Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Cooking in a Hotel room ( or just about anywhere)

Cooking with basic equipment

It is easy to cook in a hotel room if you choose the recipes right. You need very basic tools – a knife, an electric kettle and an electric iron. If you do not have an electric kettle / electric iron in your hotel room, you need to have a Thermos flask and access to boiling water ( see One page cookbooks: Vacuum flask recipes for details)


Cooking in a Hotel room – Basics.

Buy carbohydrates from the super market. This may be sliced bread, pita , tortilla , chappati or even cooked pasta / noodles. Cooking carbs takes time and is generally messy. So have a supply of them. (A good idea is to carry a small pack of muesli. See 1001 Museli cookbook).

If you have access to a heat source, you can cook quite a few recipes. An electric kettle / electric iron can double as kitchen equipment. Carrying a mini immersion heater (as long as your finger – usually used to heat water for shaving) is a good idea.  

 

Tips:
1. Clean everything after cooking. Clean an electric kettle by filling it with water and letting it boil for a few minutes.

2. Electric irons are usually Teflon coated and easy to clean. Just wipe them well before and after cooking. 
3. Though electric irons are electrically insulated, never touch the cooking surface with your bare hands.

4. Keep the electric kettle over a pile of news papers / tissues / towel as it might bubble and spill over.

5. Be creative – fill your sliced bread with salsa to make a sandwich or roll up salsa in a tortilla to make a burrito. Just mix a carb base with veggies / eggs/ meats to fix up a variety of recipes.

6. A soup can double as a sauce. Make it slightly thicker and pour it over cooked noodles / pasta to have a filling meal.



3 comments:

Srivalli said...

Ramki..you sure come out with such lovely ideas!...

Priya Narasimhan said...

good idea..
generally electric rice cooker works best for me.:-)

Melbourne Hotels said...

Intelligent tips but make sure you don't call 911.

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