25. Fifty Kitchen Tips from the Panel
1. Light the stove only when everything for the dish is cut and measured.
2. Wash rice until the water runs clear; soak it 20 minutes for softer, lighter grains.
3. For khichdi that never sticks, add 1 tsp ghee to the cooker before the grains.
4. A drop of oil in the dal water stops pressure-cooker froth from blocking the valve.
5. Skim the foam on boiling dal — Ayurveda considers it the heaviest part.
6. Salt dal at the end; it softens faster and you control salt better.
7. Roast suji until it smells of biscuits; underdone suji makes sticky upma.
8. For lump-free ragi or besan, always whisk into cold water first.
9. Fry hing in fat for no more than 5 seconds.
10. Bloom turmeric in fat for 10 seconds — it loses its raw taste and gains colour.
11. Use the back of a ladle to mash a third of a whole dal for body without blending.
12. Squeeze grated lauki and keep the water for kneading roti dough or for soups.
13. Soak paneer cubes in warm salted water for 10 minutes — it stays soft for elderly guests.
14. Blanch cauliflower and cabbage for 3 minutes in salted water before cooking — less wind.
15. Cook okra uncovered first (no slime), then cover at the end (soft for elders).
16. Rub bitter gourd with salt and rest 20 minutes; squeeze to reduce bitterness.
17. Boil yam and arbi with tamarind or kokum to remove the itch.
18. Add lemon juice off the heat — heat destroys vitamin C and makes it bitter.
19. Add delicate herbs (coriander, mint, tulsi) at the very end.
20. Make jaggery syrup separately and strain it — jaggery often carries grit.
21. Add jaggery to milk only off the heat, after it cools a little, or the milk may split.
22. For curd-based curries, whisk in a spoon of besan or rice flour to stabilise, and stir constantly until it boils.
23. Never let a kadhi or mor kuzhambu boil hard after the curd goes in.
24. Set curd from boiled milk cooled to lukewarm (≈ 40 °C); in winter, wrap the pot in a cloth.
25. Make ghee on the lowest heat; when the bubbling quietens and solids turn light brown, stop.
26. Keep a dedicated dry spoon in the ghee jar — water spoils ghee.
27. Store flours in the refrigerator in summer to prevent rancidity and insects.
28. Put a few dried neem or bay leaves in grain bins.
29. Knead phulka dough with lukewarm water and rest it 20 minutes — the secret of soft phulkas.
30. Roll phulkas evenly; uneven thickness stops them puffing.
31. Brush ghee on phulka immediately and stack in a cloth-lined casserole.
32. Steam idlis on high for the first 3 minutes, then medium — even rise.
33. Ferment batters in a warm spot in winter (inside a switched-off oven with the light on).
34. Add fruit salt to dhokla or rava idli batter only at the very last moment.
35. Purée soups while hot (carefully) for the silkiest texture; strain for Level 4 diets.
36. Add a spoon of milk powder or blended paneer to soups for invisible protein.
37. Grind coconut chutney with a little warm water to keep the oil from separating.
38. Temper curry leaves last in South-Indian dishes; stand back — they spit.
39. Cool cooked food you will store within 1 hour by spreading it in a wide steel tray.
40. Keep a probe thermometer at the hot counter; check 63 °C hourly.
41. Cut vegetables for elders to uniform 1–1.5 cm pieces — even cooking, easy eating.
42. Cook leafy greens in their own moisture with a lid; add salt only at the end.
43. Use iron kadhai for dry sabzis (adds iron) but never leave sour dishes standing in it.
44. Season iron pans with a thin oil film after drying them on the flame.
45. Re-tin (kalai) brass vessels when the yellow metal shows through.
46. Measure salt with a measuring spoon, not by hand — consistency protects BP-sensitive guests.
47. Taste with a clean spoon each time; never from the serving ladle.
48. Write the batch time on every container that leaves the stove.
49. Keep a small 'mild' pot aside before adding chilli for guests who need it plain.
50. End every shift by soaking tomorrow's pulses and setting tomorrow's curd.
PART III