Kitchen Conversion Metrics

I have been receiving quite a few mails asking me for alternative measures for those who do not have measuring equipment. Given below is a guide to making metrics easy for measures referred in my recipes.

Butter/Shortenings /Ghee	100 g	8 tablespoons
	225 g	1 cup
Flour	115 g	1 cup
Liquids	225 ml	1 cup
Liquids with syrupy consistency	350 g	1 cup
Caster sugar	225 g	1 cup
Moist brown sugar	200 g	1 cup
Icing Sugar	125 g	1 cup
Lentils	225 g	1 cup
Big beans like kidney beans	300 g	1 cup
Uncooked rice	200 g	1 cup
Whole almonds	150 g	1 cup
Almond flakes	115 g	1 cup
Walnuts	115 g	1 cup
Chopped nuts	115 g	1 cup
Ground nuts	115 g	1 cup

Spoon and Cup Measurements :
1 tablespoon	=	15 ml
1 teaspoon	=	5 ml
1 pinch	=	1/8 teaspoon
1 cup	=	250 ml
3/4 cup	=	188 ml
1/2 cup	=	125 ml
1/3 cup	=	83 ml
1/4 cup	=	63 ml

Notes :

While following recipes of cakes, cookies, biscuits and desserts, try to stick to the exact measures given in each recipe. Making variations in proportions may not fetch you desired results.

Invest in good measuring equipment :

1. Measuring spoons: 

This includes a set of four spoons of 1 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, ½ teaspoon and ¼ teaspoon measures. Some sets may consist of ½ tablespoon, ¾ teaspoon and 1/8 teaspoon measures. They are used to measure both dry and wet ingredients.

2. Dry measuring cups : 

You will find them in a set of 1 cup, ½ cup, 1/3 cup and ¼ cup measures. Some sets may also consist 3/4 cup, 2/3 cup and 1/8 cup measures. They are usually used to measure dry ingredients like flour, sugar, rice, and solids like butter, ghee, shortenings etc.

Note: You might notice that in some photographs I pour out liquids from dry measuring cups. It is only for a convenience of photographing.

3. Liquid Measuring cups : It comes in both Pyrex and plastic.

4. Kitchen Scales : It is used in measuring the weight of ingredients. You will find Spring based  kitchen scales and Digital kitchen scales.

While using dry ingredients, fill the ingredients into the cup, tap the cup and level the excess off the surface along the rim of the cup. Similarly while measuring in a spoon, level the excess off the surface along the rim of the spoon. I have mentioned 'spoonful' in some places, which means a heaped spoon and do not level the excess off the surface. 

Hope this section helps. If you still have any queries or feel I've gone wrong somewhere, please Comment or write to me on Facebook .