Kitchen Tips

It was in the past olden days, where women use to spend loads of time in kitchen. But in todays modern days, the most expensive commodity is "Time". Yound women today are totally nonplused and do not have patience to learn through advice or trial and error method. So those who are new to kitchen, and dont have time to spend much time in kitchen, has to surely need some handy tips to know to save time and efforts.

There where days, where i was very much new to the kitchen. As a newly married bride, i came to UK leaving back my parents and relations. It was a tough time for me to go and cook something for my hubby. So many errors and wastage. I was totally clueless about running the house. In my endeavour to become a perfect cook and a homemaker, i really spend lot of time in getting tips my my mom, grandmother, friends, and going thro so many books. Here are the few tips which i learnt from my mom, grandmothers, friends and relatives, and also few whom i come arcoss. Hope these tips would be useful for someone like me.

KITCHEN TIPS JUST FOR YOU

Cooking Tips :

* Add 1 or 2 pieces of betel nuts are excellent meat tenderizer.

* To maintain the original colour of spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, keep them in ice-cold water just after boiling them.

*To prepare vegetable biriyani with meaty flavour, add little of lemon grass while cooking it.

Cleaning Tips :

* To remove stubbirn stains from utensils, soak them in water with little bleach. Leave them overnight and wash next day.

* To clean the microwave, sprinkle some baking soda on a damp cloth and wipe off the stains. This way you can clean the microwave without making any scratching.

Spicy Fish Fry ( Meen Varuval) - Fish pieces marinated in fresh ground spices and deep fried

Spicy fish fry (meen varuval) is a fish marinated with a blend of unique southern spices. It can either be deep fried or pan fried ( pan fried used little less oil comparing to deep fried)

INGREDIENTS:

*Fish (Sea bass) - 1/2 Kg
*Ginger & Garlic Paste - 3-4
*SpoonSalt - As per taste
*Chilly powder - 1 and 1/2 spoon
*Turmeric powder - 1/4 spoon
*Rice flour - 4-5 spoon
*Corn flour - 3-4 spoon
*food colouring (red) - 1/4 spoon
*Oil - To fry the Fish
*Lemon wedges for garnishing

PREPARATION :

* Cut the fish into small thin slices.
* Now take a bowl and add all the above mentioned item together and make it into thick paste using water( you can even use yogurt instead of water).
* Now apply the paste evenly on each onto each and every slice and spread it on a plate.
* Keep it in fridge for 1/2 hr.
* Then heat oil in a pan and add the fish and fry it...... Enjoy!!!

Spinach - Lets Know

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is a flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant (rarely biennial), which grows to a height of up to 30 cm. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions. The leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to triangular-based, very variable in size from about 2-30 cm long and 1-15 cm broad, with larger leaves at the base of the plant and small leaves higher on the flowering stem. The flowers are inconspicuous, yellow-green, 3-4 mm diameter, maturing into a small hard dry lumpy fruit cluster 5-10 mm across containing several seeds.

Nutrition :
Iron:
Spinach is known as a rich source of iron and calcium. According to the United State ofDepartment of Agriculture, a 180 gram serving of boiled spinach contains 6.43 mg of iron, whereas one 6 oz. (170 gram) ground hamburger patty contains at most 4.42 mg. Thus spinach does contain a relatively high level of iron, compared to other vegetable and meat sources.
The iron in spinach is poorly absorbed by the body unless eaten with calcium.

Calcium:
Spinach also has a high calcium content.

Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium, and vitamin B6. It is a very good source of dietary fiber, copper, protein, phosphorus, zinc and vitamin E. In addition, it is a good source of omega-3 and fatty acids.

Chilly Paneer

Basic preparation of Paneer :

*At first slice the paneer into smaller cubes.
*Then fry it in the oil till it gets golden brown.
*Then if u want the paneer to be soft ( Because few people like it in that way) then add the fried paneer into boiled water and soak it for 10 - 15 mins.
*If you like it bit harder then you can use the fried paneer directly, without soaking them in boiled water.


