Salt to taste

At what stage of cooking should one add salt to a dish? Although adding salt seems like a fairly intuitive thing to do, this is a common dilemma and there are many answers, depending on what you are cooking.

 If you are sautéing veggies, don’t add salt till the end because salt brings out all the water content from the vegetables and makes your stir-fry soggy. This is particularly true of vegetables like mushrooms, cabbage or cauliflower, which have high moisture. You could add a pinch of salt when you add onions to the pan, so that it releases the juices, but only just about. Season the curries later. 

- For meats, adding salt right at the beginning (while grilling) or when you marinade them helps in absorption of flavours and also retention of moisture, making the food tender.

- Adding salt to beans or pulses at the boiling stage makes them hard and unevenly cooked. If you are using a pressure cooker, add salt after the pulses or beans are nicely boiled. 

- Planning to make a soup? You can add salt during the boiling process in instalments and check for the level of salt. If you are cooking Karnataka’s very own food like saaru or huli, ensure that you add salt after the pulses are cooked. For pasta water, you can add salt just as the water starts to boil or when it is cold, so the water boils faster and you can add the pasta later. 

- If you are cooking seafood, ensure that you add salt just before cooking – too early, and the fish or prawns turn rubbery.