KITCHEN HACKS

Cooking is an expertise you gain overtime. Cooking disasters can be big mood-spoilers, especially if you are new to cooking. Not all cooking errors are that bad, some of them are redeemable too. Our ancestors have left us a treasure of secrets that can help save cooking disasters, and make cooking easier, quicker and a fun ride.

1. To manage extra salt: You can add a couple of spoons of milk or yogurt to neutralise the effect of extra salt. Or you can add a cube of raw potato into the dish. The starch present in potato absorbs the excess salt and helps neutralise the dish.
2. For softer parathas: While kneading the dough, add a teaspoon or two of milk. This would make your parathas soft, stretchy and delectable.
3. For puffy and less oily pooris: Keep the flattened pooris in fridge for about 10 minutes before frying them. Now you would see them rise up in no time in hot oil, and they don't even take so much of oil to cook. 
4. To neutralise a spicy dish: Adding cream, yogurt or milk into the dish, helps to neutralise the hot quotient of the dish and makes it more palatable. Chillies contain capsaicin, which makes them so pungent and hot. Milk, on the other hand,  contains casein, the compound that bonds with capsaicin and helps mellow down the spiciness of the dish.
5. Cutting onions: Soak your onions in water for about half an hour before you start cutting them. You could alòso freeze the onions 10-15 minutes before cutting them; this reduces the release of acid enzymes into air, enabling you to cut them with much ease.
6. Make a mixture of vinegar with baking soda into toothpaste like consistency. Apply it on the surface you want to clean and leave it to dry for 12-24 hours. Then, wipe it off with a damp cloth to remove any stain.
7. Remove mint, coriander and curry leaves from the stem and store it in an airtight container in fridge so that it lasts longer.
8. To absorb odour from refrigerator or from waste bin, put used tea bag in it.
9. Remove bananas from bunch and cover the end of the banana with plastic wrap to extend its life by a week.
10. Microwave lemon for 10-20 seconds to get more juice out of it easily.
11. Unsure whether the egg is fresh? Put it in a bowl of water. If it sinks, it is fresh and lies on its side. If it is a little old, it will sink, but stand upright. If it floats, it’s better to throw it in the trash.
12. If you don’t want your re-heated pizza to go dry, place a cup of water along in the oven while reheating.
13. Avoid milk or any other liquid put on stove for boiling from spilling by placing it on a low flame and keeping a ladle on top of the vessel.
14. Add a pinch of salt to caramelize onion quickly.
15. Sharpen your mixer blades by grinding some salt in it.
16. Place papad in an airtight container and store it in fridge to extend its life.
17. Rub salt to the insides of the freezer to prevent ice formation.
18. Polish brass and copper items using tamarind for excellent shine.
19. To extend self life and prevent rotting, keep shallots (small onion) in fridge in paper bag.
20. Add some milk to the chapatti/paratha dough while kneading. Also, cook chapathis on high flame to ensure they remain soft for long.
21. Don’t throw away squeezed lime. Wipe the kitchen sink with the used lime to clean it and remove any odour.
22. Peel ginger easily using a spoon instead of a knife.
23. Use eggshell to scoop out any small piece of eggshell that has fallen into a bowl or frying pan. Eggshells acts as a magnet to draw the smaller pieces fallen into the bowl.
24. Reduce the heat in chilly by removing the seeds.
25. Grind a handful of shallots and add it in to Dosa batter for tastier Dosas.
26. To peel off shallots easily, put it in boiling water for 5-10 minutes. The peel will slide off easily.
27. Keep sliced potatos white by putting them in a bowl of cold water.
28. Soak vegetables in water added with baking soda to remove dirt and pesticides.
29. For small burns, apply toothpaste for quick healing.
30. Ripen bananas quickly by storing it in a paper bag.
31. Peel the skin off potatoes easily by boiling it and then putting it in an ice bath.
32. Remove eggshell from boiled egg easily by adding a pinch of baking soda or vinegar into the water while boiling.
33. In order to prevent rust formation on your cast-iron utensils, apply a coat of oil on it.
34. In order to peel off garlic flakes easily, chop the top and bottom end of the clove and microwave for 10-20 seconds.
35. To clean lime scales built in electric kettle, pour equal quantity of vinegar and water in to the kettle and leave it overnight. Throw away the water and lightly scrub it to have glimmering kettles.
36. Scrub cutting board with salt and apply lime to clean it and remove any odour.
37. Soften butter quickly by placing an inverted warm cup on top of the butter. You can warm the cup by microwaving it or running it under hot water.
38. At a party, serve ice cream quickly and easily by cutting it with knife rather than scooping it. Use this tip only if you have to serve more than 6-8 persons. For serving a smaller group, you will be better off by running the scooping spoon in warm water and using it to scoop the ice cream.
39. Use dental floss to cut cake, cheese and other soft solids.
40. Check if the baking soda is still good to use by mixing a tsp. of it in hot water. If it still bubbles, the baking soda is good to use. Or else, replace it with a new one.
41. Peel kiwi easily using a spoon.
42. Bring life back to stale bread kept in the fridge by steaming it for 30 seconds.
43. Hang sponges/ scrubs dry using cloth clips to reduce bacteria and other germ formation on it.
44. While caramelizing onion, if its goes too brown, put an ice cube in it. The water will evaporate quickly and the onions will not caramelize further.
45. Peel hard-boiled eggs in a batch by shaking them inside a plastic container with lid. It might not look pretty, but the job will be done in a flash.
46. In order to warm a plate of food uniformly in a microwave oven, place the food in doughnut shape without anything in the center.
47. Save fresh herbs for use later by freezing it in water or olive oil in an ice tray.
48. Clean cast iron cookware with salt to remove stuck-on bits of food.
49. Remove food odour from your hands by rubbing then with lemon juice, baking soda or use a stainless steel soap. The stainless steel molecules are found to bind with the odour causing molecules such as sulphur from garlic quickly.

Try these simple tricks and let us know how they help transform your experience in the kitchen.