Kitchen tips are hacks used in the kitchen to promote healthy and safe cooking. When preparing Nigerian dishes, there are tips that modify recipes so as to retain the most nutrients, cut down on unhealthy cooking practices, and generally improve the quality of meals prepared. In this article, important kitchen tips peculiar to Nigerian kitchens will be discussed.
Here are some kitchen tips in Nigerian homes;
- When cooking beans, first of all, parboil the beans and drain the water before proceeding to cook. This would help In preventing heartburns.
- Avoid using paracetamol and nails to soften tough meats such as cow leg and cow head, as this is dangerous for the health. Instead, make use of a pressure cooker.
- To get cooked rice that is not sticky, cook your rice with excess water and drain the water when the rice is ready.
- Wondering how to make pound yam without stress? Peel, cut and blend the yam, then stir in a pot as you do when preparing fufu and amala.
- If you want to enjoy boiled rice without stew, add salt and seasoning cube to it as this would make it tasty.
- Salty soup? Add peeled Irish potatoes to your soup and heat it up. This is the trick to removing the salty taste.
- If you want to prevent your unripe plantains from becoming ripe, keep them inside a bowl of water. This way, you could keep them for as long as you desire. The plantains would ripen when you take them out of the water.
- Watery soup? No need to worry. Add some flour or raw garri to your soup. This would help in thickening the soup.
- If you want to get the perfect taste for your beef, first parboil the washed beef with only onions and seasoning cubes till the water dries out. When it’s dried, you can then add water.
- You can use an iron sponge to clean off sand and dirt from dried fish or dip the fish in hot water and salt.
- Burnt rice? Place a slice of bread in the pot of rice for some minutes. This would absorb all the burnt smell. Take out the bread and serve.
- If you encounter kitchen accidents with hot oil, water, pot or fire while cooking, no worries. Apply salt Ir baking flour immediately as this would make it heal without leaving a scar behind.
- When cooking spaghetti or macaroni, add some drops of vegetable oil and salt to the boiling content of the pot to prevent it from sticking together.
- Add some drops of vegetable oil to boiling water before adding your wheat, amala or some flour and then stir. This would give the swallow a smoother finishing void of lumps. This also helps to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- Rinse your boiled spaghetti with clean water to remove excess starch. This would also give your spaghetti a non-sticky feel.
- To prevent your vegetables from going bad, slice them and store them in the freezer. Even if you store it for a while, you can retain its freshness If you use it without defrosting.
- Salty yam? Add clean water and drain well before serving.
- If you want to preserve your cooking ingredients, store them in tightly closed containers immediately after every use.
- Instead of using a broom when preparing ewedu, use a food blender.
- When cooking and pepper accidentally enter your eyes, lick salt. This would calm the peppery sensation.
- After boiling eggs, drop them in cold water. This prevents It from cracking.
- To remove the taste of previously fried food from cooking your cooking oil, fry some ginger in it before reusing it.
- Rub vegetable oil on your hands when peeling plantain to prevent it from sticking to your hands.
- When cooking ogbono or okra soup, don’t cover the pot as it would prevent it from drawing well. You can cover it when it’s cooled down.
- Before cutting an onion, place the onion in the refrigerator for some minutes. This would prevent your eyes from tearing up while cutting the onion.
- If you want to easily peel the back of garlic, soak it in cold water for a minute before peeling it on your hands.
- To prevent weevils from entering your stored beans, remove all the dirt from the beans before storing them in a container with a cover. This would preserve the beans for a very long time.
- When preparing moi moi, soak your beans in hot water for some minutes and then wash. This would make the peel come off smoothly.
- Soured soup? Add charcoal to the soup to revive it.
- When storing your food items, do not store potatoes and onions in the same place because they produce gas that can make them spoil quickly.
- If you want to make pure groundout oil from palm oil, place two or three orange leaves in your hot palm oil on the fire.
- Store your moi moi leaves in nylon and place them in the freezer. This preserves the leaves for as long as you want.
- If you want to soften your cocoyam quickly while cooking, add salt when it starts boiling.
- Applying vegetable oil on your hands before cutting pepper helps to tone down the effect of the pepper on your hands.
- Place a slice of bread on your rice if you notice it’s too soft due to the addition of plenty of water when cooking it. This would help in absorbing the water and returning the rice to a normal texture.
- Blend your garri before adding hot water to get a smooth texture.
- Adding a slice of tomatoes to your food helps to reduce cholesterol.
- Rubbing vegetable oil on your eggs before placing them in the refrigerator helps to keep the eggs fresh for as long as you want.
- Soaking your onion in water for a few minutes before cutting helps to reduce the effect of the onion on your eyes hence preventing you from crying.