Zero-Waste Hacks – Thogayals and Podis Using Peels and Piths

The concept of “zero waste” is not new to the Indian kitchen. Grandmoms and moms around the country have been practicing it through the generations. While there are many ways in which they implemented it, the exquisite thogayals and podis (chutneys and powders) they made with peels and piths of vegetables and fruits, is one of my favourite ideas!

Here are a few thogayals and podis, rasams and teas that I regularly make. Please do try them, and I assure you that you will never think about throwing away these peels and piths ever again…

Wood Apple Shell Rasam

Wood apple (kapittha phalam, vilam pazham) is a treat that appears in the market for a very limited period of time, specifically in the festive season from August to October. While the inner flesh of the ripe fruit is usually enjoyed as a pacchadi sweetened with jaggery, not many people know that the outer shell can be used too. It is hard and cannot be eaten, but it is added as a flavour enhancer to rasam! 

Take diluted tamarind water, add turmeric powder, a dash of jaggery, a slit green chilli, a spoonful of rasam powder, and salt to taste. Crush the wood apple shell into three or four pieces (keep the chunks big because you have to remove them while serving) and throw it in. Let this boil till the raw smell of tamarind goes. 

Then add diluted dal water and freshly-prepared rasam topping powder (a coarse powder of roasted chana dal, coriander seeds and red chillies). Dilute the rasam to the required consistency, and heat on a low flame till it foams (do not boil, turn off the flame once it foams on top). Remove from the fire, and give it a tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves. Garnish with coriander, cover and let it sit for a while to absorb the flavours. Remove the wood apple shell at the time of serving. 

Bitter gourd peel podi

If you cook bitter gourd with the entire peel intact, well and good, but if you scrape a layer of the outer skin to reduce the bitterness, stop… do not throw away those scraps!

Sun-dry the scraps, or dry roast them till crisp. Keep aside.

Heat a pan, and dry roast a few spoons of coconut – this step is optional but coconut enhances the flavour of the podi.

Next, heat a teaspoon of sesame oil or any other cooking oil, splutter mustard, throw in a little urad dal, chana dal, red chillies and a dash of tamarind, and roast till the dals turn golden brown. Add a few sprigs of curry leaves and continue to roast till they turn crisp too.

Allow to cool, and powder everything together coarsely, along with the dried peel scraps. Voila, your pavakka thol podi is ready to be enjoyed with hot rice and ghee, or idli/ dosa.

Pomegranate peel pachadi

Clean and cut the pomegranate peels. Heat a little ghee, add jeera, pepper, green chillies, ginger and chopped pomegranate peels. Sauté well till the peels turn brown. Cool, and grind to a fine paste.

·         As an accompaniment: Take some thick curd, add the paste and required salt, mix well. Garnish with coriander and a few pearls of pomegranate. Your pomegranate peel raita is ready to serve.

·         As a refreshing drink: Mix the paste and required salt with diluted buttermilk. Add a few cubes of ice if you desire. Your refreshing pomegranate peel chaas is ready to serve.

Pomegranate peel masala tea

Clean the pomegranate peel, and dry it in the sun for a couple of days, till it turns dry and crisp (do the snap check!) Powder the dried peel along with a few pods of cardamom, pepper and cloves. You can add other spices too if you wish. Store this powder in a dry jar.

·         As tea masala: You can add a spoonful of this along with tea leaves, while making your daily cup of chaai.

·         As herbal decoction: Simply add a spoon of this powder to a cup of water, boil for a minute or two, strain and enjoy as herbal tea.

Banana blossom peel thogayal

When cooking banana blossoms, do you throw away the peels (the pinkish or dark red outer peels) like most people do? Next time, please retain a few of the peels, to make a tasty chutney.

Wash and roughly chop the peels, keep aside. You can also use the inner bud along with this (the stage at which it becomes difficult to separate the flowers).

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan, add mustard, urad dal, chana dal, coriander seeds, red chillies and tamarind. Roast till the dals turn a golden brown. Keep aside to cool.

In the same pan, add another teaspoon of oil, and sauté the chopped peels and bud till the raw smell goes. Cool and grind along with the roasted dals and spices, salt, and a few spoons of grated coconut. Your tasty banana blossom peel thogayal is ready!

In Kerala, banana peels are also cooked into delicious curries.

Chayote (chow-chow) peel thogayal

Wash and roughly chop the chayote peels. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan, add mustard, urad dal, chana dal, red chillies and tamarind. Roast till the dals turn a golden brown. Keep aside to cool.

