My black beauties - Tips and tricks to handle and season cast iron utensils

My black beauties

This post is not about any dish or recipe but about something more precious than that, yes asyou guessed its about my cooking utensils. I have always been inclined to the traditional vessels which has been used by our mothers and grandmothers. When I got married and started ruling my own kitchen I started working on my love for cooking and the lifeless utensils too :) ( Oh I love them a lot)

The story takes me back to that time when I went to my native place for the delivery of my first child. Whenever my husband comes to visit me I observed he has no luggage to carry,, :P that's when I thought of  packing his bag with one utensil each time he return. Yes, now I realise I was so intelligent to do that then.. ha ha.. because as many of you now once the baby comes you cant think of carrying anything much extra.

Anyway all the tough job starts when you want to season the utensils.

Among the above collection except for the big kadai which my mom gave the rest of it was bought and seasoned by me. Among that the big dosa tava was the first among the lot.

Few pointers to season the pan

1. You can smear oil well inside out of the pan leave it for some time before you start using it.
2. Use sesame oil to rub the pan when you want to cook in it
3. Also use a half onion to rub the pan with oil.

These rules applies for the dosa tava and the appam chatti strictly.
I have used the above two methods for quite a long time .

Few other tips are
Rub the pan with little salt
If you use eggs, break an egg before start making dosas.
the above two are what I have heard dint use these tips much.

You have to be really persistent and patient enough to stick on to these rules to get your tava seasoned. By no means you should take out your nonstick tava :) Hope you get me ;)

When you using kadais it is  easier .. please don't think that you have to use a ladle full of oil. Trust me you don't have to .. Initially use the kadai to season and then add the vegs/ other ingredients and cook those dishes which need water in the second stage of cooking.

Warning : the dish will trun a little dark due to the iron content.

So you need to empty the dish as soon as you finish cooking and not leave the food in the vessel.
Once you keep doing this one day you will realise the food doesn't turn dark anymore ..may be then you can leave thefood in the kadai if you choose that way.

If you think why so much of hard work when you get stuffs of a non stick tava or kadai in a breeze.

These are few of my reasons
Research have showed that
Nonstick tava/pan emits toxins when heated after a certain point, it is hazardous to the person who inhales it.
Nonstick tava/pan has a coating which is not healthy as well.

Even if you ignore the above two points the most interesting factor for me in the taste .. Yes trust me .. the dosas made in the iron tava is much tastier than the one made in non stick . The texture is also very different from the one made in nonstick ins what I feel. And if you think I use a lot of oil, absolutely no .. Just one drop of oil is enough for one dosa.

Few other tips and tricks 
If you have observed how they make dosas in the restaurants .. they sprinkle water and adjust the temperature of the tava.. I do the same thing. My family is now used to the 'hus bus' I create when I make dosa.. I put the oil and then sprinkle the water and then pour the batter and spread it think or thick whichever way I want.

Maintenance of cast iron utensils

Please for God sake don't scrub the pans and remove each molecule of oil in it.. Once you finish cooking just wash it with a little of dish washer liquid and scrub lightly. You never have to keep it squeaky clean. that little bit of oil helps the vessels not getting rusted and eventually it gets seasoned better.

Sourcing of utensils

And before I finish my unusually long post I will write some pointers about the sourcing of such utensils

• Get into the local markets of your area. Please don't visit malls , they might have it but may be 5x the price of it.
• I have also seen in some supermarkets where again its priced very steep.
• Instead whenever you visit any villages or smaller cities take a walk into their local city markets.
• Even if you are in bigger cities you will certainly find it you do a small research about the local markets of that place.
• And then some online sites abroad also provides cast iron pans which are already seasoned .. So just look around if you adamant and persistent enough to find it you will definitely find it :) I know optimism works !! 

So folks get on to  hunting, shopping, seasoning and cooking yummy authentic dishes !!

Please get back for any queries and doubts 

Thank you :)