Saturday, September 13, 2008

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!

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