Tips for non veggies coming soon! Watch out!

Tips for veggies!

" To start with I would like to say that these are the tips based on my personal experiences. It is possible that you may have better options and if you got better ideas do comment n post!

BASIC ONES:

1.       Cut your nails before cooking.

2.      No chipped nail paints.

3.      Avoid using nail colours.

4.     Tie you hair well before cooking.

5.      Preferable, cover your head with a plastic cap.

6.      Use and apron while cooking.

7.     Be alert and careful of your actions.

8.      Be specific and organized.

9.      Have a clear idea about what are you exactly going to do before you start.

10.   Cell phones are not allowed while cooking.

11.   If you get a cut while cooking, its expected that you leave the chopping tray immediately and move away from the chopped veggies and ingredients. Donot stand there only. Blood can get mixed with the food.

12.  Donot snneze or cough while cooking. Use a napkin preferably.

13.  Maintain cleanliness and hygienic conditions where you cook.

SPICES & TASTEMAKERS:

1.       While dealing with spices, every recipe specifies the quantity of spices to be used as in Tbsp/Teaspoon etc. But you know your taste buds very well and you even know the amount of spiciness your spices possess. As in at times the Red Chilli Powder is very hot or at times it is very mild. So if it is mentioned to add only 1 Tbsp chilli powder, the dish would not up to the mark for you. So here you gotta use a little bit of your judgement taking into account your and your family needs and the level of spiciness of your ingredients.

2.      If you are cooking Chinese food, I’d say stick to the proportions of the sauces  viz soya sauce, vinegar, red chilli sauce, sweet chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce, black bean sauce, Red pepper sauce, Schezwan sauce etc. These are usually bottled and their taste hardly differs. Hence add the specified quantity unless you are really pro and you know PERFECTLY about their constitution.

3.       Avoid adding MSG to your preparations. No doubt it gives you a terrific taste but then it even terrifies your kidneys! Instead add a mixture of salt and sugar in 1 tbsp:1 teaspoon proportion. Follow this proportion strictly.

4.     Use black salt for a few preparations like chat or sandwiches or frankies to make them taste better. But be careful! Its very salty as compared to ordinary salt.

5.      Use fresh spices for better flavours.

6.      Using certain Indian herbs in Chinese like star anise can enhance the taste of your Chinese food.

7.     Look for different types of cumin seeds and cardamom.

VEGETABLES & CHOPPING:

1.       While using Cauliflower, put it in haldi water for 15 min. It kills allthe germs and insects.

2.      While using capsicum in Chinese food, add it at the end only. Never add it in the beginning of the dish. It loses its color and gves the dish a typical flavour that spoils the taste. Besides, capsicum when crunchy tastes better.

3.      If you are using green chillies, either chop then so finley that no one can make our their presence in the food except for the hot taste or make big big pieces so that people can make them aside and they don’t accidently get into mouth spoiling the taste!

4.     Carrots also should be added later on so that they don’t lose their fresh orange colour.

5.      Never add spring onion in the initial stages of the recipes. Always use spring onion in Chinese food as a garnish and not as an ingredient.

6.      When it is specified in recipes that use chopped ginger-garlic, DONOT SUBSTITUTE IT WITH GINGER-GARLIC PASTE. Every ingredient has different tastes in each preparation depending on their style of chopping. Similarly, if ginger-garlic paste is mentioned, do not use chopped ginger-garlic. Follow the instructions strictly.

7.      Similarly, chopped onion and onion paste or chopped tomato or tomato puree make a difference in taste.

8.      Chop tomato with a very sharp knife or you will end up spoiling the entire tomato chopping.

9.      Make sure you use a good knife while chopping. Chopping vegetables finely always makes dishes taste better.

10.   There should be some uniformity in style of chopping. Eg: Some onion pieces are chopped finely while other are big n fat, doesn’t make a good dish and it is bound to spoil the taste.

11.   Wash coriander/parsley thoroughly before using. Then chop it finely. The finer you chop coriander/parsley, better flavour it will add to your food.

12.  Do not wach vegetables after chopping them.

13.  If you have added extra salt and spoilt entire preparation, all few pieces of chopped potato to the preparation.

14.  Adding a twist of lime to all spicy preparation always enhances the flavour.

15.  Do not overcook veggies. It spoils the taste, flavour and the appearrance.

16.  Add a little baking soda to water if you are boiling a few veggies. This will help in preserving their colour and appearance.      

17.  Always remember that  :

 FOOD THAT LOOKS GOOD, TASTES GOOD!