Make the best use of vegetables through root-to-shoot cooking

It is during the summer season that the weekly runs to the supermarket turn less exciting. The vegetable options become limited — it is either tough okra, dried up beets or overripe ivy gourds (coccinia or kovakkai). For most of us relying on the vegetable markets for our daily produce, cooking could get harder if the veggies seem too lifeless. Here is where methods like root-to-shoot cooking and One Pot, One Shot (OPOS) (which uses a pressure cooker and a very minimum amount of cooking time to preserve the nutrients in vegetables) could come in extremely handy in extracting the best of each vegetable. The method of root-to-shoot cooking also eliminates throw-aways, while giving you an added goodness from the traditionally unused parts of the vegetables. With people world over aiming for sustainable lifestyles, no-waste eating is only an extension of the philosophy.

Organic gardener Anju Agarwal says instead of throwing away the stalks of leafy greens, one can turn them into a delicious curry. “Every part of a vegetable is edible and usable. Nothing needs to be thrown away if one is aware of rightly utilising all parts of a vegetable — starting from peels to veggie tops. The stems and stalks of any leafy vegetable are also healthy. After a thorough wash, they can be chopped up and cooked along with potatoes, onions, tomatoes and some masalas, to create a nice curry, with a crunch from the stalks. Carrot greens and tops can also be cooked along with the carrots. Similarly, beetroot leaves and stalks also can be chopped up to be cooked as a dry sabji,” Anju tells us.

City-based home cook Reena Sehgal suggests using even onion, potato, carrot peels in a vegetable stock, that can be used to make hearty soups or pastas. “Many throw away the stalks of coriander on a daily basis and only use the leaves. Instead, washed up stalks of coriander can be used to make a simple and healthy lemon and coriander soup. Vegetable peels, tops or roots, which are considered kitchen scraps, can all be simmered in water until softened to create a stock, which can be stored in a refrigerator for at least a week,” she points out.

The OPOS method of cooking, trademarked and popularised by city’s B Ramakrishnan, on the other hand, ensures that the vegetables cooked are not killed in the process due to excess heat or overcooking. Home cook Sujatha Ravi, who practises the OPOS method on a daily basis, says the procedure is the best cooking method to put a vegetable through. “The method uses a very minimum amount of water while cooking for a very little time. For instance, a kilo of beans curry made in a pressure cooker using OPOS process, uses less than 60 ml of water and is prepared in less than five minutes. Less cooking time makes the vegetables retain their vitamins and even appear fresh, post cooking as well,” she adds.