Ingredients:
- Generally we make KOLAMS in our houses on function days with wet rice dough. For each and every function we need them and it will be difficult to make it in small quantities.
- Every time we will throw the balance dough. To avoid that, after using the dough, pour it in a plate and keep as it is. Or keep it in the sun light.
Method:
- That will become dry. Make powder by crushing it and keep it in a bottle. When ever you want to make KOLAMS, JUST PUT THIS IN WATER AND MAKE FRESH WHITE DOUGH KOLAM.
- To make it more white and to keep the KOLAM for a long time add some Maida flour with that and mix well.
- Generally I use this for KRISHNA JAYANTHI, to put Kutti Krishnas feet :)
Notes:
- Generally if you prepare kolam mavu like this at the time of aadi month, it will be easy to put kolam because aadi month marks the starting of the season of festivals.
Ingredients:
- To cut Cabbage fast, grate it with, which we use to make Alu chips. (WHO ARE NOT HAVING FOOD PROCESSOR)
- To make Carrot kuttu, cook full Carrots in the cooker, and then cut. It will be easier to cut and quickly we can cut them.
Method:
- For Beet root, dont peel the skin by using the peeler. Just cook as it is in the cooker and then remove the skin like Alu. This will save time and we can use the full Beetroot. Now cut easily the cooked Beetroot or grate it as per your requirement.
- To cut Green Chilies use scissors. Because after cutting green chilies many people feel like burning. To avoid it cut by scissors.
- Cut Tomato into two horizontally to remove seeds easily. see the photo.
Ingredients:
- Apple:
- There is to be a belief that darker the colour better is the taste.
- Banana:
- Do u want it to eat in a day...make sure its pale yellow in color.
- If you want to have it after couple of days, buy greenish yellow. One more tip, if you take banana, if it fall from the bunch, that is ripped one.
Method:
- Permogranate and Guava
- The harder is the better. Also make sure there are no damages or holes. And check the skin, is free from dark brown colour.
- Jackfruit:
- Check the gaps between the thorns....more the gap means the ‘sulai will be big but less sweet. And if you select less gap fruit, the ‘sulai’ will be small but very sweet and tasty. You can select as per your wish.
Ingredients:
- For Snack gourd, slightly twist and see. You can also press and check. If it is new one you can feel soft. Otherwise it will break. When you press your nail on it, your nail must go inside of the veg. You can smell the veg. If it is very fresh you will get a good smell.
Method:
- Lemon: Press it , should be hard. Just scratch the skin with u nail and smell the fragrance...A good and fresh lemon should have strong fragrance.
- Potato: It should be clean and light cream in colour. You can use this type of potatoes for making parota. If it is some what black and the skin is somewhat peeling type means, you can use them for curry. (cut and fry) They will not good for making parota. Peel the skin and it should be hard again, and if you could see some moisture it is a fresh potato.
Notes:
- Yam: Generally people cut and get this. (I use to get them full) If you see yellow colour, you can use that to make macyal. This type is called as cooking varity ( வேகும் கிழங்கு). If it is red or pink in colour, you can buy that to deep fry like fried curry or chips purpose. That is called as frying type (வறுபடும் கிழங்கு) OK?
Ingredients:
- Old Chapatti 5 - 6
- Grated carrot 1 cup
- Cut cucumber 1 cup
- Cut onion 1 cup
- Cut tomato 1 cup
- Pudina chutney 1/4 cup
- Dates chutney 1/4 cup
- Ghee 1/4 cup
Method:
- To make Dates chutney:
- Dates 10 - 12
- Kis Mis 10 - 12 (Dried grapes)
- Jaggery 4 Tes spoons
- Red chilly powder 1/2 Tea spoon
- Garam masala powder 1/4 Tea spoon
- Tamarind - A small lemon size
- Salt to taste
- 1. Clean dates and kis mis.
- 2. Pour some water in a deep pan and put the dates and kis mis.
