Substitute of wine in recipes is grape juice.

Measuring Pans - Sizes may vary from top & even from rim to rim, like a 10-inch pan might measure 9-3/4" or 10-1/4 ".

When cooking something in a pressure-cooker, add a little tamarind or a small piece of lemon along with water. It prevents the inside of the vessel from getting discolored.

Whenever a recipe calls for 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.

Smear your hands with a little tamarind juice while collecting butter from churned cream. The butter will not stick to the hands.

Always use a clean pair of kitchen scissors to trim edges of bread. Much neater and less messy edges as compared to those trimmed with a knife.

Most casseroles can be made up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated. Be sure and add 15 or 20 minutes to the cooking time to compensate.

To chill foods quickly put them in your freezer for 20 to 30 minutes rather than longer in the refrigerator.

Put a few grains of rice in the salt shaker to keep moisture from caking the salt.

Use an empty, well-cleaned detergent bottle to store cooking oil. Just squirt the oil into the pan.

Add one tbsp. cooking oil to a bottle of cooking wine to prevent it from going sour.

Don't throw away leftover wine or wine that has begun to go off. Boil it down by half, bottle and refrigerate, then use for cooking.

To prevent salt shaker clogging, put 5 to 10 raw grains of rice into your salt shaker.

For attractive storage containers, cover empty coffee or shortening cans with adhesive backed paper in your favorite color and pattern. Use them for storing cookies and dry goods.

Use a photo album as a recipe book. Each time you cut a recipe out of a newspaper or magazine, place it in one of the albums plastic sleeves. That sleeve will shield it from drips and spatters when you use the recipe.

Always use the very best ingredients you can afford.

Flour is the primary ingredient in baking and you should always have good quality flour on hand.

Unless stated otherwise, all ingredients should be at room temperature.

When you Boil water, place a lid on the pot and the water will come to a boil in a shorter period of time - saving at least 10 minutes.

Before heating the fat, add one tablespoon white vinegar to minimize the amount of fat absorbed by the frying food. The food will also taste less greasy.

If you overheat your oil and it begins to smoke, this is a sign that the oil has started to break down and should be discarded. The smoky taste will penetrate the food, and at this stage the oil can easily burst into flames.

When pan frying or sautèing, always heat your pan before adding the butter or oil. Not even eggs stick with this method.

It is always handy to keep the following things in your refrigerator.

1. Boiled Vegetables: These can be used to rustle up delicious subzis in minutes.
2. Boiled Potatoes: Potatoes are very versatile and can be used in lots of recipes
3. Pastes: Onion paste, garlic paste, ginger paste, green chilli paste etc. last for a long time and can be used as required
4. Gravies : Like kadai gravy and green gravy should be made in bulk and frozen. These last for upto two months and are very handy and help optimize on time.


Innovative use of ready food mixes helps to shorten an elaborate recipe. Here are a few tips


5. Make a sponge cake using a cake mix and then decorate it with different kinds of icing. Your mouth- watering gateau is ready
6. Gulab jamuns and rasgullas can be made using the mixes. They can then be converted into various desserts like malai koftas, rasmalais, meva batis etc.