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Cooking is gender neutral. I won't be wrong to say that it is one of the essential survival skills. One needn't be a master chef to prepare fancy dishes. If one can prepare anything wholesome with a few fundamental cooking abilities, that's enough. It might appear trivial, but the knowledge of knives can go a long way. Nevertheless, every aspiring culinary enthusiast must master a few key culinary methods, if their goals is to raise the game when it comes to cooking at home. Once it's done, you'll be doing magic on the stove in no time.
Let's learn 5 such basic needs!
Knives knowledge
Kitchen knife, Image Source: Pexels
You need to know how to cut the ingredients if you are planning to prepare any basic or elaborate dishes using veggies, fresh herbs or meat. Learn the fundamentals of knife handling by starting with high quality, razor-sharp knife. Good techniques will reduce the preparation time for dishes and the risk of. Be cautious. Use less expensive vegetables for practice, such as potatoes or onions. Some common cuts include rough chopping, which involves dividing the object into large pieces, dice or cutting into equal cubes, mince or chopping into the tiniest fragments. Another is chiffonade, which consists in slicing herbs and leaves into strips.
Understanding the cooking tools
Different types of cooking tools, Image Source: Pexels
Though the prepared dish served on the table all appear as simple finished culinary fares, one must understand that during the preparation process, they used different tools. For example, to make a rice dish fluffy and keep every grain separated from the other, one must use a colander post washing the rice and letting it settle for half an hour. Similarly, there are different ladles: spatulas, stirring spoons, slotted spoons, etc. Likewise, the cooling vessels also have a range of products. Frying pan/skillet, wok, pots, heavy-bottomed pans, saucepans etc.
Let it pressure cook
It is among the simplest and fastest ways to cook a wholesome and mostly one-pot meal. However, the catch is to know how to handle the cooker. One must learn about the amount of water, setting the flame, and cooking time. Likewise, depending on the cooker's capacity, the quantity of weightage of the ingredients needs to be decided.
Get familiarised with herbs and spices
An assortment of spices, Image Source: Pexels
Due to their therapeutic properties, herbs and spices make meals healthier. Herbs enhance taste and aroma. Spices lend cooking depth and complexity. Stock up on pantry necessities like cumin, ground ginger, turmeric, cardamom, coriander seeds, cinnamon, and other flavours. Another simple method for infusing fragrance is to use spice blends, which combine a variety of dried herbs and spices to produce a particular flavour profile. When preparing a dish containing dried herbs, add them early, so they have time to develop their taste. On the contrary, basil or mint leaves are best added last to maintain their fresh flavour. When it comes to releasing the flavour of spices, dry toasting them in a skillet until their colour and scent are both intensified is the best method.
Stir fry
Stir frying veggies, Image Source: Pexels
Try a stir fry if you want to prepare a healthy meal with very few ingredients. Drizzle oil into a hot pan. Add chopped vegetables. The vegetables must be continuously stirred until they seem done but "still have a little crunch. The cooking time varies between six and ten minutes, depending on the type of veggies. Diced chicken breast, ground turkey, or other animal-based protein should be added before the veggies because they take longer to cook. Before adding your preferred produce, cook the protein until it has slightly browned.
