Smart Indian Kitchen Tricks That Cut Cooking Time and Cleaning
Cook with fewer pans, less water and constant cleaning-as-you-go — that is how Indian kitchen work gets faster, less tiring and far less messy.
Jasmine cooks a full meal of mix dal, air-fried prawns and air-fried fish in this video, and along the way shows the small habits that decide whether your kitchen feels exhausting or easy. None of these tricks need new gadgets you don’t already own. They need you to actually use the appliances sitting on your counter, and to stop creating mess you’ll later have to scrub.
How do I cut down prep time when cooking Indian food?
Stop grinding masalas separately. For her mix dal, Jasmine puts onion, ginger, garlic and tomato into one mixer jar and grinds them together into a single paste. The taste difference is negligible, but the time saved — and the number of jars to wash — is real.
A second prep habit: soak dals that take long to cook. Her mix dal contains varieties that need 7–8 whistles otherwise, so she soaks the mix for an hour before pressure cooking. It cooks faster and more evenly.
Third: before you start, bring everything you’ll need to the counter — vegetables, hara dhania, hari mirch, curry leaves. Constant fridge trips waste time and leave vegetables half-out, half-in, where they spoil faster.
Why should I cover the pan when frying masala?
Indian cooking involves heavy bhuno-ing of masala, and uncovered, those oil and masala droplets spray across the tawa, the burner and the entire slab. By the time the meal is done, the splatter has dried, and you’re scrubbing hardened oil off the gas surround.
Cover the kadhai while the masala is frying. The splatter stays inside the pan, the stove stays clean, and your end-of-cooking cleanup becomes a wipe instead of a scrub.
How much water should I add in a pressure cooker?
Only as much as the dish actually needs to cook — not a glass extra “to be safe”. Excess water is the reason the cooker spits water out of the whistle and dirties the gas, the cooker exterior and the surrounding counter.
Jasmine’s trick: after grinding her masala, she rinses the mixer jar with a small amount of water and pours that into the cooker. The masala stuck to the jar is recovered, no water is wasted, and the cooker gets exactly the moisture the dal needs. One whistle on high, then three on slow flame — and not a drop spills out.
How can I cook fish and prawns without a messy kadhai?
Use an air fryer. Jasmine uses a True Turtle air fryer with presets for potatoes, cake, chicken, fish and vegetables. For this meal:
- Pat the seafood dry with a paper towel — fish and prawns hold water and will release it during cooking, dulling the masala flavour.
- Marinate the prawns with garlic seasoning, pizza seasoning, salt and black pepper powder.
- Marinate the fish with besan, ginger-garlic paste, haldi, namak, Kashmiri lal mirch (for colour) and a little jeera powder.
- Line the basket with a silicone mat or baking parchment.
- Cook prawns ~15 minutes total, flipping once.
- Cook fish 20 minutes, flipping at the 10-minute mark.
No standing over hot oil, very little oil used, and barely any utensils to wash afterwards. For Indian kitchens used to deep-frying in kadhai, this is the biggest single reduction in cleanup load.
How do I keep curry leaves and coriander fresh longer?
Store them slightly damp, in a container with a little water at the bottom. Curry leaves stored this way stay fresh up to a month; coriander also lasts much longer than when stored dry in the fridge.
If you have a curry leaf plant at home, even better — pluck as needed. But bought kadi patta and dhania don’t have to die in three days.
What should I clean immediately and never soak?
Mixer-grinder jars, the chopper, knives and scissors. Don’t toss them into a sink full of water and “deal with them later”.
- Mixer jars hold onto the smell of ginger, garlic and masala if left wet. Wash them right after grinding and the smell rinses off easily.
- The chopper — the pull-string vegetable chopper most Indian kitchens own — should never be soaked. Water gets trapped inside the housing and slowly ruins the pull string. Jasmine learned this the hard way. Also clean the back side of the blade with an old toothbrush; grime builds up there unseen.
- Knives and scissors should be washed and returned to their slot the same moment you finish using them, so they’re ready for next time.
How do I stop my sink drain from blocking?
Fit a fine-mesh strainer over the drain opening. Standard Indian sinks come with a coarse strainer that lets rice grains, dal and vegetable bits straight through into the drainage pipe, which eventually blocks it.
The fine strainer is sold separately — available at D-Mart, general stores or online. Important: measure your sink opening before ordering. Jasmine ordered hers from Amazon without checking and received one too small. Sizes vary.
How do I keep the kitchen counter spotless?
