No Of course I don't mean sauces, ketchup, the salt and pepper shakers. This post is basically more for the Indian working woman, who at all moments should be prepared to , no not for an earthquake, but rather prepared to hustle up a quick three course meal for four persons at a short notice any time during the 24 hrs . So a restaurant may have the liberty to close down at 11 pm, but not an Indian woman, given our traditions and culture (please don't ask me to elaborate on that as it is a very vast subject. Just remember that even Draupadi from Mahabharata was caught unaware when Lord Krishna turned up after cleaning up , for some grub. Its another matter that the Lord was generous enough to be satisfied with a grain of rice) So a woman must be prepared at all times for a quick cook up.
So how do you save time and effort? How can you shorten the process of chopping, grinding etc? I am not going to write about shortening the entire process, but instead focus on certain basic , should I say elements, that one should have stocked in order to quicken the process of cooking and also enhance the taste.
First in my list is the Ginger garlic paste.
Indian dishes usually are cooked in such a way that begins with the process of sauting onion , garlic and ginger either chopped or ground. So why waste your time on first peeling the garlic and ginger and then grinding them? Always try to store the ready made paste which is available in the departmental store ,in your refrigerator . Saves a lot of time and effort.
Second item that I would invariably prefer is the tomato puree.
Being in a north Indian family now, I realise the role and importance of the tomato in almost each and every vegetable dish. Of course there are few sabzis which require sliced tomatoes instead of purees but in order to get the thick spicy gravy right, you must have the right amount of tomato puree.
Third one is the cream.
Confused? Cream as in milk cream or cream of milk? Yes, we use that in cooking our dishes too. There are certain dishes like Chole, Rajma, Shahi Paneer , even Palak paneer, malai kofta etc etc, which requires cream as one of its ingredients and it helps a lot if you can save the effort of trying to strain and separate the milk from the cream. If you can use it to decorate beautiful cakes and pastries, then serves a dual purpose too.
Frozen peas-
Yes frozen peas is a life saver or call it a meal saver as after potato, it is one of the most common vegetables to be used in Indian dishes. So you can go for a peas pulao, aloo matar (potato peas ) dish, matar paneer (peas and cottage cheese dish ),matar mushroom, mixed vegetable, gobhi matar, methi malai matar etc etc, without having to go into the tedious task of separating the peas from the pod.
Finally my fifth one would be ajinomoto.
Yes I know its beneficial effect has been under fire after people coming to know about the mono sodium glutamate thing, but a small pinch once in a blue moon, won't hurt me. A chinese dish is so very incomplete without it , be it the chowmein, or manchurian or simple fried rice. Its not that we go for chinese meal every day . Mind it I am not endorsing it ,but its just a solitary viewpoint of mine or more something that I practise on myself.
Of course there are the sauted masalas and many vegetable mixes, but after trying them out I realised that they didn't quite exude that home made feel in the dishes. It had some artificialness in it once prepared. And as a female member your cooking will always be under scrutiny so, anything that might raise serious doubts on your culinary skills is not advisable according to my humble opinion. So those were my famous fives. I won't mind it if you care to share yours.
So how do you save time and effort? How can you shorten the process of chopping, grinding etc? I am not going to write about shortening the entire process, but instead focus on certain basic , should I say elements, that one should have stocked in order to quicken the process of cooking and also enhance the taste.
First in my list is the Ginger garlic paste.
Indian dishes usually are cooked in such a way that begins with the process of sauting onion , garlic and ginger either chopped or ground. So why waste your time on first peeling the garlic and ginger and then grinding them? Always try to store the ready made paste which is available in the departmental store ,in your refrigerator . Saves a lot of time and effort.
Second item that I would invariably prefer is the tomato puree.
Being in a north Indian family now, I realise the role and importance of the tomato in almost each and every vegetable dish. Of course there are few sabzis which require sliced tomatoes instead of purees but in order to get the thick spicy gravy right, you must have the right amount of tomato puree.
Third one is the cream.
Confused? Cream as in milk cream or cream of milk? Yes, we use that in cooking our dishes too. There are certain dishes like Chole, Rajma, Shahi Paneer , even Palak paneer, malai kofta etc etc, which requires cream as one of its ingredients and it helps a lot if you can save the effort of trying to strain and separate the milk from the cream. If you can use it to decorate beautiful cakes and pastries, then serves a dual purpose too.
Frozen peas-
Yes frozen peas is a life saver or call it a meal saver as after potato, it is one of the most common vegetables to be used in Indian dishes. So you can go for a peas pulao, aloo matar (potato peas ) dish, matar paneer (peas and cottage cheese dish ),matar mushroom, mixed vegetable, gobhi matar, methi malai matar etc etc, without having to go into the tedious task of separating the peas from the pod.
Finally my fifth one would be ajinomoto.
Yes I know its beneficial effect has been under fire after people coming to know about the mono sodium glutamate thing, but a small pinch once in a blue moon, won't hurt me. A chinese dish is so very incomplete without it , be it the chowmein, or manchurian or simple fried rice. Its not that we go for chinese meal every day . Mind it I am not endorsing it ,but its just a solitary viewpoint of mine or more something that I practise on myself.
Of course there are the sauted masalas and many vegetable mixes, but after trying them out I realised that they didn't quite exude that home made feel in the dishes. It had some artificialness in it once prepared. And as a female member your cooking will always be under scrutiny so, anything that might raise serious doubts on your culinary skills is not advisable according to my humble opinion. So those were my famous fives. I won't mind it if you care to share yours.
good...informative..
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