{"id":91,"date":"2007-09-05T06:23:49","date_gmt":"2007-09-05T04:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.radioislam.org.za\/wordpress\/2007\/09\/05\/how-to-save-time-while-cooking-indian-food\/"},"modified":"2007-09-05T06:23:49","modified_gmt":"2007-09-05T04:23:49","slug":"how-to-save-time-while-cooking-indian-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/how-to-save-time-while-cooking-indian-food\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Save Time While Cooking Indian Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/font><\/p>\n

It is a common misconception that Indian food takes forever to cook. While Indian cooking does utilise mostly fresh ingredients and dishes are made from scratch (so you are avoiding over processed, preservative-loaded ingredients), how long it takes usually depends on what you are cooking. Just like any other cuisine, there are some dishes that are quick and easy to cook and others that are elaborate and need more time.
There are some ingredients though, that are common in most Indian dishes though and preparing them ahead of time can further cut down on cooking time.
Onions:
Chopped fine, sliced thin or ground to a paste, onions form the base of gravies, a complement to veggies or an important ingredient in salads. Chop, slice and grind them and freeze in labelled freezer bags.
That way when a recipe calls for onions you have them quickly at hand.
Ginger and garlic pastes:
Ginger and garlic are also vital ingredients in Indian cooking. A recipe may require them chopped fine or ground to a paste. I always have a large glass bottle each of ginger and garlic pastes in my refrigerator. You can just as easily buy them from the grocery store (Asian or Indian groceries will definitely have them) but I like to make mine at home so I can be sure they’re free from preservatives. Here’s a handy tip for keeping ginger and garlic pastes fresh for longer. I also store peeled garlic in a date labelled box or Ziploc bag for when a recipe requires it to be chopped fine.
Tomato pure\u00e9:
Again this is an ingredient you can quite easily buy, but it always seem to taste better when you make it at home. Make tomato pure\u00e9 ahead of time and pour into ice-cube trays (I always use a tablespoon to measure how much fits in a single cube so that it\u0092s easier to measure out as the recipe requires later) and freeze. When frozen pop them out and store in date and measurement labelled freezer bags for when you need them.
Fresh herbs like coriander and mint:
Coriander and mint are used to make chutneys, added to gravies and as garnishes on dishes and salads. With Asian and Indian food being so popular these days, these herbs can even be found at your local grocery store. They’re always in season though, and you could even plant them in your garden. Here’s a handy tip for having them around whenever you need them, no matter what the time of year. Always clean your coriander or mint and wrap them up in a piece of newspaper or paper towel and then into a plastic bag into the fridge.
Browned onions:
A majority of the time when onions are used in Indian cooking, the recipe calls for them to be browned. Make up a batch ahead of time and store in your fridge. Make both chopped and sliced browned onions, or alternatively buy a packet from your local Indian store.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to Save Time While Cooking Indian Food<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[252,336,328],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kitchen-tips","tag-handy-hints","tag-how-to-save-time-while-cooking-indian-food","tag-kitchen-tips"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/winter-foods.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-1t","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 00:51:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}