Cooking Tips

10 Useful Cooking Tips For Working Women

These days more and more women have started working. There used to be days when the parents or in laws of working women come to stay and help them. Nowadays many people stay abroad or in far away places for their jobs and get little help from their parents. While still others do not get any help due to various other reasons. I have given a list of recipe that you can prepare within 15-30 minutes. It is perfect for weekdays in the mornings as well as tired evenings.

Here I would like to share a few tips to make your busy weekdays little relaxed. I am from a family full of working ladies. Each of them have their own tricks to make life easier. I would like to share a few of them here for all the youngsters who are trying to balance between family and career.

=>> Plan... Prepare...

You have to mentally plan for the week during the weekend. This is very important in doing some preparatory work and also buying some ingredients required. It also saves a lot of time during week days.

=>> Batter in Bulk...

I like to grind a batch of idli/dosa batter and appam batter during the weekends. You can quickly make idlis, dosas, appam, Kuzhipaniyaram and uttapam  for breakfast, dinner or evening snacks. You can also mix in some ragi flour, oats or some chopped vegetables to make healthy alternatives.

=>> Atta Dough...

You can also make a big batch of chapati/ puri dough and keep it in refrigerator. During week days all you have to do is remove a portion of the dough,  thaw it and make rotis or pooris. You can thaw instantly by microwaving for 10 seconds.

=>> Bread...

Having a packet of bread always comes in handy to make a quick sandwich, bread omelette or french toast.

=>> Condiments comes in handy...

I also like to have some pickles, powders like idli podi, curry leaf powder on hand all the time. I also like to prepare yogurt  and some chutney like tomato chutney or green chutney in the fridge during weekends. They can be used as a side dish for idli, dosa, chapattis etc. They can also be used to make sandwiches, chaats etc.

=>> Instant cooking products...

It is helpful to have instant products like noodles, instant oats, instant sevai, poha etc. I usually like to make noodles and serve with omelette or make egg noodles. With oats any fruits can be added to make it very healthy and filling. Other instant products can also be prepared according to the given instructions.

=>> Grated Coconut...

For south Indians coconut is part of many dishes. It is helpful to grate coconut and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

=>> Onion-Tomato masala...

For north Indians, onion-tomato masala is part of many side dishes. You can prepare a big batch of the masala and refrigerate. Whenever needed, take a few spoons of masala and mix in with cooked vegetables to make instant sabzis.

=>> Ginger-Garlic paste...

I like to always have some ginger garlic paste in the refrigerator, Also it is handy to peel garlic, small onions and refrigerate. Curry leaves and coriander leaves can be washed, dried and kept ready to use to save time.

=>> Clean and marinate Non-Veg...

For non-vegetarian eaters, it is always helpful to have eggs, fish and some meat in the fridge. I usually buy meat and fish in bulk and clean it during week ends. Make small packs according to your portion size, add some spices according to your taste and freeze it. When needed just thaw one pack and fry it or cook it in no time. 

Follow these tips and try to balance your professional and personal life.

Top 10 Cooking Tips For Desi Recipes

When frying, the oil should be in the correct temperature. If its too hot, the outside will get browned up too quickly before the inside gets cooked. If its not hot enough, the fried food will absorb too much oil before getting cooked.

To make crispier puris, add a little rava to the wheat flour while kneading.

To make crispier bajjis add a little corn flour to the gram flour to make bajji batter.

Use a deep vessel to fry chicken to avoid the splashing of oil and juices all around the place.

To knead chapattis, add 1/3 cup of warm water for 1 cup of flour approximately. To make softer chapattis, add warm milk or curd while kneading.

Use heavy bottomed vessel to make upma, kheer etc to prevent burning. 

Toasting nuts, rice, rava and dal before cooking with it increases its flavors considerably.

Adding few drops of oil to the rice before cooking it will prevent it from becoming sticky.

Do not wash the mushrooms with water. Clean it with a damp cloth. Add salt to the mushroom only after it has browned.

Similarly adding salt to the chicken also slows up the browning.

Top 10 General Cooking Tips:

To peel the skin of almonds, tomatoes or peaches, simply soak in boiling water for 5-10 minutes. The skin can be easily removed.

To remove the corn from its cub, hold it straight with one end on the bottom of a big vessel. Then strip the corn with a knife. This will prevent messing up of the entire place.

When cutting raw banana, potatoes or eggplant, soak it in water to avoid discoloration. Similarly, to prevent apples, bananas or peaches from browning, add lemon juice.

Use the excess dal water from boiling dal to make rasam.

While adding curd to gravies or biryani, break it nicely before adding.

While boiling milk, a little water can be added to the vessel before adding the milk to avoid the milk from sticking to the bottom.

Store nuts in the refrigerator to increase their shelf life.

To separate each string of noodles or any thin pasta, run it under cold water immediately after boiling and draining the water.

Curd in winter - Set in a ceramic container and place it on the voltage stabilizer of your refrigerator. 

To cut meat easily, freeze it for some time before cutting.

Top 10 Quick Fix Tips (Busy Day Fast Cooking Tips) :

Tomato paste or sauce can be used instead of fresh tomatoes. This saves a lot of chopping time.

Soak chik peas in boiling water. In this way only 1-2 hours of soaking in needed.

Make ginger garlic paste in bulk and put it in the fridge.

Similarly, make green chilly paste and keep in the fridge. This saves a lot of cooking time.

While chopping vegetables, chop in a bulk, use what is needed and put the remaining in the fridge for later use. Chopping a vegetable at a stretch saves a lot of time.

Have lots of peeled garlic in an air tight box in the refrigerator.

Grate a whole coconut at a time and refrigerate it so it can be used easily whenever needed.

Fry grated coconut in bulk with curry leaves and store it in the fridge. This can be used easily whenever gravies have to be made.

Whenever you boil potatoes or cauliflower make some extra and put it in the fridge. This can be used to make stuffed parathas, cutlets etc.

Use the microwave to saute onions, tomatoes and to cook up the vegetables.

Top 5 Healthy Cooking Tips:

Do not wash the vegetables after peeling or chopping. This will wash out all the water soluble vitamins.

Whenever vegetables or dal is cooked in water, many nutrients are left back in the water. So do not throw it away. Instead use it when making some gravies or soups.

Potatoes have their nutrients in their skin. So try using potatoes without peeling it.

Eat fruits like apples along with its skin.

Tamarind can be substituted with raw mango powder.

Useful Refrigeration tips:

Keep coriander leaves in a air tight plastic box in the refrigerator to keep them fresh for a long time.

Remove the stem of the chilly while storing them whole. Another method is to make chilly paste and store it for a long time.

To store fish longer and fresher, clean it, apply turmeric and salt and put it in the freezer.