Cooking tips

Onion keeper- to save unused half

Save your tears when cutting onions: Storing onions in the fridge will help you avoid crying while cutting onions and also keeps them fresh for long.
Half onion: Place the half onion in an air tight box  and save in fridge for later use. 

Cilantro\coriander, curry leaves, and parsley: Cut the stem bases, wrap lower end in a paper towel, place in a ziploc bag  and save in fridge for keeping it fresh for many days.

Preventing pantry pests: Drop bay leaves, cloves or dry red chillies in grocery storage containers in your pantry. This prevents many types of bugs and pests.

Green bags keep vegetables fresh

Fast and easy to extract tamarind pulp; Microwave makes cooking easy. In order to extract good amount of tamarind pulp easily, without microwaving, we have to soak the fruit for 1-2 hours. Where as if we microwave then the waiting time shrinks to few minutes.

Tamarind pulp tastes sour and I use it in place of lemon juice. It makes the food taste delicious by adding a special flavor.

Tamarind fruit will be available in oriental and Indian grocery stores. Ready made tamarind paste is loaded with preservatives and doesn't taste as good as freshly made one.

Tamarind pulp from fruit

1. Microwave tamarind and water for 3 mnts

2. Strain tamarind water or pulp

Simple steps to extract fresh tamarind pulp:

1. Take  golf ball size of tamarind fruit in a cereal bowl and add 1 cup of water.
2. Microwave on high power for 2-3 minutes
3. Let it cool for few minutes and then extract pulp

• For thick pulp extract by squeezing with your fingers and strain using a colander. 
• If you want tamarind water then you could add 1 more cup of water to make it cold faster,  squeeze 5-10 times and strain into a separate bowl.

Save the unused tamarind pulp or water in freezer for later use.

Save onions in fridge: Saving onions in the fridge will help you avoid crying while cutting onions.