Vegetable Art Photo Slide

Cleaning Tips & Tricks

I started this blog not only to share the recipes that i cook for my family but also to share interesting facts, tips and tricks. In this post I am sharing few cleaning tips which you might find useful.

To get rid of mosquitoes, keep a few pieces of camphor in a bowl of water.

For fruit juice stain, ice cream stain, ink stain, rub lemon juice on that area and wash as usual.

To clean tea stains in the tea cup take a transparent plastic cover and put some liquid soap / powder on the plastic and rub it on the stains. This does wonders and removes tea stains within minutes.

For coffee and tea stain, dust some talcum powder in that area and then wash as usual.

Greasy spots from clothing can be removed using corn starch. 

Add dried lemon peel powder to your cleaning powder to wash utensils.They will sparkle.

To remove dust from your artificial flowers/plants, use a hair dryer (with low settings) to blow off dust.

Neem leaves are Eco friendly insect repellent. They can be kept in bookshelves to keep away silver fish.

Add a little kerosene to a bucket of water and mop the floor using that liquid to get rid of ants and other pest.

To remove stains from knife, rub onion on it and wipe it clean with a cloth.

For sparkling mirror,crumple a newspaper and wipe the mirror with it.

Fine glass pieces can be picked up using a ball of tamarind or a ball of dough.The glass pieces will stick to it thus making cleaning easier.

Rub cut lemon on strain or spots on tiles, leave it for 20 minutes and wash it with soap water.

Clean your kitchen surface with lemon juice or lemon peels to get rid of grease.

Lemon juice can be used to clean brass and copper also.

Rub a little besan/gram flour to greasy vessels and clean them.Then clean them with soapy water as usual. The grease will vanish.

To clear  the blocked drain pipe of your kitchen sink, mix 1/2 cup sodium bicarbonate in 1 cup vinegar and pour it into the sink, and pour about 1 cup water. In an hour the drain pipe will open.


Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Onion Curry

Onion Curry is a very quick curry, yet tasty and can be done in 5 minutes. When vegetables are out of stock then prepare this yummy curry, everyone in your house loves it. This time i used sambhar powder in the curry. Onion curry with sambhar powder is really delicious.

Ingredients:

1/2 kg onion, thinly sliced
2 tsps sambhar powder
1 tbsp oil
salt as per taste
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1tsp urad dal
pinch of hing (optional)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp lemon juice (optional)
coriander leaves, for garnishing

Method:

1: Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing, turmeric powder, urad dal and saute for few seconds.

2: Now add onions, salt, sambhar powder and cook till onions turn transparent and soft.

3: Finally add lemon juice and turn off the heat.

4: Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti / chapati / poori / rice.

 Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Daal Fry

Daal fry and Jeera Rice is a ultimate combination of meal. It is very easy to make. Daal fry goes well with roti too. Lets learn how to make daal fry with Archana.

Ingredients:

1 cup toor daal
1 big onion, finely chopped
1 big tomato, finely chopped
salt to taste
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 tbsps ghee
1/2 tsp garlic paste
2 green chillies, slit lenghtwise
pinch of hing
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp lemon juice
coriander leaves, for garnishing

Method:

1: Pressure cook daal in such a way that it should not be mashed totally.

2: Heat ghee in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing, turmeric powder, green chillies, onions and fry till the onions are transluscent.

3: Then add tomatoes and saute till the tomatoes releases their moisture.

4: Now add garlic paste, garam masala, red chilli powder and saute for 1 minute.

5: Finally add cooked daal, salt, and mix well. Add little water if needed. Let it simmer on medium flame for few minutes. Add lemon juice, mix and turn off the heat.

6: Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with jeera rice or roti.

Archana's Kitchen- Indian Vegetarian Cooking: Jeera Rice


Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Jeera Rice

Jeera Rice (cumin flavored rice) is a simple and tasty variation on plain rice with cumin seeds. with any  It is popular dish in North India. It can be served with any vegetarian curry or dall fry.

Ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice
2tsp cumin seeds
2 green chillies, cut in long strip
3-4 mint leaves
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp oil
few coriander leaves, finely chopped
salt to taste

Method:
1:wash and soak basmati rice for 10-15 minutes.

2: Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, green chillies, onions and fry till onions become transparent.

3: Add mint leaves, coriander leaves and saute for 1-2 minutes.

4: Finally add rice, water(1cup rice =1.5 cups of water ) salt and stir. Cover with a lid and cook until the rice is done.

5: Serve jeera rice hot with spicy raita or dall fry.

