Regardless
of how often any of us cook for ourselves, we're all still contributing to the
country's growing food waste problem. Among the country's biggest proponents of
food waste reduction is chef Jehangir Mehta of Graffiti Earth, who recently
dropped by our test kitchen to make his versatile and delicious Garlicky
Coconut Soup. Here are his four best tips for getting the most from your
ingredients and leaving behind the least.
© Mireya Acierto / Getty Images
1. Stretch your
leftovers to the max.
For
Mehta, the key to avoiding food waste is to simply use everything that you
cook. "Whatever you have can go into a dumpling or a roll or a bun or a
sandwich," he says. "Try to utilize leftovers in different
formats."
2. When in doubt, fry
rice.
"Make
a fried rice. Even if you only have four tablespoons of meat left and a cup of
potatoes and a little spinach, fried rice is great for that," Mehta says.
"Or make a baked dish, like a quiche. They're very easy and quiche is
great for scraps and leftovers."
3. Start using your
stems.
"A
lot of people are used to using recipes where you pluck the leaves, but throw
away the herb or vegetable stems," he says. "You can totally use them
all though, just chop the stems up and put them into your soup. Rosemary stems
are tough, but you can dry them out and make them into rosemary powder
instead."
4. Learn to use the
whole bird.
"Most
people are so used to trashing the neck and gizzards immediately, but you can
use them to make chicken soup," he says. "Or if you’re roasting a
whole chicken for yourself and your family, why not save the bones? Use those,
along with the neck and gizzards, to make even more soup."
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By Max Bonem/Food&Wine