We all have that bowl type utensil in our kitchen that has small holes at the base. This is known as how to use a colander, the water drainer. People use it for draining pasta, especially removing extra water after cooking pasta. Well, other than just draining the extra water from pasta, it has many other takes in the kitchen as well. These might include grading the cheese, washing vegetables, fruits, rains, sifting the four, cleaning rice, and many others like this. It is a great best pasta pot with a strainer to have in the kitchen because it has multiple benefits for the users.
How to use a colander?
Buying one best quality colander is enough for you to use for a lifetime. If the material is good, and it works perfectly, you do not have to spend money on buying it again. Well, many people do not know how to use a colander. That’s why they ruin the colander which they need to change after some time. Here we will discuss all methods of using it. We are sure that you will learn a lot from it.
Use to Drain Pasta
The main way of using the colander for straining pasta. You will understand how to drain pasta with simple steps:
Boil the Pasta
Fill up a pasta boiling pot with water and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Add pasta into it along with a few teaspoons of oil and salt. Cook it until you feel the pasta is soft enough to eat. It should be firm enough to not break. Also, the crunchiness should not be there so that you can chew it easily.
Reserve Some Pasta Water
The water of boiled pasta is full of salt and pasta starch. You have to drain it, but collect a small amount of it. Reserve it for the last step in which you will add the sauce after draining pasta. This will not only make the sauce’s consistency much better than before but also add rich flavor.
Pour Pasta and Excess Water
In this stage, you have to take the pasta pot into the sink. This is the time to get rid of all the extra water in it. However, you have to be very careful during this time because hot water splashes can burn you. As we know that we cannot drain pasta without a strainer.
So, now slowly pour the pasta into the colander pot. The colander will not only collect the pasta but also removes excess water. You will be left with perfectly cooked pasta that is ready to be mixed with the sauce of your choice. It is like a self draining pasta pot.
Some people make a big mistake of rinsing pasta with tap water. It should not be done in any case. This is because the water can remove the necessary starch from the surface. Now if you add the sauce into it, it will not stick to its surface and flow down.
Transfer Pasta into Mixing Pot
Now, this is the last step in the process. You have to be very careful about this. It is all about transferring the pasta into the pot in which you can add the sauce. It should be wide enough to allow the mixing of sauce.
After you are done with this, you can now add the sauce to it. Along with this, add the pasta water that was set aside previously. Now mix it well enough to allow everything to become even and smooth. That’s all. Your delicious pasta is ready to make you happy.
Other Methods
Here we will discuss various other ways in which we can use the draining pot colanders. Given below are the details of each one:
1 Steam Vegetables
Steaming food with the help of a colander is the best way of using this utensil. All you need to take care of is to choose the colander that can fit into the cooking pot. Also, the pot must be deep enough to hold the colander inside it. The colander lower surface should not touch the bottom of the pot. 
Now you can add water into the cooking pot. Keep it as high as one inch and let it boil for some time. This will create the steam inside the pot. You can now add vegetables or any other material into the food drainer and place it into the pot. Put the lid over it so that the steam of water remains inside and cook the food.
2 Wash Fruits and Vegetables
When you bring vegetables and fruits into the kitchen, you can add them to the colander. Now take it to the sink and open the faucet. Try to let the water flow over it for a few minutes. It will remove the residues of pesticides, dirt, and dust from the surface. Also, it will effectively strain the water from below. You can also shake the colander a few times to drain food, and leaving behind the fruits or vegetables.
3 Sifting of Dry Ingredients
Sifting the dry ingredients is very easy with the help of colanders. You can use any type of food drainer for this purpose. Either it is made of metal or plastic, it will effectively do the job of sifting. So, start by adding that ingredient into it. It could be baking soda, cornflour, wheat flour, or any such thing that needs sifting. Start shaking it back and forth after this.
Make sure that you add a bowl below it so that the sifted material can enter into it directly. Once this is done, you can use the ingredient for the recipe. This will make the batter extremely smooth because sifting with a colander removes all the lumps in the ingredient.
4 Prevent Grease Splatter
When you are cooking food or frying something that splashes oil everywhere around it, use a colander to stop it. You can just turn it upside down, and place it over the cooking pot. All the splashes will stick to the inner side of the colander. All you need to do is to just wash it with a dishwasher to get rid of the grease.
Make sure that you handle the colander very carefully while removing it from the pot. This can burn your hands as the metal colander gets very hot on the cooking pot. So, be very careful while doing it, and always use gloves to do the task.
5 Mash Potatoes/Avocado/Pumpkins, etc
First of all, you have to boil the potatoes for 30 to 40 minutes. After this, just place them into the metal colander pot and wait for them to become a little cool. Now just take the potato mashing utensil to press the potatoes into the holes. You can even use a spatula for this purpose. You can put a bowl or plate below it to catch the potatoes.
For making the recipe extra creamy, you can mash them with greater pressure. This will make the potato very soft and creamy. Other than just potatoes, you can even mash the avocado, pumpkins, and other such things in this utensil.
6 Grate the Cheese
When you are trying a new dish at home, and you need to grate the cheese, then what would you do? You probably do not have the cheese grater, but you cannot cook without the addition of cheese. Well, at this time you can use the draining pot for grating purposes.
Take your colander that is made with metal, and start rubbing the cheese block on the holes. The cheese grating will be very fine with this technique. You can simply collect the cheese below this utensil and add it to the recipe.
7 Turns to Ice Bucket
If you are thinking about buying an ice bucket, then drop the idea. You can use the colander pot instead. You can simply place it over a bowl in your kitchen. Then add the ice cubes and put drinks in them. The melted water will keep on draining into the bowl. You can remove the collected water when it reaches the margins. You can also add more cubes with time so that the drinks remain cold. This is another great strainer use like this. It saves your money and makes the process effortless for you in no time.
Conclusion
Well, we are sure that now you know how to use a colander. It is a simple utensil but comes with great advantages. You can carry out multiple tasks with one thing only. Its maintenance is also very easy. Therefore, you do not have to worry about replacing it with a new one every few months. Once you buy, it will support you in the kitchen for years and years. So, if you do not have it at home, go and grab your first colander right now.
How to?
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