Tips and tricks

I will Keep updating this page. So don't forget to  check it back. Here, in this section  I have shared tips which i  learnt from my Mom,  MIL, Aunt, Cookery shows, women's magazines, websites and ofcourse from my experience.

For Cooking rice:

• Generally old rice requies more water and new rice requires less water. Ponni rice(Boiled rice ) requires 2 and 1/2 cups to 3 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. The amount of water depends on the quality of rice.
• When cooking basmati rice soak atleat for 30 mins and  Pressure cook by  adding 1 and 1/2 cup of water for 1 cup of rice. So rice water ratio is 1: 1 & 1/2 . If you dont have time for soaking then cook by adding  2 cups of water. In this case  rice water ratio is 1:2.
• Adding tsp of ghee while cooking basmati rice will give fluffy rice also prevents  mashing of rice.

For making vegetable biriyani and pulaos:

• After pressure cooking basmati rice, transfer the rice to the large wide bowl add little sesame oil and spread the rice. It will make the grains seperated.
• For making fried rice , Dont cook the vegetables softly, The vegetables should be cruncy. For that keep the flame in high and  toss the  each vegetables for a minute.
• While making vegetable biriyani,  there is chances that bottom layer will get burnt. In order to avoid this , After stir frying all the vegetables in a presssure cooker , pour required amout of water and make it boil, then add rice  allow it to boil for some more minutes until rice is cooked 80% .(  water content will be absorbed by rice . It will be fluffy and there will be very little water left in a cooker)  Now close the lid and put whistle(pressure regulating valve)  and keep the flame to the maximum low  for 10 - 12 mins. And then switch off the flame .

For Cooking dals and lentils :

•  For Pressur cooking dals , Dal to water ratio is 1:2 .
• Moong dals takes very less time to cook. It will be get cooked in 1 whistle.
• Thoor dals will be cooked in 5 whistles.
• Adding tsp of oil  while pressure cooking dal prevents frothing and overspilling.
• For easy mashing of dal ,After pressure cooking dal, remove  the excess water and mash the dal. 
• Add ginger or garlic while cooking dal as it reduces gasteric effects.
• If you have less time for soaking lentils, Soak  in hot water.
• For making sundals, adding salt while pressure cooking lentils like chana, dried peas, Black eyed beans, kidney beans  will prevent overcooking.

For making gravies and Sambars:

• If there is excess salt in sambar, add boiled potato to sambar. Potato will absorb the salt. Otherwise take tbsp of rice flour , pack it in a small  piece of cloth and dip than in a sambar.
• If there is excess spice , add more  tamrind water or add more cooked dal.
• Adding tsp of jaggery or sugar gives nice  and tasty sambar.
• Adding fresh curry leaves at the end gives flavour full sambar.
• Shallots works best  than large onion for sambars.
• For vatha kuzhambu always use seasame oil for best results.
• For making kootu, add the grined coconut at the end and immediately switch off the stove. The coconut will be cooked in the heat which the kootu already has.
• After preparing rasam , Garnish with  corriander leaves for nice rasam.
• If your sambar is watery , then  take  tbsp  of rice flour and water.Mix it then add to the sambar.
• For thickening tomato based gravies, grind poppy seeds(khus khus)  and add to the gravy. Or you can even grind cashews and add to the gravy for richer version.
• For tomato based gravy , you  have to use turmeric powder, chilli powder and dhaniya powder in the ratio of 1:2:4
  
  

For making Stirfry

• Don't cut the veggies too small also don't overcook the veggies as the vitamins may get destroyed.
• Cook vegetables by adding water little by little.I f you have excess water after cooking vegetables then drain the water and add it to sambar or rasam.
• If your stir fry is spicy and oily, then add rice flour or gram flour.
• After adding grated coconut, immediately switch off the stove. Because  oil content will come out from coconut which is not good for health.
• Adding salt  while frying onion will quicken the process.
• Adding sugar while frying onion will give nice browning of onions.

For making Dosas

• The tawa shouldn't be overheated  for making dosas. Overheating of tawa will make difficult to spread the batter.
• Drizzle litte water in the tawa after finishing every dosa. This prevents overheating of tawa.
• Keep seperate pan for making chapathi and dosa. Because if you make dosa as soon as after making chapathi in a same pan, dosa will stick to the pan.
• While making dosas , don't spread the oil  in the tawa before  making dosa. Otherwise you will not be able to shape the dosa. Spread the dosa first and then drizzle little oil.
• If dosa sticks to the pan, then cut the onion in to two half. and  keep one half of onion in the tawa and spread it throughout the circumference of tawa and start to make dosa.

For making idly/ dosa batter

• Generally for idli dosa batter, rice to urad dal ratio is 1: 4.  if dal is of medium quality. The ratio purely depend on the quality of dal.   If your  dal quality is very  good then the ratio will be 1:6. If your dal quality is bad then ratio will be 1:3 . So you have to experiment and find.
• If you add more urad dal, the idlies will be flat. If you  add less urad dal , then the idlies will be hard.
• Minimum  4 hour soaking is required for idly/dosa batter.
• Urad dal should be grinded fluffy to get soft idlies. 
• Adding fistfull of left over rice or Aval(poha) while grinding the Idly/ dosa batter willl give soft idlies.
• Washing the rice well gives super white idlies.  Also while grinding in  mixer, grind in intervals, don't allow the mixer to be heated.  Heat can also change the colour of the idly.
• In order to ferment the batter in cold countries , you can keep the vessel containg batter near to your room heater and leave it for one whole day.  The nextday, you can see that the batter will be fermentedwell.It worked for me. Or else you can also keep the vessel in the oven with oven lights on.
• Adding tsp of sugar to the dosa batter will give nice brown dosas. 

For making  chapathi and poori

• Adding warm milk while kneading the dough gives soft chapatis.
• Cover the dough until you make chapatis. Otherwise the dough will be dried.
• Adding rava while preparing dough for making pooris will give cripy pooris.
• To  puff  the pooris , roll the dough  thick  and drop it in to the oil when  oil is heated well.