Hari Dharti Eco Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

28/04/2022

Chutneys From Vegetable Peels

Hello folks! Am back this week with some awesome recipes for making chutneys from vegetable peels! Amazing nutritious chutneys can be made from …..yes vegetable peels! It seems almost criminal to throw away these nutrition packed peels, and yet we do…

A common concern is the pesticides used on fresh produce. There are a number of ways of dealing with this issue.

Number One is to buy organic, or grow your own veggies as much as you can. Of course one cannot grow everything, but to whatever extent possible.

For most of us who buy our fresh produce from the regular market, here is a tip on how to rid them of the chemicals they might come coated with. Simply soak your fruits and vegetable for 20 minutes in a solution of water with either salt, soda bicarb, or vinegar. Rinse the vegetables and fruits thoroughly in running water post the soak. Scrub firm produce like melons and root vegetables with a brush kept only for this purpose. Do follow the same process for organic produce as well.

Buy local and seasonal as much as possible – part of the fun of travelling is to eat local produce – they taste much better and leave you with a lovely gastronomic memory of your travels as well. Off season fresh produce and produce that has travelled long distances come coated with chemicals to keep them fresh, not to speak of the carbon footprint increase for cold storages and bringing them to your local store.

So coming to the topic of the day – Chutneys from vegetable and fruit peels!

The chutney that wins the first prize in popularity is the ridge gourd skin chutney. Every single person I spoke to about my forthcoming post, mentioned the ridge gourd peel chutney and spoke of how surprisingly delicious it was! I am so glad, because the mind is already open to the possibility of making tasty chutneys out of peels.

You will find a wide variety of this recipe on the net. Virtually every famous chef / cooking enthusiast posting recipes on YouTube has covered this and that too with variations. Here are a couple:

https://youtu.be/bE9Ccf6boak
https://youtu.be/jqYa-R5h7es

Besides the ridge gourd peel chutney, there are quite a few other chutneys you can make. These can be used as regular chutneys with South Indian delicacies, or with chillas, parathas, as sandwich and wrap spreads, or just to make your regular meal a dash more interesting!

Try these, and let your imagination roll ….. enjoy!

Vegetable Peel Chutney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxopESJj2cI

https://youtu.be/UXH0GH_NIDk

https://www.holachef.com/tasty-chutney-recipe-made-of-vegetable-peels/

https://everydayvegcooking.com/chutney-vegetable-peels/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR1h0HpmFvw

Until next week – looking forward to your feedback. Do post your own recipes and in case you are interested in a particular fruit / vegetable part currently discarded, let me know!

20/04/2022

Hello! Am back with ideas this time on how to use melon and pumpkin seeds. Your response has been most encouraging – especially the personal messages! Thank you!

Watermelon, musk melon, honey dew, cantaloupes – summer season and you have melons flooding the market and so are pumpkins.
While we eat the fruit, the seeds are thrown away in most households. Ironically, with the focus on health foods and nutritious benefits of consuming nuts and seeds, we buy back these seeds at fancy prices! There are some easy creative ways of using these seeds, so don’t throw them away! Let’s start:

1. Melon / Pumpkin Seed Milk
Yes! All you vegan food lovers going in for various nut and oat milks – try melon seeds milk. It has a lovely nutty flavor and so easy to extract.
Dry the melon seeds and then roast them in a kadhai or tava stirring them till you hear a few crackle. Turn off the heat and keep stirring for a few minutes and cool completely. Pop them into your liquidizer with water – about one and a half times the volume of the seeds. Crush them well for about a minute and then filter out the milk using a muslin / cheese cloth. Voila! Your nut milk is ready for use! You can also use this to make vegan dahi.

2. Melon / Pumpkin Seed Powder
Again a very easy way to use melon seeds – this time crush the seeds fine in your grinder after drying and roasting them. Sieve out the hard seed covers and your powder is ready! Use as a thickening agent in curries, adding a nutty flavor to sweets, and your smoothie – experiment and discover your favourite mode of use!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScI3de_xCqs

3. Melon /Pumpkin seeds – as is …
A slightly more difficult procedure, though can be done! After drying and roasting the melon seeds, crush them slightly or use a rolling pin to crush them. Separate out the chaff, and you have your melon seeds to use in salads, laddoos, burfi and halwa toppings, mix with other ingredients to make your own mukhwas…

4. Melon / Pumpkin Seeds Butter / Dip
This one I found most interesting. Recipe contributed by my cousin Chandita Mukherji
Slow roast the melon seeds after removing the outer cover. Cool and grind to a paste with olive oil, salt pepper and garlic powder. Use enough olive oil to get the consistency you desire – as a spread over toast, or a dip with crackers. Delicious is the word!

