Cooking is not as difficult as it seems so. Trust me because I am a novice myself and I started cooking due to COVID-19 quarantine. I am sharing my tips & tricks to make lives easier for people like us who have a very busy life due to both ‘work from home’ and ‘work for home’. Nothing fancy but cooking food that tastes good, is healthy and doesn’t require a lot of effort. This is my attempt to re-create that mummy wale khaane ki feeling – ‘simple gharwali sabzi’.
One basic rule that I have learnt: You can make any sabzi starting with just ONIONS and TOMATOES (< 30 mins). Simple steps:
Making the onion-tomato puree base (5-10 min)
- Chop onions and tomatoes separately (use a handy chopper/ mixer)
- Sautee onions (oil/ghee with jeera/cumin until they turn brownish, 5-10 mins)
- Add chopped tomatoes
- Add water, salt and simmer with covered lid for 5-10 mins
- Puree is ready
Making any sabzi (10-15 min)
- Wash and cut the required vegetables or use frozen vegetables
- Suggested veggies: capsicum/bell pepper, mushrooms, frozen peas, frozen corn
- Add the vegetables in the base onion-tomato puree
- Add masalas (try your luck and experiment)
- Suggested masalas: garam masala, dhaniya/coriander powder, amchoor/dry mango ppwder, salt, chili, haldi
- Start with 1/2-1 teaspoons
- Simmer with the lid closed for 5-10 mins
- Add more water depending on the type of veggies
- Optional:
- Add crushed or cut paneer
- Add more salt, lemon etc. (as per taste)
- Add a bit of salsa sauce/ketchup/any other chutney to try different flavours
- Sabzi is ready
Tips
- Try different combinations of vegetables as per ease and availability
- Frozen vegetables for easier life: peas, corn
- Cut vegetables in one go and freeze (store in a ziplock)
- Chop bell pepper/capsicum in a handy chopper
- Try MTR/Catch readymade masalas like Sabzi masala, paneer masala, etc.
Tried all combos with these veggies
- Cottage cheese (paneer)
- Capsicum/Bell pepper (shimla mirch) – all kinds (green, yellow, red)
- Mushroom
- American corn (frozen)
- Peas (frozen)
Easy & practical sides with sabzi
You don’t have to knead flour and make roti/paratha/chapati
- Frozen parathas
- Tortilla wraps
- Wholewheat roti
- Try Nipun Fresh roti https://nipunfresh.in/
- Try Harvest Gold Halka Phulka https://harvestgold.in/products/category/Roti
- Rice
- Bread/buns
Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/foodinza/ for daily quarantine food fixes. Do share your tips & tricks.
