Useful Tips

• Add little tamarind to water and let boil. Add Silver articles and jewelry to the boiling water and let it boil for 5 minutes. The jewelry will shine like new!
• In case you run out of mosquito mats, use camphor tablets.
• To crumble biscuits to use in recipes, place the biscuits in a polythene bag and crush. This avoids mess and wastage.
• When cooking bitter gourd, add a few pieces of raw mango to remove the bitterness and add a little tang to the curry.
• To roll out the perfect batura roll out small portions of the maida dough into small puris and cover with a damp cloth. Roll them out to the desired sized just before frying. The dough will be elastic, makes rolling more efficient.
• To clean grease stains from clothes, especially the ones from vehicles, wash the affected area with any toilet soap. The stains will disappear instantly.
• To store curry leaves for a long time and make it ready to use, fry washed curry leaves in Oil and remove on a kitchen towel. When cool crush them and store in airtight bottles. Add to any chutneys or curries to add the South Indian touch.
• Add laundry blue to water and wash your glassware. Rinse with hot water to get sparkling glass ware ready to go on your party table.
• Old silver utensils and ornaments will shine like new, if you clean them with ash of incense stick.
• Add a few drops of mustard oil to your coconut oil to prevent it from freezing in winter.
• For breathing problems induced by cold, pressure cook some cabbage leaves and inhale the steam. It helps clear the congestion.
• If pickles dry up, heat the required amount of oil, cool it and add to the jar to make the pickle soft and edible again.
• For cake decoration, create a pretty chocolate leaves by brushing melted chocolate on top of a real (non-poisonous) leaves. Freeze the leaves and peel away the real leaf, the chocolate leaf can be used for decoration on cakes.
• To sharpen your kitchen knife, just wet the knife and sharpen it on the protruding circle at the back of any porcelain or bone china saucer from tip to end several times.
• Dry left over bread in the sun. Grind them and store in an airtight jar. Use as and when required as bread crumbs.
• Place a raw, cut onion in a newly painted room to get rid of the smell of fresh paint.
• Use a peeler to shave candles so that they fit into your candlestick holder.
• To retain the color of Cauliflower while cooking, add 2 tbsp of Vinegar or Milk to the dish.
• You can use your old pressure cooker as a gas “tandoor”. Preheat the cooker, stick chapattis on the side of the cooker and put it upside down on a low flame. Tandoori roti is ready to serve!
• To keep lentils like Tuvar Dal, Moong Dal etc. insect free, roast them for a minute and store them in dry airtight containers.
• To get a strong aroma of saffron, soak the strands in either hot water or milk for about 10 minutes before adding to the dish.
• Curry leaves and coriander will stay fresh for weeks if you wrap them in aluminum foil and store in the fridge.
• To keep Ginger fresh for a longer time, store them in the refrigerator in a jar filled with water.
• Chop Cauliflower into florets and soak them in water to which little vinegar or 1tsp of salt has been added. This will help to dislodge the dirt and the worms.
• Wash plastic and melamine crockery with wheat flour to remove stubborn turmeric stains.
• Reseed your lawn just before the rains, so the buds get lots of water and sun.
• To make the idli batter ferment faster in winter, add a packet of Eno. This also helps to make them softer.
• To retain the strong flavor of coffee beans and coffee powder for longer, keep it in the freezer in an air-tight container.