in kitchen 9

Throw away the microwave oven.
The best way of heating cold food is to use steam.
Take a frying pan and put it on a lighted stove.
Sprinkle a little water. Place your pizzas or samosas or cutlets on it.
As soon as the water begins to evaporate, cover the frying pan with its lid.
Lower the flame and in a moment turn it off. Wait.
This is how I heat cold pizzas.

REMEMBER:-
A microwave is an unhealthy way of cooking.
If you use it, use glass containers, not plastic ones.
The best is not to need reheating a cooked food.

in kitchen 8

Fried rice. We cook fried rice in two ways.
1) Fry the vegetables and add washed rice to it and then add water and boil
or
2) Boil the rice and then add the rice to an open pan where the vegetables have been cooked.
I cook it in a different way. It saves fuel and time.
Ever since my childhood, I was told to add 2 cups of water to one cup of rice. This 1:2 rice:water ratio is the norm.
But for fried rice to be as good in the pressure cooker, use 1:1.5 ratio.
Take 1 cup of rice and wash it. Keep it aside.
Fry the vegetables in a pressure cooker.
Add the washed rice and stir.
When everything has been mixed well, add 1+1/2 cups of water. Put the lid on and wait for the whistle.
The reason for lessening the quantity of water is that the rice has already soaked in sufficient water when it was kept aside and also been cooked a little while frying.

in kitchen 7

Eggs.  Boiled eggs are the best source of protein for small children.  After 9 months of age, a baby should be fed one egg white daily.
Your baby can't chew.
You will have to boil the egg in such a way that the egg white can be fed with a spoon and the yolk can be easily seperated from the white.
Take 2 eggs. Use a small saucepan and fill it with water. Place the eggs in it. Make sure the eggs are totally immersed.  Boil on high flame without lid.
As soon as the water starts boiling, breaking into bubbles,  turn off the stove and cover the saucepan with a lid.
After 5 mins, change the water. Throw away the hot water and pour normal water on the eggs, which should not be touched.
After 2 mins, take out the eggs from the saucepan using a spoon.
Crack the eggs and seperate the egg white with a spoon.
Don't add salt. A baby loves it as it is.
Only older children who can chew, want to add salt. For more hard egg white,  keep the eggs longer in the hot water,  covered with the lid.
Think of your baby's well being,  not of social norms. 

in kitchen 6

Peas are a favourite with kids. I use frozen peas. It saves time and labour.
You may prefer fresh peas. If I sit to peal them, I'd pop half of them in my mouth. Fresh peas are very tasty.
You want to cook them. You must have noticed, the peas become hard and wrinkled if they are fried first.
The frozen peas are par-boiled. When they are fried along with other vegetables, they don't become hard and wrinkled.
You can also semi-boil fresh peas.
Take water in a saucepan and drop the pealed peas in them. Put the saucepan on high flame and cover it with a lid. The moment the water begins to boil, turn off the stove and remove the lid. Sieve the peas within 5 mins. This is par-boiled-peas.
You can cook these in any way you like. It will be soft and tasty.

in kitchen 5

It's cabbage. a green vegetable. When you buy it, choose the most white, crunchy and heavy cabbage. And don't leave it waiting. Cook it the same day.
Wash the ball and remove the last layer of leaves. Just like pealing a banana.
Take a dry pressure cooker. Start chopping the cabbage into slim, long strips and stuff them into the pressure cooker. Your cooker should fill up to the top.
Add salt to taste and cover the pressure cooker with its lid.
Put it on the stove on a low flame and wait. There would be no noise. Wait.
After about 20 mins touch the whistle with a spoon to see if there's any steam. If there is, fine. But there might not be. Still, increase the flame to high.
Soon you'll hear the whistle. Turn the stove off. Wait for a few mins for the steam to subside.
Take an open pan. Let it be the widest open pan (kadhai). Pour oil, turmeric, any combination of spices and heat. Add the entire contents of the pressure cooker. Stir a little.
You don't have to stir a lot. Just see that the oil and spices are evenly distributed. The cabbage is already cooked; only if you wish to make it crispy, let it's water dry up.
I hate cabbage. It's too bland. Do whatever you like to make it tasty. But the use of the pressure cooker first saves time and fuel.

in kitchen 4

Spinach. It's a green vegetable. It contains vitamins and minerals.  It has no protein, no carbohydrates. But mostly, roughage, a thing that is excreted.
You eat spinach for the vitamins and minerals.
There are two big bunches of spinach staring at you when you enter the kitchen. You want to do it well and make it quick.
Wash the leaves thoroughly. Stuff them whole in a pressure cooker. Add salt to taste. Fix the lid and put it on the stove at low flame. If the quantity is small use a 2ltr pressure cooker on a small burner. If more, use the big burner, but on low flame.
Wait for exactly 10 mins.
Increase the flame to high. In a moment you will hear the whistle. Turn the flame off. Done.
Leave the pressure cooker lidded until the pressure subsides.
When you open it you will see a lump of spinach and a little trickle of green-brown water at the bottom.
Don't throw away that fluid !! It contains the main nutrients.
Put the spinach in a mixer and make a paste. Now it is ready to be added to any vegetable (potatoes, peas, beatroots) or cheese (paneer) that has already been cooked in an open pan. Add the fluid too. It gets cooked in 2 mins. The fluid gets absorbed.
REMEMBER: -
1) You lose the vitamins if you cook (fry or boil) spinach in an open pan.
2) You lose the minerals if you boil spinach in water and drain the excess water afterwards.
3) Use a pressure cooker. No added water. And don't throw away the fluid after straining the boiled spinach.

in kitchen 3

It's winter. Boiling milk taxes your patience. It is the only item which requires an open saucepan.
Not any more. As soon as you put your saucepan on the stove, cover it with a lid. The milk gets heated noiselessly.
In a moment, you will hear a buzzing sound coming from the vessel. It is not the hissing sound of steam. That comes later ... when the milk is about to boil over.
Take the buzzing as a signal to remove the lid. Use tongs.
It saves fuel as well as time.
You can do the same for preparing tea as well.
You can do the same during summers as well. 

in kitchen 2

It's winter. All your friends are advising you to add cloves and cinnamon to your tea. The shops are full of ginger tea, lemon tea and what not to give you relief from sore throat.
Standing in the kitchen, you feel an immense desire to sip at something refreshing. But oh! The sachets of Masala tea are finished.
Calm down. You are in the kitchen after all. Boil water. Add sugar as usual. Take a pinch of 'garam masala' mix (MDH or Everest) and drop it in your boiling water.
Add some ordinary tea leaves and strain and pour into the cup. (or a tea bag in the cup).
Your masala tea tastes even better than any item marketed at heavy prices.

in kitchen 1

It's extremely cold and dry. Wrapped in sweater and blankets, you forget to drink enough water. So ... you are alarmed at the sight of your urine. Ugh, what to drink?

Don't bother. No amount of tea or coffee will compensate for the bottles of water that you truly need to keep the body fluids in good proportion. Drink water.

There, it's too cold ... Mama used to serve warm water in bed. Those days are gone, girls, wake up!

It takes an hour to cook dinner. Use that time. Take a bottle of hand-hot water and keep sipping it all the while you are preparing your dinner. 

You are there in the kitchen, everything is handy. Boil just one cup of water, add cold water to it and pour it in a one liter bottle. Keep it within reach as you tackle the arduous task of chopping, grinding, stirring and baking. Sip it to the lees. Keep your body fluids optimized.