1. Barilla
2. De Cecco
3. Sunfeast Benne Vita
4. Blue Bird
5. Bambino

Barilla and De Cecco are foreign brands that are now available in Mumbai in most of the stores that keep high end and imported products like Natures Basket, Big Bazar etc. A lot of small grocery stores have also started keeping these pastas. If you plan a trip to any wholesale market like Crawford Market make sure you pick up your stock for the month as they are slightly cheaper than in the stores. Barilla is available more easily than De Cecco. These products range from Rs 155 – 400 for 250 – 500 grams.
Sunfeast had started their range of pasta’s with ready to cook pastas. After bring successful with it they have launched their new rage of wheat pastas. These are available easily in all grocery stores and inspite of being made from wheat they taste great! These are sold for about Rs 95 for 380 grams.
Blue Bird and Bambino have been the oldest brands that have been available in Mumbai for years. Initially they were of very low quality and had limited variety but through the years they have made changes in their products and got in more variety to compete with the other brands. These range from Rs 18 – 35 for 120 – 250 grams.

Since we are talking about pastas, here are quick tips for beginners to cook pasta perfectly:

- When buying pasta check the pack, if it says drum wheat or semolina, go for it! they will retain their shape even after they are cooked!

- The best way to guesstimate pasta is 1 cup of dry pasta makes 2 to 2 1/2 cups of cooked pasta

-To cook pasta take a bigger pot to cook all the pasta properly, add water and bring the water to boil.

- Once the water is boiled add salt, unsalted water boils faster than salted water. Do not add oil as it will coat the pasta which wont let the sauce coat the pasta.

- Add your pasta and keep a watch you want your pasta “al dente” which means to the tooth or slightly chewy as it will be cooked again with your sauce.

- Drain your pasta and add it to immediately your sauce, i assure you, your pasta will not de shape!

Hope these tips help solve your kitchen disasters and help you cook your pasta like a chef!

Photos by Creative tools and Jacobms used under Creative Commons License.

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Step 2: Boil water in the pan

Step 2: Add 2 tsp vinegar

Step 3: Break the egg slowly in the pan once the water is boiled

Step 4: Slowly add little water from the side on the egg

Step 5: Once cooked carefully remove the egg with a spatula

Serve hot!

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Step 1: Boil water in a sauce pan.

Step 2: Get the saucepan off the heat and add the noodles and let stand for half hour.

Step 3: Drain the hot water and wash under cold water.

The basic trick here is the noodles should be 90% boiled. The 10% gets cooked when you stir fry them.

Having the sauce pan off the heat lets the noodles cook in hot water but since there is no direct heat it doesnt over cook or break the noodles.

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Preparation time 5 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup cream cheese, softened
2. 1 and 1/2 tbsp butter, softened, not melted
3. 1 tsp vanilla essence
4. 1/3 cup icing sugar

Directions:

In a bowl whisk and cream butter and cream cheese. Whisk until smooth and creamy. Next add vanilla and icing sugar. Whisk well. Use this simple frosting on any cake.

To make a chocolate cream cheese frosting add 1 tbsp unsweetened  coca powder to the above mixture and whisk well.

To make lemon cream cheese frosting add 1 tbsp of lemon juice and some lemon rind and whisk well.

To make orange cream cheese frosting add 1 tsp orange essence and some orange rind and whisk well.

Use any of these cream cheese frosting to frost cookies, cakes, cup cakes and brownies.

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When you make casseroles or tagine just toss 2-3 ice cubes and continue cooking with the same old wine flavor without opening a whole new wine bottle

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So the next time you want to blend something hot just take a kitchen towel, press it firmly on the cover of your blender, hold firmly and blend. However hot the content is in the blender the cover will not pop up!

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 10 red dried chillies  (kashmiri chilies)
2. 2 tbsp dried corriander seeds
3. 2 inch cinnamon stick
4. 4 cloves
5. 1 tsp nutmeg
6. 1 tsp cumin seeds
7. 1/2 tsp poppy seeds (khus khus)
8. 2 bay leaves
9. 1 tsp turmeric
10. 1 star anise
11. 1 tsp fennel seeds
12. 1 tsp whole black pepper

Directions:

In a wok dry roast all the ingredients for 5 minutes or until well roasted. As soon as the condiments are roasted there will be a fragrant spicy flavor from the mixture.  Make sure you don’t burn the condiments while roasting or your masala will turn bitter. Once roasted cool the mixture and blend into a smooth powder. Store in an air tight container. This masala has a shelf life of a year if kept in a cool dry place.

You will need:

2  cups milk

1/2 cup yoghurt (curd)

Method:

Heat milk in a hard bottemed pan. Once boiled, start adding the curd, a spoon at a time.  Keep boiling until there are lumps of cheese in a translucent greenish liquid. Once done strain until all the water is out. When cooled the cheese is ready to use.

If your recipe calls for smooth soft ricotta, you can add the cheese in a blender  add some milk and blend until smooth.

photo credit: stu_spivack

1. Buying Eggs

Buy eggs from good grocery stores which have an expiry date written on it. This helps in storing of the eggs and using the best only. If you buy loose eggs from a local grocery store you need to take care of a couple of things, make sure the shell is clean and does not have any cracks. Make sure the egg’s shell is nice and hard from everywhere.

2. Storing Eggs

Once you get eggs you should store them in the refridgerator.

3. Checking freshness of Eggs

Its very easy to check the freshness of uncooked eggs that have been stored in the fridge. Just fill cold water in a bowl and drop the egg in it, if the egg sinks to the bottom it is good to use, if it floats on the top the egg has gone bad.

4. Tempering Eggs

Tempering eggs means adding eggs to a hot thing by bringing it to the similar temperature. For example if you are making pudding using hot milk and eggs, you take eggs in bowl and start adding one spoon of the hot milk at a time to bring the eggs to the same temperature as the milk. If  you add the eggs straight in hot milk they will get scrambled.

5. Cooking Eggs

When cooking eggs, use your freshest egg for making  poached eggs. When poaching eggs use a little vinegar in the water. It will prevent the egg from breaking.

When you make scrambled eggs use a little milk, it will make you eggs creamy and the egg wont stick on the pan.

Use your slightly older egg to make boiled eggs. Make sure you so your freshness test before boiling them.

Use your oldest egg to bake cakes etc. Again make sure you so your freshness test before boiling them.

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