I am making a compilation of all the cooking tips and tricks which help me. Hope they will be useful for you too.

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• To separate each noodle / pasta, after boiling the noodles / pasta rinse them in normal cold water immediately.
• To make homemade pastes of garlic or ginger last longer and taste fresher, add a tsp of hot oil along with salt to it.
• Do soak whole pulses for overnight and other dals for one hour before cooking.
• While using ginger-garlic paste in curries, always use garlic at 60% ratio and ginger at 40% as ginger being very strong makes your dish sharp and pungent.
• Pakodas can be made crisper, just add a little rice flour to the gram flour (besan) while preparing the batter.
• To get the full flavour of seasonings, fry them until they change color.
• Always heat the oil thoroughly before adding seasonings or vegetables.
• To peel off the almonds’ skin easily, soak them in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes.
• To avoid crying while cutting onions, after peeling cut them in half and soak in water for about 10 minutes before cutting.
• Do soak potatoes, raw bananas and eggplant after cutting, to avoid discoloration.
• Do wash your vegetables before peeling or cutting, to preserve the water soluble vitamins.
• When selecting a brinjal, make sure you choose one which is light. A heavier brinjal will have more seeds, which taste bitter when cooked.
• Before frying a fillet of fish, let it rest on a kitchen towel for a few minutes on each side. The excess water will get absorbed and this will enhance the flavour of panfried or sautéed fish.
• Never store onions and potatoes in the same bag or container. Separate them to prevent the potatoes from rotting.
• In our warm climate bananas tend to get over-ripe. To stop the process of ripening put bananas in the refrigerator. The skin may turn black, but the fruit itself will remain firm.
• To make puris soft and fluffy use milk instead of water when kneeding the dough.
• When cooking vegetables don’t add salt until the very end. Adding salt early can dehydrate vegetables and reduce their nutritional value.
• Before grating cheese, rub some oil onto the grater. This will ensure that the cheese doesn’t stick to the grater.