Vallisworld’s Weblog

Here are some useful tips you should know.. Given below are Cooking Tips, House-hold Tips, Health Tips and Beauty Tips..

Cooking Tips

Most often coriander leaves decays soon. To prevent this, You can just simply wrap it in a cotton cloth and leave it in a refrigerator. If this doesnt work for you, you can stick to the following process.

Discard the roots of the coriander bunch.
Seperate the leaves from the stem & discard yellow coloured, black coloured, dotted & decayed leaves.
Spread the fine leaves in a large plate, allow to dry for half an hour & make sure that there is no water left out in the fine leaves or else they will get decayed sooner.
Spread a dry cotton cloth or even a handkerchief & place the coriander leaves on it.
Fold all the four corners of the hand kerchief.
Wrap them up & store them in an air tight container.
Transfer the container into a refrigerator, wash & use (for garnishing) during cooking.
This method of storage retains the flavor & aroma of the leaves for about a week or two.

Excess salt in any dish can be brought down by adding a table spoon of sugar or by adding diced potatoes or lemon juice or tomatoes.

Excess sugar in any dish can be removed by adding salt or a teaspoon of vineagar.

A simple way to use sprouts like kabuli channa or rajma, green peas. Soak the sprouts for one night and the next day drain the water and place it in air tight polythene bags and leave it in refrigerator. This stays for long in the refrigerator. This way you can use these sprouts whenever you want. If you dont have time to cut the vegetables, you can just take these sprouts from the refrigerator, boil it and make a curry.. This way you save a lot of time.

If you find ant or insect in rice or sugar bag, just add a teaspoon of pepper to it. The ant will vanish..

At any point of time, the first dosa you make may stick to the tawa and wont come out well. To avoid this, rub an onion on the tawa and start making dosa.. The dosa wont stick to the tawa and it will come out easily.

To avoid the raw smell of cabbage either add lemon or add a piece of ginger while boiling it.. This way the cabbage wont smell bad.

To avoid the awful odor of onion, add some lemon juice to it while cooking.

Whenever you boil vegetables, the nutritions in the vegetables will be in the water in which the vegetable was boiled.. You can use this water to make rice so that you will have healthy rice and the rice will taste good.

If the bread becomes dry even after being refrigerated, dont throw it away.. Here is an idea.. Roll it in a wet towel (not too wet) and keep it in the refrigerator for a day.. The bread will become as fresh as while you purchased.

Instant coconut chutney – 1/2 cup shredded coconut +Idly chilly powder +salt.. Grind it together with little water to make an instant

To remove mud stains from potato – Soak the potato in hot water for few minutes and rinse it.. Even the smallest dust will be removed..

When you are making vadas, if the batter is watery – you will have the problem of oil splattering when you fry it. Add a tablespoon of ghee to the batter and your problem will be solved.

To thicken any gravy or soup add corn flour to it. It is an excellent thickening agent. As an alternative, you can also add rice flour. Remember to mix it in good water before adding to avoid lumps.

To avoid sticky rice while making pulav or briyani, soak washed rice in water for at least ten minutes before cooking. A teaspoon of oil can be added to get separate grains of cooked rice.

If you want to have soft idlis, do not beat the batter before pouring idlis. The air bubble sin the batter helps you to get soft idlis. Beating the batter removes these air bubbles.

Chill onion in refrigerator before cutting to avoid tears. One other way to avoid tears is to soak peeled onion is water before cutting.

To get crisp, golden dosas add a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds to the urad dal and grind it.

Add a pinch of sugar while cooking any green leaf vegetables. This will help maintain the bright green color.

For maintaining the bright color of any vegetable don’t forget to put it in ice cold water as soon as you blanch/chop them.

To keep apples from turning brown, add little citrus juice like the juice of a lemon or orange and toss apples in it.

A pinch of turmeric powder added to all kinds of dal when cooking hastens the cooking process.

Remove the stems from chilies before storing them. This will keep them fresher for a long time.

It is better to use round dishes in the microwave oven rather than square or rectangular dishes as round dishes spread heat faster.

Oil applied to dal before it is cooked helps it to cook faster by softening the proteins and avoid the dal sticking on to the lid cover.

Health Tips

If you are from a family where diabetics runs in the hereditary, try having few curry leaves every morning for 100 days. This is believed to prevent diabetics.

