Cooking tips

* Soak potatoes and eggplant / brinjal after cutting, to avoid discoloration.
* Cut the stems and put the fresh coriander leaves in an air tight box and keep refrigerated to have a longer fresh life of coriander.
* Use scissors to chop fresh mint, chilies and coriander finely and without any mess.
*After boiling noodles immediately put them in normal cold water to separate them each.
* While cooking rice add a few drops of lemon juice so that the color of the grains become white.
* Add a small portion of lemon juice on the slices of apple to maintain the color from not turning black.
* While boiling milk, always add a little water at the base of the vessel to avoid the milk from sticking at the bottom.
* For garlic flavored potato chips, put a peeled garlic clove in a container with chips for several hours. Remove garlic before serving chips.
* Mix little coconut oil and vaseline. Apply this mixture on cracks for a week in the night time. Within 7 days foot will be soft and clear.
* While cooking ladysfinger add a few drops of lemon juice or a spoonful of yogurt to avoid becoming sticky.
* Microwave a lemon for 15 seconds to get double the juice.
* You can take the coconut out of its shell easily by burnining it slitly on stove before breaking.
* Poke a knife into the onion and keep for 10 mins. Now start cutting them, U will enjoy cutting it without tears.
* Put the poppey seeds (gasagasalu) in luke warm water for 10 minutes and then make paste of it.It is the easiest way to make poppey seeds (gasagasalu) paste.
* Store coffee powder in fridge to retain the freshness of coffee powder for a long time.
* Just sit in a closed room including window without fan, AC anything, for atleast 2 hours, u will sweat a lot, drink atleast 1 liter of water whenever u feel sweat..likewise u continue for atleast one month, u can reduce about 3-5 kgs within a month.
*When boiling potatoes, add little lime juice in your pan or cooker. So your cooker wont turn black.
* Every month grind some common salt in your mixer/grinder for some time. This will keep your mixer blades sharp.
* while making the garlic paste put little bit of salt and oil(heat the oil let it be cool) so that you can keep the garlic paste as it is too long.
*Apply mashed banana over a burn on your body for a cooling effect.
* While using ginger and garlic paste in curries, always use garlic at 60% ratio and ginger at 40% as ginger is very strong and may make your dish sharp and pungent.
* To remove stains from knife,rub onion on it and wipe it with a cloth.
* For coffee and tea stain, dust some talcum powder in that area and then wash as usual. 
* Clean your kitchen surface with lemon juice or lemon peels to get rid of grease.

* For fruit juice stain, ice cream stain, ink stain, rub lemon juice on that area and wash as usual.
* While boiling leafy vegetables put some sugar in it to retain the vitamins.
* Place rolled out puris in fridge for 5 minutes before frying, they will consume less oil and will be crispy.
* To store mint leaves for long time, take little bit of oil in pan and fry mint leaves for few minutes and store.
* To prevent insects inside rice and dhals and to retain it for longer time put a few neem leaves in the rice and dhals and store them.
* To avoid sticking masala at the bottom of kadhai add some amount of salt in masala. 
* To cook daal faster, add pinch of turmeric powder and few drops of cooking oil and then cook the daal.
* To peel small onions, soak them in a bowl of water for 30 minutes, then take out the onions and the skin will come out more easily.
* while prepairing the dough of paratha, add milk instead of water. your paratha remain fresh for 2-3 days.
* If you want to keep the coconut fresh, then put it in salt water and keep changing the water every 2 days.
* If you are in hurry and want to remove the pressure of the cooker, keep the cooker in a sink and pour some cold water on the top of cooker.
* Calcium is necessary for strong bones, nails and regular menstrual cycles. Daily take 4 raisins (Dried black grapes).This is for adults only. Children can take in less number. Do not take more as it increases body heat. With in a month you will notice the hardness of your nails.
* Place a small cup of baking soda inside the fridge to absorb all odours. Fresh baking soda can be replaced once in 2-3 months.
* To store curry leaves, put the curry leaves with the stem into air tight container/box with some fenugreek seeds.
* To reheat cold rice, sprinkle little water over the rice and keep covered pot over low heat.
* To keep celery fresh for a long time, wrap it in aluminium foil and place it in the refrigerator.
* If curry became too spicy then add 1-2 spoons of yoghurt (curd) in the curry and cook until whiteness of the yoghurt is disappeared or eat curry with yoghurt/raita or add boiled, peeled and mashed potato in curry. It also make gravy thick or add a dough ball in curry and cook until it hardens, take it out from curry before serving.
* To Clean tea stains in the tea cup take a transparent plastic cover and put some liquid soap / powder on the palstic and rub it on the stains. This does wonders and removes tea stains within minutes.
* Never discard water in which vegetables are cooked, use it in gravies, soups or rasam.
* To prevent formation of ice, rub table salt on the insides of your freezer.
* To clear the blocked drain pipe of your kitchen sink, mix 1/2 cup sodium bicarbonate in 1 cup vinegar and pour it into the sink, and pour about 1 cup water. In an hour the drain pipe will open.
* Put 2-3 cloves in the sugar container to keep safe from ants.