No leaf left behind: Guide to no-waste khana 

Editor’s Note: Laddoos from leftover rotis, a juicy som tam salad that uses watermelon rind and pasta made with broccoli stalks. These recipes taste good, do good and make you feel good. We especially like the hot sauce. Excerpted with permission from ‘The No Waste Kitchen Cookbook’ (Rs 299) by Arina Suchde, published by HarperCollins India. 

Instant Roti Laddoos 

Ingredients 

2 leftover rotis 

1 to 2 tbsp jaggery 

1 to 2 tbsp melted ghee

Method 

1. If the rotis have become dry, refresh them by reheating in the microwave, with a small bowl of water on the side, for 10 to 15 seconds.  
2. Tear the rotis into small pieces and place in a large bowl or thali, adding the jaggery and ghee. Knead together like dough and taste for sweetness. Add more jaggery if required.  
3. Take a small portion on your palm and form into a rough ball to see if it holds shape; add more ghee if it feels dry.  
4. Once the dough comes together, portion into small laddus and eat immediately, or chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before eating. 

Watermelon Rind Som Tam Salad 

Watermelon rind is the white portion between the red flesh and the green skin. It can be eaten raw or cooked in various ways. With a high water content, crunchy texture and neutral taste, it works well in salads, soups, stir-fries, subzi, curries, chutneys and pickles.  

For this recipe, I was inspired by the Thai Som Tam salad that uses raw papaya as its main ingredient. Watermelon rind works just as well and saves you the effort of buying raw papaya when you have so much rind that would otherwise go to waste.  

Ingredients 

1 cup watermelon rind, peeled and julienned 

¼ cup carrot, julienned 

¼ cup raw mango, julienned 

¼ cup bean sprouts 

2 to 3 spring onions, whites cut into long strips and greens sliced  

Handful of coriander leaves, torn into small pieces by hand 

2 to 3 basil leaves, cut into thin long strips 

2 tbsp toasted peanuts, lightly crushed 

For the dressing: 

2 tbsp light soy sauce 

1 tbsp rice vinegar, lemon juice or lime juice 

2 tsp brown sugar, palm sugar or honey 

1 tsp chilli flakes, hot sauce (see Recipe 57) or fresh chilli, finely chopped 

1 tbsp neutral oil

Method 

1. Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing and taste as you go. 
2. It should be a balance of sweet, salty, sour and spicy. 
3. Adjust quantities based on personal preference. 
4. You can use chilli oil instead of neutral oil and chilli or hot sauce. 
5. The dressing should be concentrated in flavour as it will mellow out once mixed with the rest of the ingredients. 

Broccoli Stalk Pasta 

Ingredients 

3 to 4 broccoli stalks 

¼ cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half 

1 tsp olive oil 

Salt to taste 

Pepper to taste 

1 cup pesto 

¼ cup cream 

Method 

1. Peel the tough outer skin of the broccoli stalks. If you have a spiralizer, use it to make ‘noodles’. If not, cut the stalk into thin slices vertically and then into thin strips.  
2. Blanch in salted boiling water for 2 minutes and shock in ice water. Drain well and set aside. 
3. Heat olive oil in a pan or skillet, add the cherry tomatoes, sprinkle a pinch of salt and cook on high flame until they blister and get a slight char.  
4. Add the pesto and cream, mix well. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. 
5. Add in the cut or spiralized broccoli stalks and toss well to coat.  
6. Adjust the consistency of the sauce with more cream if required.  
7. Serve hot. 

Fermented Hot Sauce 

Fermentation is an age-old technique that was used to preserve foods with a short shelf life or when refrigeration was not yet available. An added advantage of fermentation is that the resulting product is not only good for the gut and our overall health, but also an absolute flavour bomb! This non-recipe can be made with so many variations and is fun to experiment with once you understand the basic method.  

Ingredients 

Fresh chillies, red or green (Use fewer if very hot, more if mild; you can also try a mix of both)  

Onion, cut into chunks 

Garlic, cut into big pieces 

1 banana, cut into chunks 

Non-iodized salt 

• Some additional ingredients that work well in the recipe are bell pepper, carrot, spices, herbs, tomato, pineapple, and mango.  
• The banana does not impart flavour; it provides sugar for the yeast to feed on and ferment the sauce and also acts as a natural emulsifier to prevent the water and pulp from separating.  
• Green chillies can work in a similar way and green bell pepper can be added to balance the heat. 

Method 

1. Remove the stems from the chillies and cut into thick slices.  
2. Take a medium to large clean glass jar of 250 to 500 g capacity, preferably with a plastic lid, and add the chillies with onion, garlic and banana chunks.  
3. Fill with filtered, room-temperature water, about an inch or two above the ingredients. Make sure there is enough of a gap between the surface of the water and the lid.  
4. Place a large bowl on a weighing scale, resetting it to zero. Weigh all the ingredients and water in that bowl and make a note of it.  
5. Take salt, weighing 3% of the weight of the ingredients (for example, 100 grams of ingredients will need 3 grams of salt). Add the salt to the bowl with the water and ingredients and stir until the salt dissolves. 
6. Transfer everything back to the jar. Label the jar with the date to keep track. Close the lid but leave it slightly loose.  
7. Place the jar in a cool spot away from direct sunlight. Open it once a day or every other day to let the air escape. Give it a light swirl once a day.  
8. Let it sit for a month (longer if you live in a cold place or during winter).  
9. Smell and taste the brine after a month. If it seems mild, then it can be left to ferment longer as the flavours will only get better.