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My Bag Of Tricks

They say that experience is the best but also the most expensive teacher. I, too, had to experience one or two mishaps during my apprenticeship with my mother. If you have one of the following problems, maybe my suggestions could help you and you won't have to call the pizza delivery man.

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Too much chili pepper or cayenne pepper

Chili is unfortunately a very strong spice and you can't really do much about it. If the curry is tomato based, you can take out already cooked meat and add a can of tomatoes. Then you need to let the curry simmer for about 20 minutes before adding the meat back in.

 

You can also double the other ingredient amounts, except for the chili of course. Or depending on the curry, you can stir in a dollop of yogurt or coconut milk. This usually helps to tone down the spiciness a bit.

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Too much salt

Too much salt doesn't necessarily lead to inevitable disaster. You can add half a raw potato to the food to absorb the excess salt.

 

Otherwise, you can dilute the salt with larger amounts of ingredients. You can also simply add more meat or vegetables, or double the amount of all ingredients, again except for the salt.

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Too watery

You can first try to skim off the excess water. As another option, you can take out all ingredients like meat, vegetables or fish that are damaged by too long cooking. Then boil down the liquid over medium heat.

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Too much lemon juice

With lemons, you often don't know what's coming. If you accidentally used too much lemon juice, you should tone down the acidity. Depending on the dish, a little sugar (try no more than ½ tsp at first) or even some cream will usually help.

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Not enough sauce

If you want a little more sauce, add a little lukewarm water until you reach the desired amount. But don't forget to adjust salt and seasoning to the larger amount. Depending on the dish, you can add yogurt, cream or even tomatoes as an alternative to water. Do remember that tomatoes need extra time to cook.

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If the chapatis are not soft enough

How soft and fluffy a bread becomes depends not only on the flour, but also on the amount of oil, water and temperature on the stove top. If the dough is too firm, poke holes in it with your finger and pour 1-2 tablespoons of hot water into them. The dough must then first soak for a few minutes and then knead again. Then you can bake a sample Chapati at a higher temperature but for a shorter time and see if that makes a difference.

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