Get creative in the kitchen

The festive season might be over but many of us still have leftovers from dinner parties and gatherings taking space in our freezers. This week, Melissa Nazareth talks to Bahrain-based food enthusiasts, exploring unique ways to transform excess food into interesting dishes that will make you want to devour them.

Meat matters

Millennials might remember Monica’s Thanksgiving sandwich on the sitcom Friends, which she made with leftover turkey. The catch was that she added a slice of gravy-soaked bread – the ‘moist maker’ – blowing new life into the food. Sandwiches are indeed a great way to repurpose protein. Another idea in the same vein is smartly captured in the cannelloni enchilada recipe that Bahraini homemaker and fitness enthusiast Jehan Alsairafi saw online. It brings the best of Mexican flavours and Italian culinary craft in one oven. The food lover simply replaced the chicken with the excess turkey from her pantry and voila! A neat supper to savour was ready in no time.

Taking stock

Irish homemaker and blogger Moya Mc Guigan aka Food and Tools uses her leftover turkey carcass to make stock, which she then adds to soups and stews.

“I freeze some of the stock for later use as well,” said the mother-of-two, who has called Bahrain home for over 40 years.

You can easily freeze stock in reusable ziplock bags or ice cube trays, which can be used on a different day. They make for simple yet potent flavouring agents in one-pot rice dishes.

Flavourful stocks can also be brewed with the excess vegetables from your celebratory dinners. In fact, roasted or sauteed vegetables deepen the flavour.

The stock can then be used to prepare stews. Add some beans to the mix and you have a hearty vegetarian meal – perfect for the freezing weather right now.

You could even perk up winter vegetable leftovers like cooked carrots, parsnips, roast potatoes and greens, with a rustic winter vegetable curry. Moreover, switching to a lighter diet after all those meat-heavy parties might be just the care your body needs.

Proof of the pudding

Leftover desserts can be fun to elevate too. Like Moya’s Christmas pudding ice cream, which combines gooey festive pudding with the goodness of a chilled treat.

“Anytime I’ve served this dessert, it has gone down a treat! Buying a good quality ice cream saves time with preparation but you could also make your own – I have a fun recipe on my blog foodandtools.com,” she revealed.

A popular trend among Indian food enthusiasts, which nods to Moya’s recipe, is to infuse ice creams with traditional sweets like gulab jamun, rasgulla or even jalebi. 

The same idea could work well with traditional sweets across cultures – think baklava ice cream or even a cheesecake. Many serve fruit as dessert, which if it remains, can be repurposed into smoothies, jams, baked goodies like muffins and pies, or fruit leather – a fun snack.

Saucy!

Whether it is gravy, dal (lentil curry) or pasta sauce there is almost always some that remains uneaten because these sides are often cooked in large batches.

“I seldom repurpose any dish I prepare or cook. However, I have tried some like my favourite chicken adobo,” Filipino media specialist Nanju Francisco said.

“Normally, we cook the chicken with soy sauce and vinegar so you can expect it to have sauce or soup. For the left over sauce, I use it to make ‘adobo fried rice’, with shreds of chicken and left over rice,” she added, highlighting that chicken adobo is the national dish of the Philippines.

Indian expatriate and businesswoman Anita Menon makes a mean dal fry – a staple on her festive table – which she uses as stuffing for paranthas (stuffed Indian bread) the next day.’

“I dry out the dal on a slow flame and then use it as stuffing. It already has the tempering and spices so it tastes really good,” the Manama resident added.