Cooking Tips

• While soaking the rice and urad dal for idlis and dosas, wash everything thoroughly before soaking. And use this soaked water later, while grinding it. If you washed the rice and dal after soaking you will lose most of the vitamins.
• Excess salt in any dish can be brought down by adding diced potatoes, tomatoes or a teaspoon of sugar.
• While you are making vadas, if the batter is watery,  you have to face the problem of oil splattering while frying. Then add a tablespoon of ghee to the batter to solve this problem.
• For thicken any gravy or soup add corn flour to it. It is an excellent thickening agent. Its remember to mix it in certain water before adding, to avoid lumps.

• While making any pasta add salt to the boiling water in which you are cooking. That will be the only chance you get to salt it. Add the salt after boiling. If you add it before, it will take a longer time to boil.
• To avoid sticky rice, soak the washed rice in water for at least ten minutes before cooking. Add a teaspoon of oil can get the separate the grains of cooked rice.
• While make any deep fried dish, if the hot oil starts foaming and rises in the pan, add a small piece of tamarind to the oil. This will prevent foaming and spill over.
• If you want to have soft idlis, do not beat the batter before pouring idlis. The air bubble sin the batter helps you to get soft idlis. Beating the batter removes these air bubbles.
• Put the chill onion in the refrigerator before making it pieces to avoid tears. Another way to avoid tears is to soak peeled onion in water before making it pieces.

• To get crisp, golden dosas add a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds to the urad dal and grind it.
• Add a pinch of sugar while cooking any green leaf vegetables. This will help maintain the bright green color.
• For maintaining the bright color of any vegetable, don't forget to put it in ice cold water as soon as you blanch them.
• To keep apples from turning brown, add a little citrus juice like lemon or orange and toss apples in it.
• pinch of turmeric powder added to all kinds of dal while cooking hastens the cooking process.
• Remove the stems from chilies before storing them. This will keep them fresher for a long time.
• It is better to use round dishes in the microwave oven rather than square or rectangular dishes as round dishes spread heat faster.