Salams everyone,
I've just recently started cooking and desperately want to be able to cook decent home made meals after going through the horrors of junk food. I have copied lots of recipes from the recipe section on the website but hardly anyone ever mentions the exact amount of salt and lal mirch. I suppose its taken for granted or depends on the person how they want it. But its the part that I mess up the most. My food has either been too salty or too mirchy with little salt. I try to make a salan that will last two people tow days, so keeping that in mind, how much is a reasonable amount of salt and lal mirch.
Secondly, every time I make salan my onions don't get completely taken in by the gravy, rather they sort of float around which is very annoying. Is there any way to achieve a smooth consistency? My husband likes his salan to be thick, gravy-like so I'm not aiming for super thin shorbas rather smooth thick gravies. How much should I fry the onions, brown, golden, brown-black?
My rice havent been too kind on me either. Let's say, I'm making two cups of rice, how much water should I put? Should I keep the lid on while boiling them? What if the bottom rice are mushy and the ones at the top are still a bit kachey...
Its just these little questions that have become so important in my life. If anyone could please guide me on this, it'd be greatly appreciated.
P.S: Is there a secret technique or something to make rotis on electric cookers or is that right only reserved by gas stoves?
Niqabi , I usually add one and a half teaspoon each of namak and mirch ....
I think it largely depends on how spicy you like your food ... but start with this measurement and start decreasing or increasing as per your family's taste.
About the gravy, I like thick gravies as well.. and there are two ways to achieve it ...Method one: crush onion into a smooth paste in a grinder/blender with quarter of a cup of water and then fry it .... and I blend tomatoes into a fine paste as well before adding them to the salan ....
Method 2: fry the thinly sliced onions until light brown, then add ginger garlic paste , then tomatoes finely diced ... once the masala is prepared , add salt, chilli, haldi and spices ... put off the fire , let it cool .. then put this in a blender and blend it to a find paste ... that achieves a perfect taste + excellent consistency of gravy ..
As sara said , the gravy depends on the tomatoes .. but make sure you dont add tons of it , or else your khana will turn overly sweet and bland ...
About the rice , mostly when i have to boil rice for chinese or biryani or vegetable rice , I do the same way as Sara suggested ... but when i have to do pilau or yellow zarda .. I add double the water .. for example two cups rice = 4 cups or 3 and a half cup water , then cover and let it simmer on low heat ...
you know when you try to cook rice on high heat , thats when the lower rice get mashed and the upper ones remain uncooked ... so leave it to simmer on low heat and dont cover fully , just leave it a quarter of a space open ... stir one or two times .... and it shouldnt give you trouble inshallah.
About the Roti on an electric stove ... let the first side be done about 60% ... then the second side ... the same 60% .. then turn side again and using a clean cotton cloth , apply light pressure on the roti.. you will notice that it starts to fluff up ...