- Use frying pans with copper
bottoms. They save fuel and are very easy to wash and clean.
- When you have to cook pulses like 'chana' etc. and forgotten to
soak them overnight, don't panic. Just put the 'chana' in a flask
full of boiling water for an hour. They are ready for cooking.
- Add two to three pieces of potato to curry to absorb excess salt.
- Peel a beetroot and cut into tiny pieces. Dry well in the sun and
powder it. This can now be used as food colour.
- Store green peas for summer. Tie the shelled peas in a cloth and
dip in boiling water for three minutes. Then dip in chilled water.
Dry under the fan till extra moisture is removed and then pack into
airtight jars or sealed packets. Freeze and use later.
- Always tie peppercorns or whole cloves in a small square of
cheesecloth before cooking. You will want to remove them after cooking
and it's such a job to locate them one by one. Nor is it pleasant to
bite into peppercorn or clove unexpectedly. The same holds true for
bay leaves, garlic and other large or whole seasonings.
- Reheat leftover baked potatoes instead of discarding them. Dip the
potatoes into warm water, then bake them in a 250 deg oven until they
are heated throughout.
- For a colorful garnish that is simple to make, cut peeled lemons
into 1/4 - inch thick slices, making sure to remove all the white
pith. Discard the seeds. Roll half the edge of each slice in
finely-minced parsley, the other half in paprika.
- Help keep cauliflower white while it cooks. Add a little milk to the
water in which the cauliflower is cooked.
- When you cook cauliflower, cabbage and the like, eliminate at least
some of the odor by putting a piece of bread in the pot while the
vegetable is cooking.
- Cooking rice won't boil over if a small lump of butter is added to
the pot.
- Restore wilted salad greens by dipping them first in hot water, then
in ice water that has a little vinegar added to it. Shake off the
water and store the greens in the refrigerator as usual.
- Get more juice from citrus fruits by heating the lemons, oranges or
grapefruit in the oven for just a few minutes before extracting the
juice.
- To keep green salads fresh for a longer time, sprinkle the greens
with the juice of a lemon or a lime.
- Cut potato-baking time in half by boiling the potatoes for about ten
minutes before baking them in a hot oven for approximately one-half
hour.
- A rule of thumb for cooking vegetables covered or uncovered: in
general, vegetables that grow underground should be cooked covered;
those that grow above the ground should be cooked uncovered.
- Make a "blender soup" every time you clean out the
refrigerator. Use up bits of cooked vegetables, sauces and such; whirl
them in a blender and taste. The pureed vegetables will thicken soup,
or if the soup is too thick, more broth or stock will thin it. With
compatible leftovers - spiked with a little imagination, of course -
you can come up with some delectable hot or cold soups.
- For perfect boiled rice every time, cook the rice in plenty of
boiling, salted water for 13 to 14 minutes and then rinse the rice under
hot water.
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Ingredients :
- Rice - 1cup
- Bengal gram dal - 1/4cup
- Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
- Thick Tamarind pulp - 1/2cup
- Curry leaves - 12
- Urad Dal (Black gram dal)- 2tsp
- Mustard - 1/2tsp
- Cashew
nuts
- 1tbs
- Split Red chillies - 2nos
- Split Green chillies - 2nos
- Asafeotida - a pinch
- Ginger - 1 piece
- Sesame seed powder - 4tbs
- Oil - 4tbs
- Salt -to taste
Method of Preparation :
Wash the rice and dal and cook it
together with enough water (don't overcook). Spread the rice into a
vessel and sprinkle turmeric powder, 2tbs oil, salt, tamarind pulp and
7-8 curry leaves.
Heat oil in a deep
frying
pan and add urad dal, mustard seeds and cashew nuts. When
the seeds begin to crackle, add ginger, red chillies, green chillies,
asafeotida and the remaining curry leaves. Fry for a while, remove from
fire and add it to the rice. Sprinkle sesame powder, mix thoroughly and
cover with a lid for an hour. Serve with seasoned yogurt.
