33 Genius Kitchen & Nutrition Hacks You Need to Know

Welcome to Dr. Sumaiya NutriCare Clinic’s blog! Today, we’re sharing 33 incredibly useful kitchen and nutrition hacks to make your cooking easier, healthier, and more delicious. These tips cover everything from enhancing flavor and extending shelf life to fixing cooking mishaps and boosting nutritional value. Let’s dive in!

Quick Recipes and Flavor Enhancements

• Fruity Milkshake: Blend 1 tablespoon of fruit jam with cold milk for a quick and delicious fruit shake. This is a great way to use up leftover jam and get kids to drink more milk. Milk is a good source of calcium, crucial for bone health (Source: National Institutes of Health).
• Achari Poori: Add 2 tablespoons of pickle masala, 2 tablespoons of pickle oil, and a pinch of salt to a cup of wheat flour for flavorful achari pooris. These are perfect for breakfast or as a travel snack.
• Achari Vegetables: Transform any regular dry vegetable dish (subzi) into an “achari” version by adding 1 tablespoon of leftover pickle masala. Try it with potatoes (aloo), okra (bhindi), eggplant (brinjal), or your favorite vegetable.
• Nutritious Chutney (with fruit): Enhance your coriander chutney by adding sour or over-ripe fruits like kiwi, green apple, oranges, or berries. This adds sweetness, tanginess, and extra vitamins.
• Nutritious Chutney (with nuts): Add a few nuts (like walnuts, almonds, or cashews) to your coriander chutney for added nutrition and a longer shelf life. Nuts provide healthy fats, protein, and fiber.
• Coffee Twist: Add a little Bournvita (or similar malted chocolate drink) to your coffee for a unique flavor twist.
• Sooji Halwa Upgrade: Add 1 tablespoon of gram flour (besan) to semolina (sooji) while making halwa for a richer, more delicious flavor.
• Creamy Gravy: Use milk instead of water when making gravy for kofta or paneer dishes. This results in a smoother, creamier texture.
• Tomato Substitute: If you’re short on tomatoes for gravy, add some tomato ketchup for a similar flavor and color.
• Flavorful Tomato Soup: Add a pinch of dried mint powder to your tomato soup for an enhanced flavor.
• Crispy Fritters: Combine leftover cooked rice with spices and bread, mash well, and make crispy fritters.
• Enhanced Coffee Flavor: Add a pinch of salt to your coffee to enhance its flavor. A small amount of salt can reduce bitterness and bring out the coffee’s natural sweetness.

Fixing Cooking Mishaps

• Too Much Chili: If you’ve added too much chili powder to a gravy, balance the heat by adding some curd (yogurt), lemon juice, or 2 teaspoons of ghee (clarified butter). Dairy products contain casein, which helps neutralize capsaicin, the compound that makes chilies hot.
• Hard Gulab Jamuns: If your gulab jamuns turn out hard, cook them in a pressure cooker with sugar syrup for 5 minutes on medium heat. Serve warm.
• Extra Salt: If you’ve added too much salt to a dish, add a peeled raw potato or a ball of wheat flour dough. Boil for a minute, then discard the potato or dough, which will absorb the excess salt.
• Burnt Rice: Place a slice of bread in the pan with burnt rice for 10 minutes. The bread will absorb the burnt flavor.

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Extending Shelf Life and Food Preservation

• Potato Chip Preparation: Mix some alum powder in water and soak sliced potatoes before boiling to make crispy chips. Alum helps to firm up the cell walls of the potatoes.
• Bright Red Chili Powder: Add a little mustard oil while grinding red chili powder for a vibrant red color.
• Grinding Cardamom: Add some sugar to small cardamom pods while grinding to make the process easier.
• Preventing Dough from Drying: Grease leftover dough with oil or ghee before covering and storing it in the refrigerator to prevent it from drying out.
• Storing Potatoes: Keep an apple with potatoes to prevent them from sprouting. Apples release ethylene gas, which can inhibit sprouting.
• Removing Worms from Cauliflower: Soak cauliflower florets in water with white vinegar or turmeric for 10 minutes to remove any worms.

Boosting Nutritional Value

• Whey Utilization: Don’t discard the whey (liquid) after making cottage cheese (paneer). Use it to make roti dough or add it to curries for added protein and nutrients. Whey is a good source of protein and other essential nutrients (Source: *Journal of Dairy Science*).

Clever Cooking Techniques

• Soft and Moist Cake: Add a little glycerine to cake batter to make it softer and moister. Glycerine is a humectant, meaning it helps retain moisture.
• Easy-to-Remove Curry Leaves: Add whole curry leaf sprigs to dishes instead of chopped leaves. This makes them easy to remove after cooking.
• Chopping Efficiency: Use scissors to chop green chilies and coriander. This is often faster and easier than using a knife.
• Preventing Potato Cracking: Add salt or vinegar to the water while boiling potatoes to prevent them from cracking.
• Aloo Paratha Tip: If you’re having trouble rolling aloo paratha (potato-stuffed flatbread), add dry roasted gram flour or bread crumbs to the filling. This helps absorb moisture and prevents the filling from coming out.
• Softer Idlis: Add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar to idli batter for softer idlis. The acidity helps create a lighter texture.
• Crisp Pooris: Add some gram flour or semolina to wheat flour when making pooris for a crispier texture.
• Coffee Ice Cubes: Freeze leftover coffee in an ice tray. Use these coffee ice cubes instead of plain ice cubes for cold coffee to prevent dilution.

Cleaning and Other Tips

• Silverware Cleaning: Use white tooth powder to clean silverware and silver jewelry. The mild abrasives in tooth powder can help remove tarnish.
• Soft Asafoetida: If asafoetida (hing) becomes hard, keep a green chili with it to soften it.

These kitchen hacks offer simple solutions to common cooking challenges and can help you enhance both the flavor and nutritional value of your meals. For personalized dietary advice and to address specific health concerns, consider booking a consultation with Dr. Sumaiya.

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References

National Institutes of Health (NIH). [https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Calcium-HealthProfessional/](https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Calcium-HealthProfessional/) Journal of Dairy Science. [Insert specific article link if available, otherwise remove this bracketed section]