Those white marks on your slab are soap stains and water stains, formed because soapy water was allowed to air-dry on the surface. Over time they become permanent and won’t scrub off.
The routine:
- Scrub the counter with a brush — Jasmine uses the dish-washing brush without adding extra soap, since more soap means more white residue.
- Push the excess water off with a wiper.
- Dry the surface fully with a cloth.
Do this every cooking session and the counter stays clean. Skip it and the marks build up.
Is a dishwasher actually worth it in an Indian kitchen?
Jasmine has recommended dishwashers consistently — and not as part of any sponsorship. Dishes come out hygienically clean, sterilised by hot water, with no pre-washing needed. On the common objection that dishwashers use too much water: hand-washing the same load uses roughly four times more water, because the dishwasher draws only what it needs automatically.
📺 About this video. This post draws on Jasmine Choudhari’s YouTube video गहणीयों को दिनभर अब किचन में रहने की जरूरत नही काम कैसे हो जाएगें पता नही चलेगा|Smart Kitchen Tricks. Watch the full video for visual demonstrations of every tip.
These sound like small things. Anyone who actually works in the kitchen knows they aren’t. A blocked drain, a dirty cooker, a chopper with a broken string, a counter with permanent stains — every one of these is a problem that started as a five-second habit ignored.
Watch the video
Frequently asked questions
How can I cook Indian food faster without making the kitchen messy?
Grind all your wet masala ingredients together in one jar, cover the pan while bhuno-ing masala, and clean as you cook. Jasmine grinds onion, ginger, garlic and tomato in a single jar for *mix dal*, which saves grinding time and reduces jars to wash. Covering the *kadhai* while frying masala stops oil splatter from coating the stove and surrounding surfaces, so cleanup at the end is minimal.
Why does water spill out of my pressure cooker during whistles?
Because you are adding more water than the dal or sabzi actually needs to cook. Jasmine adds only the exact amount of water required — when she rinses the masala jar, that rinse water becomes the cooking water, nothing extra. With the right quantity, the cooker doesn't spit water out of the whistle, and the gas, cooker body and surrounding slab stay clean.
Is an air fryer worth using in an Indian kitchen?
Yes — it cuts oil, effort and dishes for items like fish, prawns and vegetables. Jasmine cooks prawns in 15 minutes and marinated fish in 20 minutes (flipped at 10) in a True Turtle air fryer with preset modes. You don't stand over a *kadhai*, you don't deep-fry, and there are far fewer oily pans to wash afterwards compared to traditional Indian frying.
How do I keep coriander and curry leaves fresh for longer?
Store them in a container with a little water at the bottom and slightly damp leaves. Jasmine says curry leaves kept this way stay fresh for up to a month, and coriander also lasts much longer than when stored dry. Keeping these greens out on the counter while cooking also reduces fridge trips and prevents them from getting forgotten and spoiling.
What should I clean immediately instead of leaving in the sink?
Clean your chopper, mixer-grinder jars, knives and scissors right after use — never soak them. Jasmine warns that soaking a chopper traps water inside and damages the pull-string mechanism, and mixer jars hold onto garlic and masala smells if left wet. Washing them immediately also removes oil and masala residue easily before it dries and becomes stubborn.
How do I stop my kitchen sink drain from getting blocked?
Fit a fine-mesh sink strainer sized to your sink opening. Jasmine uses one that catches every grain of food before it reaches the drainage pipe, then empties it into the dustbin. Indian sinks usually come with only a coarse strainer, so the fine one must be bought separately — available at D-Mart, general stores or online, but measure your sink first so you order the right size.
Why does my kitchen counter have white water and soap stains?
Because soapy water is being left to air-dry on the slab instead of being wiped off. Jasmine scrubs the counter, pulls the extra water off with a wiper, then dries it with a cloth — that's what keeps it spotless. If you keep leaving it wet, the marks slowly become permanent and won't come off even with later scrubbing.
Can I clean the kitchen while food is still cooking?
Yes, and Jasmine recommends it — use the time the dal is on slow flame to wash and put away everything you've already used. Wash the masala jar, chopper, knife and scissors and return them to their place. Also clean the back of mixer-jar blades with an old toothbrush, where grime builds up unseen. By the time the food is ready, the kitchen is already clean.
About Jasmine Choudhari
Jasmine Choudhari shares practical, no-frills ideas for organising small Indian kitchens and homes. Follow her on YouTube (600K+ subscribers · Silver Play Button), Instagram and Facebook. For collaborations: collab@jasminechoudhari.com.