Leftovers turned Culinary Surprise

"Leftovers is the mother of makeovers"…You can use this proverb and make me feel nice by quoting me when you do or just say it was quoted by an anonymous entity. Just so you don't rob me of my invention rights.Leftovers are a great inspiration to experiment in the kitchen without spending too much time or money.

A partial vegan like me[yes…except for Diary products, I avoid all kinds of egg/meat based products. That means I exclude all the sinful indulgences of a normal "Indian Vegetarian" from my foods/meals]…now back to our topic of the blog…leftovers…In my kitchen/fridge you would normally find fried/boiled/steamed/sautéed vegetables, Gravies/sambhar/dals or batter or dough that qualify for leftovers.

Sometimes idlis, dosas, pooris or rotis and bread(in different avatars). I guess that covers the entire gamut of leftovers I have encountered so far. So here's a list of things that I have done during the make-overs. I am blogging them as recipes.

1. Leftover cooked vegetables can be used as a filling for a Parata.
2. Fried vegetables/normal poriyal/curry such as carrots, beans, string beans, etc can be added to left over dosa batter alongwith some onions, curry leaves, ginger, coriander and chillies to make yummy ootappams.
3. If you don't like Ootappams, use the cooked vegetables, alone or mixed with finely chopped onions to make masala dosa.
4. Cooked vegetables can be made into a salad by adding other desirable salad ingredients such as lettuce, nuts, onions, fruits, cheese or cold leftover rice and topped with a salad dressing of choice.
5. If you have leftover chappathis and vegetables, you can make katti rolls/chappathy wraps using them. I have listed the katti rolls I have tried out so far:·

• Vegetables, finely chopped onions, salt, lemon juice, mint and dry mango powder·
• Vegetables, finely chopped onions, salt, Tomato ketchup·
• Vegetables, mixed with sweet onion sauce·
• Vegetables and leftover chutneys[coriander, onion, mango, etc]

Enjoy your experiments and I would be delighted to hear from you, your personal experiences and any recipes that you can let me know, so I can try them out in my Kitchen!

Recipe Massacres turning into mention-worthy Makeovers

During the course of my journey to becoming a dependable meal-maker, I made a lot of mistakes while dishing out the recipes. Excessively salty, sour, sweet, oily and everything possible in the realms of a recipe massacre had been witnessed by my poor Kitchen. Like a popular saying goes in Tamil..if only the Kitchen had a mouth to express...it would pour wail in the highest possible decibel[Samayal room vaayee irunda azhum]

I learnt some make-up and makeover tips from others while many I just conjured up on my own in the spur of the moment, just in time to complete cooking before the friends or guests started coming in. But I have personally used every one of the make-up tips(for want of a better terminology) that I have listed out here. So you can rest assured that I am not using you as a scape goat to implement my culinary make-up imaginations.

Gravies/Sambhar/Dal: can be only oily, salty, sour or hot. Each one of these can issues can be overcome with just some patience, confidence and the supreme belief in yourself as a cook coupled with some make-up tips from me. :) [that was some self-promotion, in case you haven't already seen through that]

For Oily Gravies

1. When the gravy is excessively oily I have just placed a slice of bread on top of oil floating on the gravy for about 10 seconds. The bread absorbs the oil. You can repeat this process until the oil is no more visible on the gravy[atleast on top]
2. If you don't have slices of bread handy, replace bread with some tissues/newspaper. Make sure to dab them on the oil and remove then quickly. We don't want paper to become one of the ingredients in the making of the gravy.[Not a great option, but an effective emergency solution]
3. If you neither have bread or tissues or newspaper, then a thin white cloth, preferably can be an effective oil absorber. Handkerchiefs or old dhotis are the perfect match for this option.

For Salty Gravies

1. Add chilly powder to combat the saltiness. But ensure to taste the gravy as you do this to so you don't end up with tear-inducing hot gravy.
2. If you think you have added the right amount of chilli powder, yet the gravy is salty, then add a pinch of chilli powder and about half a teaspoon of sugar. This might neutralize the saltiness and bring in the desired taste.
3. This is one thing I have tried a couple of times. But it is a bit laborious. So I don't do it unless I have run out of options. Microwave a potato until it is well cooked and mash it with water to a pasty consistency and add it to the gravy. This reduces the saltiness too.
4. For rich gravies, you can add mashed potato paste to which half a cup of milk is added. It also introduces a nice creamy consistency to the gravy.

For Hot gravies

1. Add salt to combat the chilly-ness of the gravy
2. If the right amount of salt has been added, then add a teaspoon of sugar to neutralize the "karam"
3. Sometimes just adding water might reduce the hotness of the gravy
4. Lemon juice/dry mango powder is a good balancing ingredient that adds some tanginess while combating the "hotness" of the gravy.

For Sour Gravies

1. Combat sourness with either salt, chilli powder or sugar or a combination of all the three. Taste-and-correct-the-error-method works the best
2. For gravies with tamarind, I have tried adding a paste of besan or gramflour and coconut. It offsets the sourness. Alternatively, you can add a paste of dry roasted Channa dal and coconut.
3. If the gravy is excessively sour, roast channa dal, red chillies, coconut and curry leaves[optional] in a tsp of oil. Might introduce a different taste. But atleast it is better than an unpalatable sour one.
4. Once I have added readymade coconut milk and a tsp of sugar and the gravy tasted much better. Quite close to the desired taste.
5. You can consider adding the mashed potato and milk paste to the gravy too. I used this only once and that was ages ago. Haven't tried this out in the recent past.

Drawing from my infinite[ly small] culinary wisdom, I can say with confidence that for most of the items that are excessively salty, tangy or hot, Chilli powder, Salt or sugar and occassionally lemon juice/dry mango powder or a combination of all of them to offset the undesirable predominant taste and a taste-as-you-correct approach is the best. It has worked for me so far. So I would extrapolate these multiple instances and safely assume that it might work just as well for you.

Enjoy the make-up. And wipe that naughty grin off your face when you receive compliments for a "well-turned-out dish/meal". Because the process of make-up, in both a personal and culinary sense, no matter how laborious it is, is forgotten and justified by a desirable end result. As they always say…"The ends justify the make-up…oops…means/meals"