Contents

RECIPES

        CHINESE 

        FRENCH 
         
        GERMAN 

        ITALIAN 


        CHETTINAD 

        SWEDISH 

Basic cooking tips

Experiment with a variety of spices and herbs in your dishes to make them interesting.

Grating Cheese. For easier shredding, put the cheese first in the freezer for thirty minutes.

Grill or roast meat on a rack so the fat drips away.

Icing. Add a pinch of soda bicarbonate to your icing to retain the icing's moisture and prevent cracking.

In place of sour cream, try using non-fat sour cream, yogurt or pureed lowfat cottage cheese.

Make marinades with juices and broth instead of oil.

Microwaving meals requires little or no fat to cook.

Pancakes. Add a little sugar to your batter of pancakes and waffles to make them brown more quickly.

Pie Pastry. To create flakier pastry, substitute a teaspoon of vinegar for one teaspoon of cold water called for in the recipe.

Poach foods by simmering them in hot liquid such as broth, water, wine, or juices; no fat required.

Reduce sugar by 1/4 to 1/3 in baked goods and desserts. Substitute flour for the omitted sugar.

Refrigerate all stocks, stews, and soups and remove the congealed fat before reheating.

Replace heavy cream with evaporated skim milk or lowfat yogurt.

General Cooking Must-Knows

• Before you start cooking, choose recipes that are not too complicated. Too difficult recipe steps can be overwhelming. Be aware of how much resources you can acquire and how much time you can invest on the cooking process.
  
  
• Assemble all your ingredients in one place before you cook to avoid stressing out over lost ingredients in the middle of the cooking process. Arrange also the utensils and other things you're going to need for a more organized cooking.
  
  
• Never ever put cooked or ready-to-serve foods on plates, cutting boards, or other surfaces where you have placed raw meat, fish, poultry, or other foul smelling food. Wash these surfaces first with hot, soapy water to remove all unwanted smell.
  
  
• Experiment with different colors and textures in meals and bring out that creative side. You can also learn variations of one specific dish. You can try recipes from other cultures and make it your own. Or you can completely invent a dish out of the blue. All it takes is imagination and good taste buds and you're sure to conjure delectable dishes with your own twist.
  
  

diet tips

Basic Cooking Secrets Revealed:

1. Add a variety of vegetables to meat dishes to reduce the amount of meat you eat and increase your vegetable intake.
   
   
2. Add fiber such as oatmeal, wheat germ, Raisin Bran, Bran Flakes or All-Bran to muffins and breakfast breads.
   
   
3. Add various kinds of fruit or vegetable to baked breads to make them interesting and more flavorful.
   
   
4. Bake foods using non-fat marinades to retain moisture.
   
   
5. Brown meat pieces and crumbled hamburger, drain off fat, and rinse in strainer with hot water before adding to a recipe.
   
   
6. Chocolate Cake. Add a teaspoon of vinegar to your cake mix for a more delicious chocolate cake.
   
   
7. Decrease sodium by using low sodium or unsalted ingredients.