Indian cuisine is one that boasts tons of delicious dishes, but rarely there is one which can be made as delicious without oil. Whether you use it to add more flavour to your gravies, to pan-fry something, or simply to deep-fry those crispy snacks, oil is a necessity. And while we love all those oily, greasy delicacies, the leftover oil is a cause of concern in many households.
Have you noticed those small particles in oil that are left behind from the dishes you cook? Well, those may be the leftover batter or the skin of the ingredient that you might have fried. These could be quite harmful to your health. While most of us don’t care much about these particles, reusing the same oil for other dishes can take a toll on us.
The reused cooking oil can give rise to trans-fat in oils, which may increase your blood pressure levels, while also releasing toxins into your body. Although we cannot replace the cooking oil every day or waste the leftover oil, we can certainly make it cleaner and safer for consumption. Here are a few tips to clean your cooking oil.
1. Add lemon
Well, this is one of the easiest tricks to clean the leftover oil. Lemon tends to attract the leftover black particles when put in oil on heat. So, all you need to do is heat the oil, and then cut the lemons into small pieces and add them to the oil. The black leftover particles will quickly stick on the lemon. You can then take the pieces out and strain the oil for better use.
2. Mesh the oil
Another easy way to clean the oil is to just strain it. After you use the oil, let it cool. Once done, you can use a cloth, a fine-mesh sieve, a paper filter, or a paper towel to eliminate any remaining fried bits in the oil.
3. Store it away from heat
Turns out, cooking isn't the only thing that spoils the oil. How you store the oil is also of key importance. Keep the oil away from the cooking area, as keeping it near the stove may expose it to secondary heat.
4. Mix with corn-starch
Another effective trick to clean oil is to mix the oil with corn-starch. Heat the oil and corn-starch mixture over low heat. Make sure to not let it boil. Stir constantly with a spatula. Once the corn-starch mixture solidifies, strain the oil.