Picking up the leftovers

You just had a delicious four course meal and you realise there is quite a bit left over. Don’t throw it away just yet; you can use it to whip up some new, interesting dishes.

The staple diet of most Indians includes fluffy rotis. Leftover rotis can be turned into a quick snack within three minutes. Something like Fodnichi poli, a typical Maharashtrian snack made with leftover rotis torn into bits and fried with onions, green chillies, turmeric, chilli powder, cumin seeds (jeera) and asafoetida (hing). Priya Deshpande, 54, who works in the municipal corporation, makes a version of this dish by adding butter and sugar. “The rotis can also be made into rolls or frankies by using a filling of leftover vegetables or eggs,” says Deshpande, who keeps experimenting with fast food using leftovers. She makes fried rice with leftover gravies, and bhajias with leftover dry vegetables.

Usha Kalal, 57, a housewife, makes pudding with leftover bread and milk by adding sugar, butter, vanilla and raisins. “Thin slices of rotis mixed with melted jaggery and ghee can give you yummy laddoos,” she says.Bhawani Balasubramaniam, 48, who works at the Reserve Bank, uses leftover daal and sabzi to make thalipeeth. “You mix that with wheat flour or bajra flour and onions and make dough,” she says. She also makes use of the batter of adai, a dosa made of rice and dals. “If you add some onions and masalas to the leftover batter, you can make bhajias,” she says.Dal khichdi pakodas is Purva Khole’s favourite leftover recipe. “It’s very simple. Just add gram flour (besan), onions, coriander and salt to leftover dal khichdi, make a batter and fry,” says Khole, 24, a media professional.Urvashi Choubey, 22, uses leftover rice and tomatoes to make a dish her mother taught her. “I bake tomatoes and stuff them with rice, mushroom, capsicum, cheese and onion. I top it with fried garlic, which gives it a unique taste,” she says.Soups and salads are great ways too to use leftover vegetables, chicken and fish. These can also be used in pasta or noodles.Siddhartha Khullar, 34, the editor of Chef at Large,  an Indian food blog, suggests innovative ways of using leftover chicken or fish. “They can be shredded, heated and folded into an omelette with some light-fried onions; shredded, mixed with gravy and stuffed into a little pie or even used as filling for stuffed paranthas,” Khullar says. He advises using leftovers within 24-48 hours of cooking, and wrapping them before storing in the freezer.Coming to desserts, if you have leftover cake that has gone a bit dry, it can be turned into a trifle or layered with a pudding. The dried cake can also be crumbled and sprinkled on ice-cream. Leftover desserts can be mixed with fruits, used in milkshakes and also put as topping in sweets.Leftover food can be used in a variety of ways. All that’s needed is a little imagination.