Cooking is an art. The one who has learned this art, becomes an expert in cooking. But whenever you open a recipe book, you get to see a lot of recipes from different provinces, countries and cultures. You read a recipe, go to the kitchen and start making it. But when it is ready, it does not have the taste that you had tasted earlier.
Actually, every state, region and community has its own way of cooking food. In such a situation, there may be some difference in the recipe of the same dish. Every state also has different dishes, which are made on special occasions. In such a situation, the taste, ingredients and methods of their food are completely different from each other.
In today's time, due to globalization and digitalization, you can easily make the dish of any country at home, for which hundreds of recipe videos, blogs and websites are available on the internet. These give you the opportunity to learn and enjoy food cultures from around the world. But the only thing that is lacking is time. No one has enough time today to cook food properly. In such a situation, it has become very important to bring changes in the nutrition of food.
The other side is that today's women are not able to pay attention to nutrition due to being working, which has a negative impact on the health of the family. Therefore, it is very important for you to know how to cook, because there are some important steps in cooking, not following which properly can affect the taste of the food as well as health.
These small steps in the cooking process ensure that the food is not only tasty, but is also full of nutrients. Actually, food is a medicine and not following the right steps while making it can have an adverse effect on your diet and health.
Selection of fresh ingredients
The first and most important process of cooking is - selection of right and fresh ingredients. Fresh and high quality ingredients not only make food taste better but also strengthen the immune system. Therefore, while making any recipe, ensure that all the ingredients are fresh so that your food not only tastes delicious but also benefits health.
Also, the taste and nutrition of any food depends on whether the ingredients you are using are fresh, of good quality and chosen correctly. If you do not choose the right ingredients, not only the taste of the food will be affected, but you will also not get the nutrients from it. Therefore, as far as possible, choose all the ingredients from vegetables to spices fresh.
Cut and washed in the right shape
For food to taste delicious, it is important that vegetables are cut in the right shape. Cutting vegetables in the right way improves the taste of food, the cooking process is also effective and nutrients are also retained in large quantities. Also, by cutting each type of vegetable according to its size and shape, all the spices and other flavors get mixed in it in a better way and the taste of the food also increases.
For example, by cutting onions and tomatoes into small pieces, they cook quickly and mix well with the spices, which gives a great flavor to the food. On the other hand, when you wash the vegetables thoroughly and cook them, the bacteria present in them are removed.
Time to cook oil and spices
While cooking any kind of dish, heating the oil or ghee too much and frying vegetables or any food item in it can destroy its nutrients and the food fried in it absorbs more fat, which has a bad effect on health. On the other hand, if the oil is less hot, the food will not be cooked properly and its taste will also be spoiled. Therefore, oil or ghee should be heated on medium flame and while frying, one should avoid heating it again and again.
Also, frying food for too long makes it crispy and increases the fat and calorie content, so food should be cooked at the right temperature and for the right time.
Taste and Nutrition
Every recipe has a right balance of spices, salt, chilli and water. If you add too much or too little of any ingredient, the food can become too spicy, sour or tasteless. If you add too much or too little of any ingredient during the cooking process, the vitamins, minerals, calories and health benefits present in it can be lost. So when a recipe says to add a teaspoon of chilli or garam masala, it means that you have to use that much. Not following the instructions given in the recipe does not give the right texture and taste to the food, and there is also an increased risk of nutrients being lost.
Balance of Water and Liquids
When you make something like curry, soup or stew by looking at a recipe, it is important to carefully follow the amount of water or other liquids given in the recipe. Adding too much water can dilute it and reduce the taste. Adding less water can burn it or it may not cook properly, due to which you will not get the right nutrition.
Therefore, using liquids like curd, coconut milk, tomato paste and water at the right time and in the right quantity enhances the taste, which also benefits your health.
Serve at what temperature
The taste and aroma of some foods remain better only when they are hot. Keeping food for a long time and then cooling it can not only spoil its taste but can also increase harmful bacteria in it. Some foods, such as soups, are served hot so that you get the right nutrition. On the other hand, serving salad and curd cold enhances the taste, but keep them properly covered before cooling, so that bacteria does not grow in them.
Health and safety
The recipe instructions organize the cooking process very carefully. This also includes things like keeping raw and cooked food separate, washing hands and keeping utensils clean. All these steps are to keep the food safe and healthy. If we do not cook food at the proper temperature, bacteria and viruses can develop in it, which are harmful for health. Therefore, following the steps of the recipe not only improves the art of cooking, but it is also very important for health.
Health is from food
Cooking expert Sarita Khurana says, the food of all the provinces in our country is wonderful in itself, but in the modern era, no one pays attention to the nutrition of food. If you add tomatoes in every vegetable, then make sure that you use only its pulp and remove the seeds. You can use hill tomatoes, because they have more pulp and less seeds.
Do not heat the oil too much, because it can spoil the taste of your food, but heating mustard oil to the smoking point does not make the vegetable bitter.
Washing raw vegetables in hot water reduces the spray present in it and the vegetable gets cooked quickly.
While cooking vegetables, first fry onion, garlic, ginger. When everything is fried, then add tomatoes and fry after adding a little salt. After this add turmeric, red chili powder, coriander powder and finally garam masala.
When you are going to make lentils, soak it in water for two to three hours before cooking, this increases its nutritional value. Also, you have to understand that food is never cooked in a cooker, it only melts, due to which all its nutritional value is lost, so cook food on low flame. Nutrition value remains in food cooked on low flame.
While cooking rice, first soak it in water for some time and squeeze half a lemon while cooking. This makes the rice fluffy.
While making any kind of chutney in the mixer, if you add a little butter to it, then the chutney comes out of the jar quickly and its taste also increases.
While marinating paneer, if you add pomegranate paste to it, then it becomes more delicious.
While making the batter for idli or dosa, definitely use fenugreek seeds in it. This makes the dosa very crispy. Using sweet corn while making pav bhaji can give you a new taste. Also, while grinding garam masala, do not use dry coriander in it, because while cooking this masala starts burning before getting cooked.
While making flour or semolina pudding, take care not to heat the ghee too much, because it can spoil the entire taste of the pudding.
(PC: ISTOCK)
