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Take a whisk: How to prep the kitchen if you’re an adventurous weekend cook
If cooking is your weekend cardio, the secret ingredient is advance prep. Here’s what to slice, stock and store
It’s the weekend. Your inner MasterChef is coming back to life, again. An Insta Reel has promised that creamy garlic hummus takes only 15 minutes to make. BlinkIt will deliver all the ingredients for carbonara and bibimbap in 30 minutes. Somewhere on your phone is a folder titled I Can Make This, with 30 screenshots of recipes. Does the kitchen share your vibe? Chefs offer hacks to turn a roti-sabzi kitchen into a creative space on the weekend. Grab life by the grills!
Make a plan. To avoid overstocking, understocking, or gasp! – decision fatigue – get a whiteboard or a notebook and list what you’re in the mood to whip up. Chef and documentary filmmaker Tahin Ojah Sharma has a to-do list on her fridge door, detailing everything from which date to buy the ingredients to which vegetables to cut. Planning allows for longer techniques such as marinating, fermenting or overnight soaks. It makes life easier for ambitious but time-strapped weekend cooks.
Prep the pantry. “Keep rice paper, phyllo sheets, and one variety of pasta in your pantry,” says Tushar Malkani, chef at The Yellow House, Goa. Don’t stock up on pulses, because they’re best bought fresh. And always keep a few kinds of grated cheese in the fridge; it goes with everything. “If you buy a block of cheese, you’re less likely to use it because it takes time to cut it and grate.”
Stock the seasoning. “Think long-term when stocking condiments,” says Reetu Uday Kugaji, chef. Store ginger and garlic pastes in the freezer so you’re not sweating over them during cooking time. And follow restaurant hacks: Garlic powder, bouillon cubes, and onion powder are all time savers. Malkani stocks up on sauces that he can use across pizzas, pastas, and gravies. “Schezwan sauce, hot garlic sauce, and pasta sauces are the most versatile.” Another chef hack: Store spices and sauces not by bottle size, but by cuisine, so you’re not playing guess-the-drawer when cooking begins.
Load the freezer. Minced meat, curry cuts, and fish can be used across a variety of cuisines. “Get fresh produce during a free evening in the week, cut it into the size and shapes that you want, and store it in the freezer,” recommends Niriksha Reddy, sous-chef at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai. “Cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, broccoli, green peas, American corn and green beans can be stored for weeks.” So, when the hankering for a trending recipe strikes, they’re all ready to drop into a Penang curry, a shakshuka, a pie or a dumpling. Restock like the pros: Food with a longer shelf life, at the back of the freezer, so that the stuff that needs to be used up soon stays within grabbing range.
Ditch the air fryer. “Unless you’re really health-conscious, you don’t need it,” says Malkani. It’s not a substitute for every recipe that calls for frying. Instead, invest in good grill pans and heavy-bottomed cookware, best for slow simmers and making reductions and thick sauces. You don’t need a range of food processors either. Set up with a hand blender (perfect for little experiments) and a set of good knives. Kugaji says she can’t do without her smoothie maker, coffee frother, and her OG grinding stone. “It may seem tedious to use at first, but it will change the flavour and texture of any dish – and make you feel excited about cooking from scratch.”
From HT Brunch, January 25, 2025
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