- 3. Bring it to a boil.Grind the as paste.
- 4. Soak tamarind in a cup of water and take thick water from it.
- 5. Add tamarinds water in the pan. Add grind paste also.
- 6. Add red chilly powder, Powdered jaggery, garam masala and salt in it.
- 7. Let is boil of 10 min.
- 8. Remove it from the fire and keep aside.
- 9. You can also keep it for a month.
Notes:
- To make pudina chutney:
- One hand full pudina
- One hand full corinder
- Green chilly 1
- Cummin seeds 1/2 sp.
- Salt
- Lemon 1/2
- 1. Wash pudina and corinder.
- 2. Add all the other items and grind them finely.
- 3. Now pudina chutney is ready.
- 4. Keep aside.
Images:
Ingredients:
- Buying mangoes is an art. Dont squeeze it hard but hold it in your hands and slightly press.. If the Mangoes are firm and its good. If its over-ripe or going bad, it will feel like watery and loose.The color of the skin is a good indicator for certain mangoes. Some mangoes will have the green color, even when its ripe, so smell it and buy.
Method:
- If you buy kutti-mangoes (unripened ones, small sized for vadu maanga to pickle it), it will stay fresh for a week. So, its better to salt it and make pickle as soon as possible. Same for Avakkai mango also. Don’t keep them for a long time. Make pickle as quick as you buy from the shop.
- Vendaikai/ Ladies Finger:
- Just press in the middle, don’t crush the end. Some shopkeepers may shout at you. If it is green and strong that is new one.
Notes:
- Carrot: Must be free from surface damages, and almost orange in colour. Check the tail portion. It should be hard, with out any bend.
- Beet root and radish see the leaf portion, if the leaves are green and fresh it is new one. Press the radish or beet root and if it is tough, you can take that.
Ingredients:
- 100 Gms. of Boric Powder,
- 2 table spoons of Wheat Flour or Patient flour
- 2 table spoons of sugar.
Method:
- I am using this method for a long time and hence my kitchen is clean, without cockroach.
- Cockroach Repellent
- Note: While preparing this please wear a glove since it is toxic.
- Take 100 Gms. of Boric Powder, 2 table spoons of Wheat Flour or Patient flour and 2 table spoons of sugar.
- Put them all in a bowl.
- Mix well and sprinkle water occasionally.
- Prepare it like a tough dough and make small balls out of it.
- Put the balls in all rooms at a time.
- Keep out of the reach of children
Ingredients:
- You can put left over chapatti one by one in the Micro Wave Oven and make them crispy.
- OR
Method:
- Just put the done chapatti in the oven and set the time for 1 minute. Now turn the other side and again put 30seconds, if the chapatti is crispy it is ok
- Otherwise put another 30 seconds and make it crispy. Now you can have the crispy chapatti with tea.
- Other wise you can store in a air tight container for more than a week.
Notes:
- You want immediate pani puri masala? just mix 1/4 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp kala namak, 1 tbsp tamarind pulp & a pinch of salt.
Ingredients:
- To prevent the insides of the cooker from turning black Add a piece of tamarind or lemon peel to the cooker while boiling.
- To prevent milk from curdling while boiling Add a pinch pf baking soda to it and it will regain its freshness.
Method:
- To save oil while frying Add a pinch of salt to the oil while frying ‘pakodas’ or ‘koftas’ and you will use up less oil.
- To make good crispy French fries, First blanch potatoes in hot water till tender, then cut them. then deep-fry in very hot oil till crisp. Take care not too add too many potatoes at once to the oil. This causes the temperature of the oil to come down and you will end up with fries that are greasy, not crisp!
Notes:
- To preserve the white color in cauliflower and cabbage. Add a teaspoon of milk or milk powder while cooking.
Ingredients:
- To keep your bananas from going too ripe too fast keep them in a plastic bag.
- To avoid stickiness in Rice Add a few drops of lemon juice to the rice while cooking, you will find that the grains of rice will remain separate.
