Banana peel chutney served over cucumber coconut chickpea curry and rice

Welcome to the Zero Food Waste Challenge, where I’ll share how I salvaged food and made a yummy dish for my family. Then it’ll be your turn to share what you’ve done, either by linking up to a post on your blog on the subject, or just sharing in the comments below.
You can share anything from cooking with a part of food that people usually throw out, or you can share details about meals made with revamped leftovers or salvaging foods that are past their prime.

Banana Peel Chutney

Banana peel chutney plain

Banana peels are very nutritious; it’s a shame to throw them out, especially when you’re going through them pretty quickly. This banana peel chutney is based on a recipe I found on the internet and translated and adjusted to suit my taste and what I had in the house. This condiment is really delicious, especially when served with my version of cucumber coconut curry.

Ingredients
10 banana peels, ideally yellow or green, but brown is ok.
1 large onion minced
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon garlic powder or more, to taste
2-3 teaspoons nigella/onion seed
2 tablespoons turmeric
red pepper flakes to taste
salt to taste
1 banana- optional (green is better, but a brown mushy one will also be ok)
1 teaspoon sugar optional

Instructions
1. Wash the banana peels very well with soap and vinegar, to make sure that you wash off as much dirt and pesticide residue as possible, especially if you’re not using organic.
2. Boil the banana peels in water for 20 minutes.
3. Strain the banana peels and chop them up.
4. Saute onions and fresh garlic in oil until golden. Add banana peels and cook for a bit.
5. Add everything else and cook for a few minutes.
6. Blend in a ninja blender or in a food processor. Taste. Add more spices and seasonings and necessary.
7. Spread on Indian breads or use as a condiment on rice or other Indian style foods.
8. Enjoy!

Other salvaged foods
This week I made patties from leftover unsweetened semolina porridge and vegetables and feta cheese past their prime.
I made vegetable soup from scraps.
I made hot and sour egg drop soup when I was hard boiling an egg and it exploded into the pot. I didn’t want to waste that egg, so I added some ginger, chicken bones leftover from a meal, soy sauce, kombucha vinegar, black pepper, seaweed, and a bit more egg. The soup was delicious!
I also made banana peel chutney, and cream of potato soup from leftover baked potatoes.

Why should you partake in this challenge?
A) Encouragement. It’s much easier to do something when you’re doing it as a group. By taking part in the challenge, you will be able to be a part of something “bigger”, and get high fives from people who think what you’re doing is awesome.
B) Pat yourself on the back. I bet you’re already doing some things to save food from the trash and you’re so proud of yourself. Instead of sharing your ideas with friends who may think you’re a bit nuts, share it here so we can all give you a round of applause because we think you’re awesome.
C) To get ideas how to prevent food wastage, and to give ideas to others.
D) To increase readership for your blog. If your post looks interesting, people will head over to your blog and might just stick around.
E) You’ll get a comment from me on each post you link up.

What are the rules?
Follow blog etiquette and link back to me, please.
Family friendly content only.
Any post related to minimizing food wastage is fine, whether a recipe, musings, a list of what foods you’ve made from salvaged food, dumpster diving food, you name it. I’m not picky. It should just be at least remotely related to stopping to waste food though.
Feel free to grab my challenge button.

How about you? What foods did you save from the dump this week? How did you try to have zero food waste this week?
P.S. My Thanksgiving post will be posted tomorrow as I wanted to keep it separate from this food waste challenge.

Linking up to Frugal Friday, Friday Foods, Vegetarian Foodie Friday, and Foodie Friday