Bengali recipe for cooking pumpkin seeds – cooked as a bhatay ( first course of a Bengali meal ) you can adapt the process to suit a modern kitchen.
https://youtu.be/EHiulS1TRmk

Roasted Water Melon Seeds
https://www.thespruceeats.com/roasted-watermelon-seeds-2355362

These suggestions are just to start you off. Let your imagination and creativity flow – use those seeds!

Do keep your feedback flowing …. Until Next Week …

13/04/2022

I have been mulling over this for a while now. All of us who care for the environment and are looking for behavioral changes in ourselves and others around us, talk about segregating waste, composting, recycling etc. The mantra is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Let’s focus on organic waste. How do we apply the 3Rs?

At a personal level, are we to reduce our consumption of fruits and vegetables? On the contrary, with the movement towards a vegan diet, our consumption of these products will only rise. We can take care to purchase only what we will consume.

Can we reuse food? Definitely yes – instead of throwing away cooked food, we can definitely use our creativity and use them up, and make different delicious things to eat.

Coming to recycling – composting is of course the answer.

So what is preying on my mind? The first R – Reduce. Reduce the waste from fruits and vegetables – and YES WE CAN!

Just look back a generation or two, people consumed parts of fruits and vegetables we gleefully throw away – seeds and skin making the bulk of our kitchen waste. Even with the movement towards eating whole foods, there is a lot we just throw away – so here I am with a series of recipes highlighting ways we can eat these, making delicious dishes which by the way are very healthy, as these parts are full of vitamins and minerals and low on carbs. Enjoy cooking and contribute to a healthy environment – and watch how your kitchen waste reduces!

Here’s my first – fruit of the season – the Watermelon

The watermelon waste consists of the outer dark green rind, the inner lighter green pith and ofcourse the seeds.

The rind can be cut fine, boiled to soften it and cooked like a vegetable, while the pith can be cooked like a normal vegetable, added raw to salads, or added to daal, sambar or any mixed vegetable dish. Sharing a few recipe links here to start you off – you can explore so much more! Wash dry and keep the seeds – I will come back for their use!

https://cookwithrenu.com/watermelon-rind-sabji-using-the-green-peel/

https://www.chezshuchi.com/watermelon-rind-sabji.html

https://www.watermelon.org/recipes/roasted-watermelon-rind-parmesan/

https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a36097985/watermelon-rind-recipe/

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/215569/watermelon-rind-stir-fry/

https://www.thekitchn.com/watermelon-rind-bhaji-recipe-23059358

https://holycowvegan.net/watermelon-rind-dosa/

https://thewingedfork.com/watermelon-rind-curry-tarbooz-ke-chilke-ki-sabzi/

https://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/819/Watermelon-Rind-Candy108617.shtml

Would love your feedback and do share your own personal recipes for using up parts of vegetables and fruits we throw away.

18/03/2021

Reuse, Reduce, RECYCLE

04/03/2021

Food Waste ... why do we waste food? Why aren’t children trained to understand that food waste is just not acceptable? Shocking news - 50kg per head food wasted in India every year? That too most of it from households? Time to introspect our wasteful lifestyles.

India News: NEW DELHI: An estimated 931 million tonnes of food, or 17% of total food available to consumers in 2019 globally, went into the waste bins of househol.

23/02/2021

Proudly presenting up cycling creativity by my brother Krishnendu Chatterjee...

“ Expressing my creativity in diverse art forms - Upcycled Art from Tea light candle shells https://t.co/IFWqpoU9MN”

03/02/2021

Another one by MMC(Marsh McClennan and Companies... A PET Bottle Flaking Machine at the Galleria Mall,Hiranandani Gardens, Powai. Many thanks to Galleria Society for their enthusiastic support in installing and running the machine on their premises. Many thanks to the Rotary Club of Bombay Mid City for their unstinted support through this project.

29/11/2020

Turn your homes into a healthy garden and improve your brain function!

26/11/2020

A beautiful song by AR Rehman .... conserve water ...