Method:
- To remove excess oil in any fried vegetables Sprinkle a little gramflour over the vegetables. Gramflour absorbs the excess oil and makes the vegetable tastier. Instead of gramflour you can use rice flour or rava or even bread powder for this purpose.
- To cook dal quick and tasty, Add one sp oil and a pinch of turmeric powder to the dal before placing it in the cooker. Or even you can cook dal in kadai. It will cook faster than normal and it wont come out of the vessel.
Notes:
- For crispy lady fingers Add a few drops of lemon juice while cooking for a crispy taste
Ingredients:
- One super use of letter holder. Just fix one (cloth) letter holder in your ward rob door (inside) and you can keep EB card, bank pass book, cable card , ration card etc., in that. so it will be easy for you to locate.
Method:
- By putting bay leaves in your kitchen and shelves, you can avoid cockroach.
- Add soda, instead of water when you prepare Naan or Parota (Madras). It will come very soft.
- when greens become dry, put them in lemon water for half an hour. They will look fresh.
- To regain freshness in stale chapattis Just wrap them in a clean cloth and pack them in a vessel that will fit into the pressure cooker and steam it for 5 min. Your fresh chappati is ready to serve.
Notes:
- To determine if baking powder is still active add 1 teaspoon to 1/3 cup of hot water. If it bubbles vigorously, its still active and will give good baking results.
Ingredients:
- If you have unriped gova or sapota, keep them in hot pack over night. you will get good fruit in the morning.
- Want to remove the stickers on vessels? Just heat the vessel so that you can remove the stickers with out any problem.
Method:
- Are you having dried bread, just keep them in cooker like idly for 5 min. you will get soft new bread. enjoy.
- If you add one teaspoon curd in vada dough, you will get less oil vada.
- When you prepare filter coffee, first put one spoon of sugar in the filter. then put coffee powder and make decoction you will get thick and tasty decoction. (டிகாஷன்)
Ingredients:
- You can use scrubber to clean potato, ginger etc.,
- You can use your unused milk cooker to keep veg. fresh. (greens) and also you can keep alu in that to keep them fresh. Just fill up the outer and keep veg inside of the cooker. That is all veg. will be fresh for 4 - 5 days. In between check for water and fill them up.
Method:
- When you grate cheese, apply oil in the grater to avoid sticking.
- If you feel that your gulob jamun is not cooked well inside, put all of them in a vessel and also pour the sugar syrup in that. Keep this in a cooker and keep it in the cooker. put the weight and allow it just only one whistle. When you open you will get good gulob jamuns, fully cooked and soaked one. Try this.
Notes:
- When you prepare curry using beans or cabbage or greens, you may put over salt because of the cut veg. quantity. to avoid this add salt when you finish the curry. That is dont add salt at first seeing the quantity of the cut veg. wait and put salt after they reduce. So you will put correct quantity of salt for the curry.
Ingredients:
- To fry groundnuts, we use sand. Now one more idea for this.
- Take 1 cup raw groundnuts and put 1 table spoon salt and fry well.
- You will get yummy salted ground nuts.
Method:
- You can place the ground nuts in a microw wave oven for a min. and you will get crispy fried groundnut.
- If you want to have cooked groundnuts immediately, take one cup groundnut and wash it well. add some water and salt. Mix well. Keep it in the oven for 3 min. that is all. Your Yummy cooked groundnut is ready to eat.
Ingredients:
- If you have extra chapatti dough, keep it in the deep freezer. Whenever you need the dough again, you can use it by defrosting. (If you keep the dough in the fridge it will turn in to black. But if you keep it in the deep freezer, it will remain as it is.)
Method:
- If you dont have Micro wave, and still you want to keep the dough in the fridge, then rap the dough with a aluminum foil and keep. Like this you can keep the dough for 2 - 3 days.
