Lavina Melwani
Lavina Melwani is a New York-based journalist who writes for several international publications. Twitter@lavinamelwani & @lassiwithlavina Sign up for the free newsletter to get your dose of Lassi!
Lavina Melwani is a New York-based journalist who writes for several international publications. Twitter@lavinamelwani & @lassiwithlavina Sign up for the free newsletter to get your dose of Lassi!
21 Comments
thank you Priyanka – yes, I remember eating chappatis with sugar – my mom would break up the chappati, heat it up and serve with sugar. I think it was called Kutti. Quite delicious – in my sugar splurge years as a kid!
Jerzgirl – sorry for the laaate reply – I love leftover dal to in parathas as well as the filling for potato tikkis. Leftover daal turns up in so many different recipes.
Lovely post 🙂 reminded me of leftover chapati heated with sugar that my mum used for breakfast at times. Will try the Sindhi recipes for sure. Thanks !
My favorite frugal recipe uses leftover dal to make paranthas. Deeelish – can be done with subzi (veggies) also.
Yes, CJM indeed!I have some fun memories too!
So glad you enjoyed Lassi with Lavina – do join the Facebook page too https://www.facebook.com/LassiwithLavina
There is also a group on FB called Lassi with Lavina and Friends. https://www.facebook.com/groups/lassiwithlavinaandfriends/
You are from CJM – Delhi!
I stumbled on this article while looking for some Sindhi recipes, and it is the mention of my school that caught my attention.
This article brought back such nice memories of school! I have bookmarked your site. Good work!
Hi Lavina,
Yes I used to love my achaar ke sandwiches growing up in Delhi and taking it for lunch to Carmel Convent as well! These days living in California and loving nature’s bounty, I’ve started putting this key ingredient to even better use. This is a wonderful Beets and Avocado Ceviche salad with achaar as the dressing:
Indo-Mexican Farm to Table Lunch http://kitchentantra.blogspot.com/2013/06/indo-mexican-farm-to-table-lunch.html
Hope you get around to making it. I promise it’s delicious.
Well, start cooking extra so you can have the joy of eating leftovers! The food actually tastes better and you think an invisible chef has whipped up the meal for you.
Lavina, I am sooo frugal, i never have leftovers…:(
Nava, I guess we Indians are a frugal bunch – and creative too! I recall a cookbook written by an Indian woman in which she used even the peels of various fruits and vegetables to make some really delicious dishes.
It’s quite normal for us at home to convert cooked rice into many different types of fried rice, from the Chinese style and the spicy type. Roast chicken leaf over is added to fresh veges like tomatoes, salad leaves etc to make Chicken Sala.
Alka, thanks for sharing these innovative tips – recycling food is such a good, tasty idea
Cool tips..my Mom too treated the leftover food almost the same way as yours, but hey, the makeshift, fried cake sounds delicious…a must try!
I generally mix the leftover Bhugi dal (dry moong dal that we make for stuffing parathas) with some boiled veggies or simply with boiled potatoes and spice it up with few Indian herbs and bake till crisp.
The leftover rice of course gets the avatar of either Garlic fried rice, or biryani or sometimes the simple Sindhi style Aur waara chaanwaran or the mustard seeds tempered rice.
The stale bread slices makes excellent bread upma, the leftover mixed vegetable subzi fills the ‘wraps’,the leftover Dal is turned into pancakes after adding besan and some herbs.The curd that need to be consumed soon before it turns sour,is used to top up the fried or baked bread slices along with some boondi and chutney, and voila instant chaat is ready to savour.The Peda or mawa mithai, goes well in halwa (carrot or Dhoodhi), or sometimes even to make rabri.
So many more things to share, but will take a break at this moment 🙂
Kriti, can’t see myself actually trying to make achaar (pickles) here (or anywhere, to be honest!) and you do need raw green mangoes for the pickle.
The shortcut is to buy a bottle of green mango pickle from the Indian stores – I did get a pretty good match to the remembered taste.
I haven’t made Nasi Goring for years – maybe I’ll cook up a batch!
Lavina – thanks a ton! The sad thing is I have to wait to get to India for the real good mangoes. Have you tried with mangoes from Mexico yet cause that’s all we get here. In the meantime one of my favorite dishes is Nasi Goring – I make it almost every week….
Hi Frane, we’re on the same page where mothers are concerned! I try to use my leftovers in creative ways too – in fact I once bought an amazing little paperback cookbook in India which had only recipes for leftovers, including veggie skins which have a lot of nutrition. If I manage to find this I’ll share some of those offbeat recipes which taste great.
Thanks Lindsay – do share some of your ideas with us too.
Really loved reading this, am definitely going to try the ‘aachar’ sandwiches…..reminded me of my mom, she made tasty crispy croquettes with leftover rice! There was always something to look forward to when I returned from school each day. And it is amazing how innovative one can get in the kitchen. Reading this has motivated me to try out something different, the kids tire easily and I have to be creative in the kitchen. Thanks Lavina for sharing!
I love this – thanks for the great ideas.
At this time we all need tips on stretching the dollar, the yen and the ruppee! Would love posters to comment on their own ways to getting the most out of their money.
That is one juicy blog!!!, after reading this I am nuking the fridge for leftovers, especially I would like to try the samwitch ! deliciaso!
please provide us some tips on frugal living…:)