As an alternative, you can also soak the fenugreek in water overnight and have it the first thing in the morning..

To control high levels of sugar, you can drink bitterguard juice (grind bitter guard by adding water). This will reduce your sugar levels to great extent.

Taking raw curry leaves daily helps prevent premature graying of hair.

If you are having high blood pressure or excessive cholesterol – take raw garlic in empty stomach everyday. This significantly reduces blood pressure and cholesterol.

If you are suffering from indigestion – Add 3-4 crushed cloves of garlic to boiling milk and drink it. It gives immediate relief. As an alternative, mix coriander juice with buttermilk and drink it to treat indigestion.

If you have difficulty in sleeping – Take the juice of a few coriander leaves by grinding them. Mix it in hot water and have it before going to bed. You will have a restful sleep.

If you are anaemic – add fenugreek leaves (methi leaves) to your food more often. It really helps.

For cold relief – take the juice of ginger, mix it with honey and lime juice and drink it.

For asthma relief – take 3-4 cloves of garlic. boil it in milk and drink it every night.

Banana helps wash fatty wastes from kidneys, is soothing to the digestive tract and helps relieve constipation and diarrhea

Oatmeal helps reduce cholesterol. Regularly eating oatmeal for breakfast results in significant reduction of cholesterol in a few days

House-hold Tips

Store coffee powder in the freezer to retain the freshness for a long period of time.

To remove pickle stain from clothes: Put some wet cotton on the stain and allow it absorb.. Then, apply a tooth paste on the stain and rub it for sometime.. Again place a wet cotton on the stained area and remove the paste.. Even you will not able to find the stain..

To remove paint stains, mix vinegar in hot water and apply this to the stained area.. The stain will disappear.

If you want to remove the sticker/label from the vessel, show the backside of the sticker (backside of the vessel) in the heat, the sticker / label will peel off automatically

To remove greasy/oily stains from any metal, wooden or plastic surfaces, apply a dap of Vaseline over it and work the stain with your finger for a while. Then wipe it off. the stain will come off easily. Same can be done to remove grease from your hands.

To easy clean greasy pans, soak the pans in hot water and then scrub it with a lemon peel and then wash it as usual.

To shine silver utensils/jewellery, wash them using toothpaste.

While cleaning your storage containers add a pinch of baking soda. This will help to remove all odors and cut grease.

Every weak disinfect your kitchen cutting boards and knives in hot water added with bleach and vinegar. Bleach disinfects and vinegar removes odors.

Beauty Tips

To remove sun tan from face and body – Grind kabuli channa softly to make a powder. Mix this powder with little amount of milk to make a paste.. Apply this paste on the tanned area of the skin, allow it to dry and wash it with water.. On doing so, the darkness due to sun exposure will vanish..As an alternative, you can also apply lemon juice to remove sun tan..

If you are out in a hot sun and back home, your face may appear dark.. Soon after you reach home, you can mix gram flour (kadalai mavu in tamil) with curd to make a paste and apply it on face.Allow it to dry and wash it cold water. The darkness caused due to sun light will go away..

If you want the nail polish to stay longer on your nails: Apply a first level quoting of nail polish and allow it to dry.. After it dries, apply the second level quoting.. This way the nail polish will last long in your nails..

To have healthy shiny hair, treat your scalp with a mixture of almond oil and olive oil, leave for 10-15 minutes and wash your hair. This also reduces hair loss. You can also wrap a hot towel over your head for the oil to seep in easily and also to open all your pores.

Mix honey with finely ground almond paste. Add little lime juice. Rub gently on your face and neck. Rinse off with warm water. This acts as an excellent cleansing scrub.

To get firmer skin, take a egg white, add little sugar to it. Wisk it and apply on face and neck. Leave for 10-15 minutes. Wash off with Luke warm water. This prevents fine wrinkles and gives a firmer skin. As an alternative, you can mix gram flour with milk to make a paste. Apply this paste on face and allow it to dry. Rinse off with cold water to get rid of wrinkles in your face.

Place slices of cucumber over your eyes to remove black circles around the eyes. This also cools your eyes and relaxes you.

Placing a slice of potato over your eyes helps reduce black circles.

For healthy looking skin apply olive oil or almond oil to your face everyday. Leave it for ten minutes and wash thoroughly.

Drink plenty of water. This will automatically solve most of your hair and skin problems.