Advancements in electronic appliances and food processing industry have come to be a blessing for hostel dwellers like me. I really cannot eat same kind of food 365 days a year and 7 days a week (especially mess food), so there are very few eateries that I patronise regularly. Even when I go out I sometimes do not appreciate too much oil, too much sugar, or too much salt.
I like to experiment with food and here are some of my little experiments I do with cooking with limited means. Readers would find it amusing that it is not allowed for us to use any appliances in the hostel so shhhhh! I do not have the complete paraphernalia for cooking. What I have is a wonderful Morphy Richards 1.5 L electric jug kettle, a serving dish, a bowl and a table spoon. With just these and some basic grocery items, I can have a full tea- party in my hostel room!
So with some experimentation, I can now make boiled vegetables, soups, pasta, instant noodles, porridge besides tea and coffee.
Here is a preview:
Maggi Atta Noodles.
Tip: Half a lemon squeezed over the Maggi can really do wonders, Butter does too, but I'd rather avoid that nowadays :)
Boiled Corn with lemon, pepper and Oregano!
Makes for a very healthy lunch
Tip: You can add tomato ketchup to make it tangier.
Penne Pasta
Kettle Cooking Tips:
- One has to be really avoid messing up because each goof-up means more time and energy spent in cleaning the kettle. One way to avoid mess while kettle cooking is to boil atleast 200ml extra water than required. This can be drained it as a soup or stew once it is boiled but the buffer really helps in hassle- -free cooking. This is especially important in cases like milk based cooking. For example, I prefer to add extra milk in porridge for example, to avoid the porridge from sticking to the sides of the kettle.
- I prefer keeping kettle cooking oil or butter- free, but if you are not that health freakish, adding some butter avoids sticking out too.
- I like to brew the tea/ coffee after sugar is added. There is a brew mode in the kettle that use for this. It helps retain the favor.
- Clean the kettle as soon it cools down, usually after 5 minutes. If you let it stay, crusting happens its tougher to clean thereafter.
- Besides the cleaning up, kettle cooking is real good fun: saves time and you can have piping hot food anytime of the day.
- The downside: Increased consumption of processed food, but then one can boil vegetables or corn like I do to make it healthier.
Coming up next:
- I haven't tried boiling an egg but I am sure that can be done too, and I can make an improvisation of Singapore noodles or egg salad too: that's next on my list!
