SOCIAL and civil life is hard enough. Does kitchen life have to be hard too?
This was the question posed by my cousin Dona this week. She was peeling ginger for the chicken curry. “It’s so hard peeling these roots!”
There I was watching her when Uncle Gustave entered the kitchen to rummage through the refrigerator for something to eat.
He made a ham sandwich, but had a hard time pouring the ketchup. I told him to stick a straw through the bottle to allow air to start the ketchup flowing.
“You’re a genius. Why don’t you write something about making kitchen life easier?”
I thought that was a good idea. I do have tricks I learned from handling boiled eggs, ginger and tomatoes. Here are some of the things that made my life in the kitchen breezy.
Storing tomato. If you store tomato stem down, it will keep longer even without refrigeration.
Seeding tomatoes. If you don’t like tomato seeds, just slice the tomato in quarters. Slice off the seeds, and that’s it. Most kitchen tips instruct the cook to scoop it out. It’s too messy.
Boiling root crops. All root crops must be placed in a pot of tap water before boiling. It gives time to slowly cook the root crop.
Peeling ginger. Forget the peeler. Use a paring knife to scrape off the skin. Rinse and you’re done.
Peeling carrots. Use the same trick peeling the ginger. Remember to remove any green portion as this is deemed to be poisonous.
Plastic bag it. If you have no refrigerator, use the plastic bag method. Use food-grade plastic bag to store cabbages, sliced squash and leafy greens. Remember to trap some air into the plastic bag to help keep the veggies fresh. However, you have to use the items withing two days.
Cabbage. I usually just take the necessary amount of cabbage leaves for a recipe. I don’t remove the outer leaves because I use it as a natural wrapper for the unused cabbage portions. The vegetable stays fresh longer this way.
Brewed coffee. If you have no coffeemaker, place the same amount of coffee needed to made a brew into a pot of tap water. When the coffee starts to boil, turn off the heat. Let stand for a minute, then strain the brew through a food-grade strainer. Serve and enjoy.
Parboil. When I do stir-fries, I parboil string beans, squash, leafy green and root veggies. It keeps the veggies crisp and the cooking time shorter. The water used in boiling the veggies can be turned into soup base.
Grate, grate, grate. If you have family members who hate veggies, try grating them. Grated carrots, cabbage and radish can be added when scrambling eggs.
Corned beef tastes great with grated carrots. I often make cabbage-eggs: Saute minced garlic; add grated or very thinly sliced cabbages and cook until just wilted. Add beaten eggs and season to taste.
My nephew Pannon says it tastes as if it has crab in it. That’s all for now.