Kitchen Jugaads!

Jugaad: "Jugaad refers to an improvised solution; inventiveness, ingenuity, cleverness. It means creative improvisation and finding alternative ways of doing improbable things. It reflects on a person’s ability to think out of the box and optimize resources in the best possible way" (source: this blog)

Recent talks around sustainability and "Greening our lifestyle" led me thinking about all the little innovations in an Indian kitchen that we all grew up observing. Be it dishing out tasty recipes from leftovers or reusing "Bournvita jars" for storage, these little "jugaads" were always easy on the planet and on pockets! :)

Here are some green tidbits that I remember from my growing up years..

Use it up, Wear it out: Empty bottles and containers of any shape, size and kind found a use in the kitchen! Empty glass bottles were used for storing dals, chai, sugar..roohazfa bottles-washed clean and used to store drinking water in the refrigirator and the tiny ones which did not find a suiatble match were neatly displayed on the window sill with a little money plant. Most of us will also remember the little film roll containers-each and every one of them was put to a good use- to carry ketchup to school, for storing saunf/mukhwaas, a perfect little container for loose change and I still have one little one here with angara in it..:)

Eating off of leaves!: As a kid I loved attending weddings and family functions with my grandparents . As is a custom in marathi weddings, food was always served in batches and in pangats- sitting down on the floor in rows facing each other. The food used to be served in Patravli- plates and bowls made from dried leaves . I so vividly remember the aroma of varan bhat with ghee served on a dried leaf platter, think it actually made the food taste even more delicious! :)

Newspaper to the rescue: Old Newspapers were widely used everywhere. The paper cones with tasty chana chor garam and moongfali at the street vendors, as liners in kichen cabinets and drawers, and as paper plates during family trips and travels in trains. :) And come Diwali when aaji made several rounds of chivda and shankarpales in batches- newspapers were generously used to drain off excess oil in place of paper towels..:)

The multi use utensils : I still remember our oldest casserole-a green and white milton!. other than keeping chapatis and curry warm it made a great yoghurt maker- mix a little dahi in warm milk, stir well and place it in the casserole..whoa fresh curds for the next meal! Sharp edged vatis/ katoris were used to cut perfect round for pooris and the one pressure cooker was used for cooking and steaming and everything in between...

What trash? : I am still amazed at how little garbage an average household in India generates. Vegetable waste almost never finds its way into the trash can. packaging is minimal, all plastic bags (even the little amul milk bags) are washed and reused. No paper towels. No 100 type of kitchen cleaners. Amazing!

Old food, new avatar: And how can we forget resusing food in tasty and innovative ways? Leftover polis/ rotis became tasty kuskara, dals were hidden inside thalipiths, curds turned sour made the most delicious kadhi and spoiled milk meant matar paneer the next day....:)

As I struggle to make my kitchen as smart and easy on the environment, I understand how hard it really is. The economics have changed. We no longer think twice before buying a new kitchen gadget, paper towels are an "easy" alternative to the wash cloth and recycling takes "effort".

Maybe I will come back and post about our little experiments in sustainable living...

In the meantime I would love to hear green tips, stories and suggestions from your book of life as well! :)

Later.