Next, sauté the chopped chayote peels and coriander leaves (for added flavour), till they soften a little. Cool and grind along with the roasted dals, salt, and a few spoons of grated coconut. Thogayal ready!

Snake gourd pith thogayal

Think twice before you discard the pith and seeds from the snake gourds – you could make a very delicious chutney with it!

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan, add mustard, tuvar dal (when the veg with which you are making chutney is a little mushy like ridge gourd or snake gourd pith, use tuvar dal as it absorbs the moisture and improves the texture), chana dal (for aroma), black pepper, red chillies and tamarind. Roast till the dals turn a golden brown. Keep aside to cool.

Heat another spoonful of oil, toss in the snake gourd pith and a few sprigs of curry leaves, and sauté till the raw smell goes. Cool and grind along with the roasted dals and spices, and a few spoons of grated coconut. Delicious thogayal is ready to be enjoyed with rice or idli/ dosa.

Jackfruit seed (pala kottai) podi

Dry the jackfruit seeds in the sun till the outer white peel turns crisp. Give each seed a whack with the pestle, so that the outer white peel crumbles and can be removed easily. Now, you are left with the shiny brown seeds.

Cut them into small pieces and dry roast in a tawa till crisp. Set aside to cool. (This, incidentally, can be enjoyed as such – it smells and tastes like roasted hazelnuts!)

Heat a teaspoon of gingelly oil or any other cooking oil, throw in a little urad dal, chana dal, red chillies and a dash of tamarind, and roast till the dals turn golden brown. Add a few sprigs of curry leaves and continue to roast till they turn crisp too. Allow to cool, and coarsely powder all these along with the roasted jackfruit seeds. Tongue-tickling pala kottai powder is ready to relish with hot ghee rice, or idli/dosa.

Jackfruit seed podimas

Remove the outer white skin as described above, and take the clean brown jackfruit seeds. Throw them into a pressure cooker, and cook for 4-5 whistles. Drain the water and let them cool completely. Now, pulse the cooked pods a couple of times in a mixer-grinder, till you get a nice, crumbly mix. Set aside.

Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil in a pan, temper mustard, channa dal, urad dal, red chillies, green chillies, chopped ginger, cashews and curry leaves. Add the jackfruit seed crumble and required salt, mix well, and cook for a few seconds. Turn off the stove, garnish with grated coconut, lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves.

Yummy, protein-rich jackfruit seed podimas is ready. The earthy aroma of the cooked seeds combines beautifully with the fresh tang of lemon, giving the dish a perfect balance of flavours. Serve it with hot rasam rice!

 

Jackfruit Seeds Podimas

Orange peel puli pacchadi

Note that this as well as all the following orange peel recipes will work well only with the soft peels of the sweet native orange varieties like Nagpur, Kamala and other soft, loose-jacketed varieties... and not the thick-skinned super-tangy juice orange varieties. You can, however, grate the skin of the latter varieties, and use it similar to lemon zest, to garnish cakes and other desserts. 

Coming back to the puli pachadi, a super flavourful accompaniment that teases your taste buds! First, clean and finely chop the orange peels. Now, heat sesame oil in a pan, temper mustard, urad and chana dal, green and red chillies. Then add the chopped orange peel and sauté till it becomes soft, and acquires a brownish-orange colour. Now, add some diluted tamarind pulp, jaggery and salt. Boil till the raw smell of the tamarind goes completely. 

Now, for the secret ingredient -- a dash of roasted and powdered fenugreek. As soon as you add this, the pacchadi will get an aroma boost! And it will also start thickening. Once it comes to the desired consistency, remove from the flame, cool and bottle. At room temperature it will last for around a week, but if stored in the refrigerator you can use it for a month or so. It is an apt accompaniment for curd rice, paruppu podi rice, any thogayal rice, or even tiffin like idli, dosa or parathas. 

Orange peel thogayal

Clean, chop and sauté the orange peel. Proceed to make a tasty thogayal, following the same recipe as snake gourd pith or chayote peel thogayal. 

Orange peel podi

Sun-dry or dry roast the orange peel. Follow the same recipe as bitter gourd peel podi, to make a tongue-tickling accompaniment for rice or idli/dosa. 

With more and more people moving away from their agrarian backgrounds, we are seeing cities expand and farms shrink. It is going to be extremely difficult to put healthy food on the table in the coming years. And when you do have a healthy veggie or fruit in your hand, it would be wise to make use of every edible portion of it, rather than eat only the obvious portions and throw away healthy fibre!

If you know more such ideas, to make use of commonly discarded but healthy vegetable portions, please do share as comments so we can all benefit from your knowledge.