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Ingredients :
- Refined flour (maida) - 150gms
- Melted Ghee - 1tsp
For the filling
- Grated dry coconut - 1cup
- Powdered Jaggery or sugar - 75gms
- Powdered Cardamoms
- 8 to 10nos
- Khus khus (Poppy
seeds) - 1tsp
- Roasted and crushed cashew nuts
- 25gm
- Roasted and crushed groundnuts -
2tbs
- Raisins - 10gm
- Oil - to fry
Method of Preparation :
Sieve the flour, pour melted ghee and
knead to a smooth dough by adding enough water. Cover and leave it for
an hour. Mix all the ingredients for filling.
Make small lime size balls from the
dough. Roll them into thin pooris. Place 11/2
tsp of the prepared filling on one side of the poori and fold the other
side over and press the ends together firmly. Make sure that the edge is
closed firmly or the contents may spill off while frying.
Heat oil and fry kajjikayalu two or
three at a time till golden brown. Store in an air tight container. It
may last for a couple
of weeks.
Note
: Almonds, dates,
walnuts etc can be used for the filling.
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Ingredients
- 1 kg: Meat
- 750 gm: Semi cooked rice
- Sautéed brown onions to taste
- 1 tbsp: Ginger garlic paste
- 1 tbsp: Red chilli paste
- 1 tbsp: Green chilli paste
- ½ tbsp: Cardamom powder
- 3-4 sticks:
- Cinnamon
- 1 tbsp: Cumin seeds
- 4 no: Cloves
- 2 tbsp: Lemon juice
- 250 gm: Curd
- 4 tbsp: Clarified butter
- A pinch: Mace
- Mint leaves to taste
- 1 tsp: Saffron
- ½ cup: Water
- 1 tbsp: Salt
- ½ cup: Oil
Method
- Clean the meat.
- Now in a pan add meat, salt, ginger garlic paste, red chilli
powder, green chilli paste, sautéed brown onions, cardamom
powder, cinnamon, cumin seeds, cloves, mace, mint leaves and lemon
juice. Mix it well.
- Add curd, clarified butter, semi cooked rice, saffron, water and
oil and mix it well.
- Now apply sticky dough on the sides of the pan.
- Cover with lid to seal it and cook for about 25 minutes.
- Hyderabadi Biryani is ready to eat.
- Garnish with boiled eggs, sliced carrot and cucumber.
- Serve hot.
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Ingredients
- 11/2 cup: Whole Wheat Flour (Atta)
- 50 gm: Maida
- ½ tsp: Baking powder
- 2 tbsp: Oil
- Water to knead
Method
- Mix wheat flour, maida, salt and baking powder and sieve them
together.
- Pour oil in the flour and add water bit by bit and make a smooth
and elastic dough and set aside covered with moist muslin cloth
for 1/2 an hour.
- Now make small balls of the dough and roll like a thin chapati
of about 12" diameter circle using little dry flour (it
should be thin as a tissue).
- Heat an inverted griddle (tawa).
- Place the roti carefully over it and cook till done.
- Fold it like a handkerchief.
- Serve hot with hot vegetables.
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Ingredients :
- Tamarind - 1 lemon sized
- Water - 3-4cups
- Turmeric powder - a pinch
- Split green chillies - 2nos
- Curry leaves - 1sprig
- Chopped Coriander leaves
- Salt to taste
- Sugar - a pinch
For seasoning :
- Oil - 2 tsp
- Mustard seeds - 1/4
tsp
-
Fenugreek
seeds - 1/4
tsp
- Cumin seeds - 1/4
tsp
- Broken red chillies - 2nos
- Asafetida - a pinch
- Curry leaves - few
For Rasam
Masala
(Charu podi)
- Black pepper - 1tsp
- Coriander seeds- 3tsp
- Cumin seeds- 2tsp
- Red chillies - 3nos
- Red gram dal - 2tbs
Method of Preparation :
Slightly roast all the ingredients for
rasam masala and grind to a fine powder. Store this masala in an air
tight container.
Heat oil in a pan and season mustard
seeds. When they splutter, add all the other ingredients for seasoning
and fry for a few minutes.
Add tamarind dissolved in water,
chopped green chillies, turmeric powder, salt to taste, sugar and 1tsp
of rasam powder. Bring to a boil, add coriander leaves and curry leaves.
Remove from fire after few seconds.
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