Chef Kunal Kapoor lists ten kitchen must-haves

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Chef Kunal Kapoor lists ten kitchen must-haves. If you don't lot, run to the market now. Shop for yourself or for your friends. (How on earth were yo managing without them?)

A GOOD SET OF KITCHEN KNIVES

If you love cooking, this is something you really can’t do without. Nothing can be as irritating as not having good knives to work with in the kitchen. And nothing can be better than a nice knife block, choc-a-bloc with sharp, gleaming knives. Talking about sharpness, you will be surprised to know that more fingers are cut due to blunt knives than sharp knives. Even if you are not a professional cook, you should still have at least two to three varieties of knives in your kitchen.
The chef’s knife: An all-purpose knife with a 9 to 10-inch blade, useful for chopping vegetables and everything else.
The fish knife: A long knife with a thin flexible blade. This is really helpful for deboning a fish or even clearing the insides.

The paring knife: Want to lend a dash of creativity to the way you present your salads? This knife helps carve out small grooves in a carrot or radish to make them look interesting.
The cleaver: Also known as a butcher’s knife, this is a heavy knife with a big blade that helps cut bones or big joints of meat. It is also useful for smashing garlic, ginger and spring onions.
Kitchen scissors: They come in handy to chop veggies such as spring onions or to cut other vegetables.

A FOOD PROCESSOR

You can call it the all-rounder of the kitchen. A mixer and grinder facilitates blending, grinding (both dry and wet), chopping, pureeing, whisking and the kneading of dough.

ZESTER, PEELER, GRATER

Peeling veggies is a breeze with a peeler while a zester can help you remove the zest from lemons and oranges. A good grater comes in handy to grate cheese and even some hard spices such as nutmeg.

A WOK

Compared to the traditional kadhai, a wok is not just more convenient, it is also a smarter option as it heats food faster. Don’t go for the huge woks you see in hotels. A 9 to 10-inch diameter wok is ideal for households. Choose one with wooden or stainless steel handles. Apart from deep frying and stir frying, a wok is also ideal for making stock and soups.

A COFFEE MACHINE

While all coffee machines make coffee in a similar manner – pass hot water through ground coffee beans and get their flavour while doing so – there are some that can make an espresso or a cappuccino that tastes as good as a barista. They are available in varieties like percolators, drip and espresso.

A CAST IRON SKILLET

A square pan with straight lines, this comes in handy for grilling vegetables and meats. Plus, the dainty grill marks make the food look delectable.

ALSO GOOD TO HAVE

First-aid kit: It’s a useful thing to have, to deal with a small cut or a kitchen burn.
A calibrated thermome

ter: Ideally, heat the food to 73 degrees and hold it there for 20 seconds to keep it bacteria free. This will help avoid food-related ailments.
Sanitiser: Not only should you keep your hands but also your kitchen free of germs.

AN ELECTRIC WHISK

If you like baking, you can’t do without this. The gizmo is ideal to whisk eggs and prepare cupcakes and mixing batter.

AN OTG

The oven toaster grill (OTG) is considered ideal for slow cooking. The food is baked or grilled to just the right quality. A bigger OTG enhances better air circulation, leading to much better, faster cooking.
 

 

MEASURING SPOONS

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These work well to gauge both dry foods (spices, etc) as well as liquids (soups, oil). While tablespoons are abbreviated to tbsp, teaspoons are shortened to T or tsp.