Jeera rice served with dall fry.........

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.  

Lemon Rasam

Rasam is commom recipe in South Indian homes. Its like a soup. You can drink it or mix it with white rice. Lemon Rasam is simple to make, light and tangy. Learn how to make lemon rasam by following this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes, finely chopped
1/4 cup toor dal (Soak it in a cup of warm water)
2 tsp rasam powder
1 lemon
little ginger, grated
1 green chilli, slit lenghtwise
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
few curry leaves
coriander leaves, for garnishing

For the seasoning:

1 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
few curry leaves
pinch of hing

Method:

1: Pressure cook toor dal till soft. Mash it well and keep aside.

2: Take a tumbler of water, add chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, rasam powder, green chilli, salt, ginger and curry leaves. Boil till the raw flavour goes.

3:Mix cooked toor dal with little water and add it to the rasam. Do not boil rasam too much as it will loose its taste.

4: Switch off when it is frothy. Squeeze juice of lemon to the rasam.

5: Heat a tsp of ghee and season the rasam with the ingredients for seasoning.

6: Garnish with coriander leaves. Enjoy it!!!!

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Mysore Rasam

Mysore Rasam is a traditional type of soup prepared in South India. This rasam is very famous in Karnataka.It is one of my favourite rasam.  It is served with hot rice. It can also be had as a soup.

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes, finely chopped
3 tbsps toor dal (soak it in a cup of hot water so that it takes lesser time to get cooked
tamarind, half lemon sized (soak it in a cup of warm water)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
few curry leaves
salt to taste
coriander leaves

Roast And Grind

2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp chana dal
12-15 whole black pepper
2 red chillies
1 tbsp coconut

Fry the above ingredients  in a little ghee, add coconut in the end and fry a little. Grind everything together to a fine paste.

To Temper (Tadka)

1 tsp ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
few curry leaves
pinch of hing (optional)

Method:

1: Soak tamarind in hot water and extract the juice.

2. Pressure cook dal till soft. Mash it well and keep aside.

3: Take tamarind extract and add chopped tomatoes, curry leaves, turmeric powder, salt. Boil till the raw smell goes.

4. Then add the ground paste, cooked toor dal and water as needed. Switch off when it becomes frothy. Turn off the stove.

5: Heat a tsp of ghee and add the ingredients for seasoning and pour it over the rasam.

6: Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Your yummy and tasty mysore  rasam is ready.

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Bottle Gourd Peel Chutney

Bottle gourd is known as kaddu or lauki in Hindi. Generally we discard the peels of bottle gourd without any thought of using it. But now onwards use the peels to make a yummy, tasty and mouth watering chutney. This chutney can be served along with idli, dosa and it tastes good with hot rice too.

Ingredients:
peels of 1 big bottle gourd
1 tbsp oil
2-3 green chillies
little tamarind (seedless)
salt to taste
2 cloves of garlic (optional)

Method:

1: Chop the bottle gourd peels and green chillies.

2: Add oil in a pan, add green chillies and saute for few seconds.

3: Now add bottle gourd peels, tamarind, salt, garlic and cook till the peels turns soft. Turn off the heat.

4: Once it is cool, grind the above mixture adding little water to a smooth paste.

5: Yummy and delicious chutney is ready.
    Enjoy!

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Dum Aloo

Dum Aloo is an easy Indian recipe prepared with baby potatoes. It is a traditional khasmiri recipe which tastes yummy and spicy. You can serve Dum Aloo with chapati or rice.

Ingredients:
5-6 baby potatoes
1 bay leaf
2 onions
2 tomatoes
1 inch ginger
2 garlic pods
2 green chillies
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
1tsp coriander powder
red chilli powder
salt as per taste
2 tbsps oil
2 tbsp curd
coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/2 lemon

Method:
1: Wash the potatoes, boil them adding salt, peel and prick them with a fork.

2: Heat 2 tbsps of oil in a large pan and just fry the potatoes till it becomes light golden brown color and keep them aside.

3: Grind onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies and keep aside.


4: Grind tomatoes separately in a paste and keep aside.


5: Heat oil in a pan, add bay leaf, onion-ginger-garlic-green chilli paste, turmeric powder and saute for 5 minutes.


6: Now add tomato paste, garam masala, coriander powder,red chilli powder,salt. Bring the mixture to a boil. If the mixture is too thick, add water and bring it to a desired consistency. Simmer and cook until the raw smell is gone.

7: Add curd,potatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and squeeze lime juice.

8: Serve hot with chapati or rice.


Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.