Ingredients:
- Drumsticks முருங்கைகாய் - hold it own hand, and gently twist with the other hand. The good ones are young and flexible and easy to twist. Old will be hard to twist. So avoid.
Method:
- Egg plant / brinjal கத்தரிக்காய் -you can see the stems. If it looks green and fresh, the vegetable is fresh. If it looks dull and lifeless, dont buy it..
- All the leafy vegetables & cauliflower - you can see if its fresh or old. For Cabbage and Cauliflower, also look at the stems. Some times these people will remove top leaves and make it look artificially fresh. But the stems will show if its old and dried. Hold it in your hand and press, if it is tough it is ok. If it is some what soft avoid that.
- Coconut – Knock on the shell, if you hear clear sound, the coconut is good. If you hear muffled sound, (like you are tapping on some cloth covered on the shell), its mostly spoiled. You can also see the kaN/eye கண் for the coconut. If its spoiled, it will look too soft... you can push lightly with your finger to see how soft it is. If you smell it you can feel the bad smell also. Then don’t select it. One more thing is there to check about coconut. That is, shake the coconut and you should hear the sound of water inside, if not do not buy it. Ok?
Ingredients:
- Use unsaturated oil instead of butter or margarine in cakes. Unsaturated oil can be used as a substitute for butter or margarine, while making cakes and pies.
Method:
- Use ‘Hung Yoghurt’ instead of mayonnaise and sour cream. If a recipe has sour cream as an accompaniment, substitute it with hung yoghurt. To get hung yoghurt, put yoghurt, that too low fat yoghurt, in a muslin cloth and hang it for a few hours till the water drains off. You can season this and use it as a dip instead of mayonnaise or as a substitute for sour cream. It tastes ‘yummy’.
- Switch to lime juice, tomato and orange juice for dressings. They have far fewer calories than the regular dressings.
- Use skimmed Milk instead of cream.
- Thicken gravies with skimmed milk and flour instead of cream. Better still, use arrowroot or cornstarch. Alternatively, you can use extra vegetables to thicken soup.
Notes:
- Use fruit purees instead of fat in cakes, muffins, cookies and other baked goods.
Ingredients:
- Do not throw away starch water strained from boiled rice.
- Use either to starch your dupattas and other clothes.
- Use it to knead dough, in soups or drink with salt and curd to reduce body heat.
Method:
- Or put 2 sp ‘segakai powder’ in it and take head bath. Very good for your hair. And this also cools your body from heat.
- You can use the Bread Powder ( B.P.) to make cutlets.
- You can use B.P. after preparing fried curry to make the curry more crispy.
- Some times while preparing vada the batter may become watery. At that time you can add the B.P. to make the dough tough one.
Notes:
- You can prepare B.P. with old left over bread also or other wise you can get the bread powder from the shop.
Ingredients:
- You can wash, clean and chop the coriander and put it in a zip lock cover or any plastic box or you can even put them in the box, in which we get pears and strawberry. (The boxes with holes) And keep the box/ cover in the freezer.
Method:
- It will be there for more than 6 months. I usually store coriander leaves, Methi leaves like that. You can keep all greens like this.
- Also you can keep green chillies like this
Ingredients:
- To keep the green chillies fresh wash them remove the head, put them in a food storeage cover or a zipper locker cover and keep them in the FREEZER.
- when ever you need take from the pack. You can store even more than 6 months.
Method:
- In the freezer I will keep, cut vegetables, thuvailas, Tomato rice concentrate, Lemon Juice cubes,Sambar, cooked potatoes, small onions, peeled garlic, grated ginger, Methi leave, corinder leaves, curry leaves, Pulav masala, house made kootu podi with coconut, grated coconut, Idlies, dosa with dosa miligai powder, chappati dough or even chappati etc.,
- We have to use full use of fridge and freezer I think.
Notes:
- I will keep Coffee Powder, Pappad, All My home made Ready made powders
- Tamarind paste(Home made), Fried moor miligai etc., in fridges Veg. box.
