ROASTED PEANUTS

Most of the Maharashtrian recipes make the use of roasted peanuts and it is very economical to make them at home. You can make them in bulk and use upto 3- 4 weeks. If you have ready made roasted peanuts, it is easier to make some dishes.
Place the raw peanuts in a non stick pan and roast on low to medium heat, stirring continuously. You will see brown spots on the peanut that means the peanuts have finished roasting and have become crisp. Remove the pan from heat and keep aside to cool. Cool down the peanuts completely. Then remove the skin by taking handful of peanuts and rubbing them. You will notice that the skin will come out easily. Remove the skin of all the peanuts. You can separate the skins from peanuts by just blowing away the skin or putting it in the colander. You can store the peanuts in airtight container. Also you can make the fine powder by placing the peanut in a blender and blend till powder is formed. Dont blend too much or it will turn into a paste.

HOW TO BLANCH TOMATO

Heat some water in a pot, sufficient enough to cover 2-3 tomatoes. Wash the tomatoes and remove the core using the tip of the paring knife. Cross cut on the opposite side as shown in the picture.

When the water starts boiling, drop the tomatoes and cook till the skin starts to split. I cooked them on medium high heat for 15 mins. Then remove from water and keep aside to cool.

After they cool off remove the skin with hands. The skin slips right off.

Tomatoes are now ready to be pureed for using in gravy and sauces recipe. I blanch the tomatoes in bulk and puree them, put them in 1 cup containers and store in freezer.

HOW TO STORE ONIONS

Sometimes you buy a big bag of onions from farmers market or any store because it was cheap and when you come home you wonder how to store them so that they can be used for a longer time, without spoiling them.

Onions should be kept in cool, dark and dry place. They should be spread out in the container to ensure proper air circulation. I keep onions in a wooden basket; they last for 2-3 weeks without spoiling. I keep the onions in the basket shown in the picture.

Onion can also be stored in refrigerator. To do this cut and discard the root end and stem end of the onion. Peel off the out layers of the skin. Place the peeled onion on the piece of plastic warp. Tightly wrap the plastic around the onion. Repeat the process for other onions. Now keep these wrapped onions in a ziptop bag. You can use these onions for a week. The great advantage to store the onions in this way is that when cut them you will have no tears. Also due to individual wrapping, you won’t notice any onion odor in refrigerator. Some times the butter and milk can easily catch onion odor.

RED CHILI PASTE

Ingredients:

Dry Whole chilies* – 15-20
Hot water – 4-5 cups

Cooking procedure:
Remove the stems, cut the chilies into pieces and place them in a bowl. For medium sized chili, cut it into two pieces and for big chilies, cut it into three pieces. Soak the chilies in hot water, cover with plastic warp and keep aside for 5-6 hours. After 5-6 hours the seeds from the chilies will settle down. Remove as much seeds as possible, this minimizes the heat and also the paste gets a very nice red color. Then grind the chilies to paste. While grinding if you need water, use the same water in which chilies were soaked.


* i used more byadgi mirch, which is used for color and little amount of normal hot chilies.