Indian Foods Guide

Tips for Cooking Rice

1. Wash the rice a few times until the water runs clear. Remove all the water until no water remains. Let it sit for 20 minutes.  This will remove all the starch and help the rice to remain separate.
2. Also adding a few drops of lemon juice to the rice while cooking, you will find that the grains of rice will tend to remain separate.
3. Retaining the "whiteness" of white rice : While cooking rice add a few drops of  lemon juice. The  color of the grains become bright white.
4. Reheating left-over Rice : Refrigerate leftover cooked rice in a well-sealed container. Reheat cold rice with a sprinkling of water in a microwave oven or in a covered pot over low heat.  Left over rice is great to have on hand for stirring into soups and broths and for making fried rice — it's perhaps the world's best vehicle for turning leftovers into something fresh and new.
   
   

Tips for Preparing and Grilling Kebabs

Summer time is a great time for some nice outdoor grilling and this summer we spent a lot of time doing that and experimenting with some new kebab recipes.  Through those experiments we learnt a few things that we thought were worth sharing.  Marination If you grind your own spices, ensure that they are correctly pounded whenever possible to bring out the true flavors/aroma When yogurt is to be used for marination, it should be hung in a muslin cloth for at least 1 1/2 hours before use to drain out extra whey. With many Indian kebabs, marination is very important. Make sure your marinate the meat for as long as the recipes require, more if possible. The marination should be thick paste to coat the meat and vegetables well. For tandoori kebabs, basting acquires  special significance. It is the application of butter or oil which selas in the juices  and makes the kebab succulent.