Your otherwise well equipped kitchen is missing a grater? Here are some great ways on how to grate without a grater.

We often take simple kitchen equipment and tools for granted don’t we? You may have all the ingredients required to make a dish from your recipe but realize you are missing an important equipment like the grater to grate the cheese on your pasta or to grate the carrots and cabbage for the salad. Your recipe book says “use grated ginger, garlic, lemon zest etc”. You don’t need to change the recipe or flip the page of your cookbook because you don’t have a grater. It may take you a wee bit extra time and involve a few extra steps but the results will be almost identical to the grated ingredient.

        Here are some ways to grate various items without a grater;

• You could grate various hard and semi hard cheeses using a food processor or blender. Start by spraying some non-stick cooking spray on the blades of the food processor. Use normal oil if you don’t have cooking spray. Put your cheese or cut into small dices into the processor, close the lid and pulse for 2-3 seconds or till you get the desired result.

• You can also grate hard vegetables like carrot, cabbage, zucchini, potato etc. using a food processor. Insert the grater blade in the processor. Prepare the vegetable by washing, peeling and cutting into thin strips. Add the vegetable to the processor and pulse for a few seconds till you get the desired grated product.

• If you are missing a food processor, you could still grate your ingredients with a Knife. Simple slice the cheese or vegetable as thinly as possible using a large knife. Stack the slices and cut fine juliennes by making very fine cuts from top to bottom of the stack. You can further finely dice the strips just like when you cut parsley or thyme.

• You can also grate ginger, lemon or citrus fruit peel for a recipe. Wash and dry the ginger/lemon using a Paring knife or peeler to slice the very outer peel. Trim any white pith that you may find attached to the peel that you have sliced, with the paring knife. Place the peel on a fruit cutting board. Chop it finely using a sharp large knife to get an almost grate like effect.

So, above are few tips on how to grate without using a grater.

Image courtesy- www.skylandscutlery.com