My top 10 cooking tips by Shamza Baig

“A LOVE for cooking inspired me to start My Little Kitchen, which enables me to share tips, dishes, recipes and ideas via my social media links and YouTube channel. I have learned a lot along the way. Here are 10 quick tips that will serve you well. Happy cooking,” said Shamza Baig.

Making soft chapattis: When making the dough for chapattis, add warm water to the flour and knead. Once complete, allow to rest, covered at room temperature for at least one hour. This will ensure the chapattis are soft, fluffy and puff up whilst cooking.

Excess salt removal from curries: Add a dough ball (roughly the size of a golf ball) made with left-over chapatti flour directly into the curry. Allowing it to cook for a minimum of 30 minutes enables the dough ball to absorb the excess salt. It will subsequently go hard, and at this point discard the dough ball. Check salt levels and re­peat the process until required salt levels have been achieved.

Desi omelette chilli hack: Ever added red chilli powder to eggs and tried whisking, but find the chilli powder clumps? An easy fix is to mix the chilli powder in a bowl with two table­spoons of water before add­ing the mixture into the eggs. This will give you even distribution of chilli with no clumps, without changing the flavour or the texture of the omelette.

Make use of the freezer: The freezer can be your best time-saving friend. Busy working people can make base masala in bulk using five simple key ingredients; oil, onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic. Cook these ingredients until the masala is ready and then freeze them in individual containers until needed. Take out the frozen masala on the day of use and allow it to defrost in the fridge, saving time and effort. The masala can be put into a hot pan with a small amount of water if time is limited or if you forgot to defrost.

Pilau perfect: Always remember when making any pilau rice dish, always add less water at the beginning to prevent the rice from going mushy. Remember, it is easier to add more water to cook the rice further than to take it out.

Fresh crispy salad: Do not salt salad when preparing as it will start to extract moisture. I always leave it till the end, prior to serving. To ensure your salad remains fresh and crispy the next day, add a few slices of onion to it and seal it airtight, it will prevent it from going brown.

Onions in kebabs: When making kebab mix, a great tip is to mix it on the day of cooking. Use the left-over mixture to make the kebab patties and then freeze them. Leaving onions overnight in the kebab mixture (even while in the fridge) can react and leave an unpleasant tangy, odd taste.

Freeze your koftas: Make your koftas ahead of time, which can be frozen for up to three months packed away in airtight bags or containers. These can be added directly into your curry from frozen and cooked as normal, and a quick meal can be achieved if you’ve also made a frozen masala.

Fluffy grains of rice goodness: A simple way to keep rice from sticking together is to add a few drops of oil to the boil­ing water prior to add­ing the rice. This method will prevent it from sticking togeth­er and forming clumps. This way each grain should stay separate.

Curry ready: A top tip to remember when cooking a cur­ry, be it meat or veg­etable, is to note when the oil starts separating from the masala and comes to the surface, as this is an indication that the dish is ready. Always finish it off by adding garam masala and freshly-chopped coriander right at the end.

• Find more cooking ideas from Shamza Baig by visiting Facebook & Instagram: @MyLittleKitchen Recipes and on YouTube: My Little Kitchen.