshness, store curry leaves, peeled garlic, green chilies and sliced ginger in Ziploc bags in the freezer.
Got a cooking hack that you never skip? Let us know in the comments below.