Ingredients :

* Paneer - ½ kg
* Onions - 1 (slice lengthwise)
* Green chilly - 5 (sliced lengthwise)
* Ginger & Garlic - Small piece.( Sliced into very small pieces)
* Vinegar - 3 tsp
* Cornflour - ½ tsp (mix it with water to make it paste)
* Ajinomoto - ½ tsp
* Soya Sauce - ¼ tsp
* Cooking oil - 6 spoons
* Salt - To taste
* Food colouring - red or orange(Optional)

Preparation :

* Heat oil in an iron vessel.
* Add ginger & garlic pieces(chopped very finely) and fry well.
* Add Green chilly and fry for just 30 seconds.
* Add onions and fry till golden brown.
* Now add ½ cup water and also the vinegar and boil for 20 seconds.
* Add the corn flour paste and when the mixture thickens add salt, ajinomoto, soya sauce, food colouring and boil for few mins.
* Finally add the Paneer to the mixture and boil it for about 2-3 mins.

Garnish and serve hot.

Mutton Biryani

Mutton biryani is such a tasty dish, and almost every one's loves it. They are usually served with raita and brinjal curry.So.... here is the recipe.......

Ingredients :

* Mutton - ½ kg (chopped)

* Onion - 2 (chopped finely)

* Tomato - 3-4 chopped

* Green chilly - 2 (chopped length wise)

* Ginger & Garlic Paste - 3 tsp

* Turmeric Powder - ½ tsp

* Chilly powder - 2 tsp

* Daniya(Coriander) Powder - 3 tsp

* Salt - To taste

* Garam Masala - 1 tsp

* Basmathi Rice - 2 Tumbler

* Cardamons - 3

* Cloves - 3

* Bay leaves - 2

* Cinnamon Stick - 2 pieces

* Oil - 6-7 spoons

* Ghee - 2 spoons

* Mint leaves - little (cleaned and chopped)

* Coriander leaves - little (cleaned and chopped)

Preparation :

Mutton has to be pressure cookered ( Because it is hard compared to chicken, so cannot be added as chicken directly). In UK, mutton is really hard, so it has to be pressure cooked atleast for 9 -11 whistle. well........ now put the cleaned mutton in the pressure cooker, then add little chilly, powder, turmeric powder, ginger & garlic paste and mix everything well by adding enough water and pressure cooker it.

* Take a heavy bottomed vessel or even pressure cooked will be good.

* Heat the vessel, add Ghee and oil to it. Now add the cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamans and bay leaves.

* Then add the chopped onion and fry till golden brown.

* Add green chilly and fry for some times.

* Now add the chopped tomato and fry well ( tomato has to be fried very well)

* Then add the Ginger and Garlic Paste and fry well.

* Now add the cooked mutton and stir well. Add turmeric powder, chilly powder, Dhaniya powder, little of chopped mint and coriander leaves and stir well.

* Now add water in 1: 2 ratio (i.e – if two tumbler rice, add 4 tumbler of water)

* Let the water boil. When it is boiling well add the basmathi rice and salt. Stir well.

* Keep the lid closed. If you are doing in pressure cooker , then don’t put the wait for the lid.

* Open now-and-then, and keep stiring.

* When rice is semi- cooked add the garam masala and rest of the mint and coriander leaves and close the lid.

* When the rice is cooked, close the lid and put on the wait and switch off the stove immediately.

( If you are cooking in some other heavy bottomed vessel, keep the vessel closed with suitable
lid and keep another vessel filled with cold water over the plate. )

Garnish snd Serve hot………

Deep fried Chicken

Well, this is the most fav and popular dish among my friends. Because its so easy to prepare and very tasty too. If suddenly guests or friends arrive home.......dont panic....here is the dish which can be prepared so quickly. It can be a good starter at meal time or a snack for tea time.

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken (boneless) - 1/2 Kg
Ginger & Garlic Paste - 3-4
SpoonSalt - As per taste
Chilly powder - 1 and 1/2 spoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 spoon
Rice flour - 4-5 spoon
Corn flour - 3-4 spoon
food colouring (red) - 1/4 spoon
Oil - To fry the chicken

PREPARATION :

* Cut the chicken into small cubes.

* Now add all the above mentioned item to the chicken and mix well, sprinkling some water.

* Keep it in fridge for 1/2 hr.

* Then heat oil in a pan and add the chicken and fry it.

Try this out and let me know how it came.... Hope you enjoy the taste.

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