Save your peels

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Most of us peel vegetables and throw the scraps into the bin. Don’t do that. Instead, save the peels from carrots, potatoes, etc, and add them to a homemade broth for extra flavour, advises Amol Phute, chef de cuisine at Bandra eatery Bastian. “Also, reserve kale stalks for soups that call for chopped greens, and make jams from apple peels and cores, apricot peels and strawberry tops,” he suggests. While storing, ensure that meat and poultry is kept separately from vegetables to increase their shelf life. And Phute also warns against overbuying to maintain the freshness and quality of your ingredients, thereby reducing wastage. 

Widen your culinary lens

Remember that everything that is there in a fruit or a vegetable is edible in some way or the other. That is the main advice that Chef Gresham Fernandes, culinary director of Impresario Handmade Restaurants, has to offer. Banana peels can be turned into a chutney that is a favourite among the Sindhi community. The middle stems and leaves of cauliflowers can be made into a bhaji. Pineapple peels are used for making a somewhat fermented drink called tapesh. In fact, you don’t have to throw the bones and heads of fish either. Use them to make a stock instead. Fernandes says, “You basically have to look at cuisine from a poor person’s perspective. If you have extra rice in the fridge, make fried rice with it. Have leftover daal? Add some tomatoes, puree it and turn it into a soup instead. Start looking at food with a wider lens.” 

A lifestyle change

Potato skins needn’t just be used for broths. They can also be used to make excellent chips, suggests Vidit Aren, executive chef at Slink and Bardot, a restaurant in Worli. He also says that leftover bread can be dried over a day or two, and then blended into a powder, which can be used to make muffins and rustic bread loaves. Diced broccoli stems with the outer skin peeled off make for a great addition to a stir-fry. But what’s most important, Aren says, is to strive towards a lifestyle change since sustainability, waste management and responsible living are all interconnected. “Once you make that shift, you will find your own hacks suited to where you live and what your surroundings are like,” he says. 

Storing tactics

There’s of course a lot you can do with peels in the kitchen, whether it’s making stocks, chutneys or jams. But chef Amarinder Sandhu of Indian eatery Iktara suggests that you can also use them to create compost and grow vegetables if you have the space. She also warns against overbuying ingredients. “We are extremely diligent about shopping for ingredients at commercial kitchens in order to cut our costs. So, plan your meals for the week, and buy the items accordingly,” she says. Sandhu adds that when it comes to storing, anything that needs to be thawed should be placed in the bottom shelf in a perforated pan with a plate underneath it, so that drippings don’t contaminate the other stuff in the fridge. “I also like to keep my coriander in water, like flowers. Not only does this preserve them, but they also look nice, encouraging you to cook something with them.”