Tuesday's Tip- How To Freeze Beans And Legumes?

After a very long time I am back with Tuesday’s tip. You all have been so encouraging about the Tuesday’s tips section-so thanks very much. How to deodorize the fridge is the most popular tip so far. Next tip that got attention is Quick Soak Method for legumes.

Legumes like chickpeas, beans, black eyes beans, white peas etc...are very healthy and is infact the most vital source of proteins for vegetarians. Legumes are soaked (generally overnight) before boiling for two reasons – one, they need to be softened before they boil, and two, pre-soaking helps to make the beans more digestible. I understand that most of you prefer canned legumes as the whole process of cooking them can be very tedious. But why waste money on those canned beans which by the way is loaded with sodium content?

So here is a quick tip on How to freeze legumes? Yes! Next time you soak chickpeas to make Kadai Chola Massala, or beans to make Mexican rice, or Cannellini beans for curry; all you have to do is soak them in large quantities so that you can freeze it for the future use.

You can freeze almost all kinds of legumes, just soak, wash and boil (with or without salt-your choice) until tender, once boiled, drain the water and allow it to cool. Next simply put in the Ziploc bags (freezer safe) and freeze. This way the legumes will remain fresh upto 6 months. If you want you can also use freezer safe jars instead of Ziploc bags.

Just take them out and put in boiling water before use. Trust me this will make your life easy. The boiled beans readily available in the kitchen are such a wow factor. I can make Rajma Tikki, Punjabi Chola, Ragda Patties anytime I wish.

Yeah! So next time you soak any legumes, remember you can soak more so that it can be used in the future.

Hope you will like the tip. Do follow this and let me know it was.

Tuesday's Tip- All About Tomatoes

Tuesday’s tip is here. I have been getting mails and comments mentioning that this section in my blog is very informative and useful and I must write Tuesday’s tip without fail :-) :-). So the wait is over!

Today it is all about tomatoes. Tomato is one such ingredient that is used in Indian cooking a lot and I can’t think of anything if there are no tomatoes in my kitchen. Summer is the time when tomatoes are available in abundance and one must take full advantage of this season.  By the way did you know that there are over 10,000 varieties of tomatoes? Tomato is a very healthy vegetable which has good water content, is rich in Vitamin C and have zero cholesterol level.  That is too much of gyan from my side :P Now let us see the tips.

How to select Tomatoes:

Buying and selecting is the real trick. Choose the one that is firm, full and deep bright red in colour. Avoid the one that is mushy and or even slightly green –both of them will lack in flavour. Don't worry about tomatoes with weird shapes. Even cracked skin is okay, but leaking juice and soft spots are not. Another test is the smell; prefer one that has strong earthy odour- stronger the smell means better tomato. Shun the ones with no smell- they are complete no no.

How to store Tomatoes:

Tomatoes are delicate and fragile and must be handled properly. Refrigerating tomatoes damages the membranes inside the fruit walls, causing the tomato to lose flavour, so the best place to store tomatoes is at room temperature. Take off their wine stems and keep them upside down, this will help tomatoes stay fresh for long.  If tomatoes are not quite ripe, leave them in a brown paper bag for a couple of days.

How to preserve Tomatoes:

Whenever we think of preserving jellies and jams comes to our mind. But here is an easy way -just freeze the whole tomatoes. Yes! If you have space in the freezer just put tomatoes in a Ziploc bag and freeze them; it stays fresh for long.

Hope these tips help.  Please comment if you have any tip/s related to tomatoes. 

* Disclaimer :::: Not all the information mentioned above is my own and some of it are taken from various books and online sources like Google including the pics. My pics will have my logo on them , rest all are taken randomly from Google 

Tuesday's Tip- What to do with over-salted soup/curry?

Hey readers! I am starting with new section in my blog. Every Tuesday I will mention a tip or a trick that will be very helpful in your daily life. Something like how remove  stains, avoid bad odor in your refrigerator  how to clean stuffs, how to choose a fruit, some quick fix in the kitchen etc etc... Exciting! isnt it?? So stay tune. 

How many times have we all worked for hours and then realized that the Soup or Curry has too much salt?Do not throw it away, there is a perfect fix! And this is the tip of the week. What to do with over-salted soup/curry.

There are 3 tips that I will like to share.
Tip 1- If your curry is already cooked and you do not wanna over cook it then simply add large chunks of boiled potatoes (large because it will be easy to take them out) and let it sit in for 4-5 minutes. Taste and then remove the potatoes.

Tip2- If curry and vegetables are still cooking then simply peal a raw potato and cube it and add in the curry. Let the potato cook with other vegetables. Remove the cooked potatoes if you want to.


Tip-3 This one is very good. Simple take 1 tbsp of cornflour and mix with 2 tbsp of water and mix with soup or gravy. If the soup or curry turns thick add some more water. Cornflour will absorb the extra salt. 

I hope that next time if you have added extra salt in the food, these tips will be very helpful. 
See you on next tuesday with another tip.

* Disclaimer :::: Not all the information mentioned above are my own and some of it are taken from various books and online sources like Google including the pics. My pics will have my logo on them , rest all are taken randomly from Google