Have you ever heard of food waste and low waste? This used to be called using leftovers, although food waste is essentially about not throwing food away. With Low Waste, however, care is taken to produce as little waste as possible.
Differences are again shown in Low Waste and No Waste – the supreme discipline of not generating any waste at all.
Food Waste and Low/No Waste have been around for a few years in the Scandinavian countries, while Germany is still in its infancy – but there are already a few shops, such as Freia in Berlin, that have completely dedicated themselves to the No Waste theme . Even the in-house waste is composted there, and the resulting humus is given to farmers, who use this humus for growing vegetables.
For Vitaquell I was allowed to approach the topic and test different oils – from grape seed oil, a very tasty and mild olive oil, as well as different sunflower oils, which have found their way back into my kitchen. Based on these oils, I have developed various recipes for you, with which your home produces very little waste. The result is three very tasty recipes that you can bring to the table either individually or as a sharing meal. We’ll start with a spicy, colorful chickpea salad that doesn’t even have the shells left; Also an olive oil hummus with a sweet and juicy topping. The special thing about it: We catch the water from the chickpeas and use it to make two kinds of mayonnaise. In addition a few crunchy potato chips in a healthier version, because we don’t fry, we bake. The weekend dinner or the picnic in the open air is ready.
So, let’s go:
Chickpea salad with vegan cinnamon mayonnaise (see picture above)
1 glass of chickpeas
2 nectarines
1 red pepper
3 purple carrots
1/2 bunch of mint
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp olive oil, e.g. from Vitaquell
salt, pepper
Drain the chickpeas, reserving the water. Place in a colander and rinse well. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add the turmeric and sauté until the spice begins to become fragrant. Add the chickpeas and fry until golden. Take it from the stove and let it cool off. In the meantime, wash, clean and dice the nectarines and peppers. Wash the carrots and cut them into very fine slices (this works best with a vegetable or truffle slicer).
Wash the mint, chop roughly. Put all ingredients in a bowl, mix well. Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of cinnamon mayo (recipe below) and season with salt and pepper.
Olive oil humus with sweet and juicy topping
1 glass of chickpeas
1 tbsp tahini
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp salt
juice of half a lemon
50ml olive oil, e.g. by Vitquelle
Mix all the ingredients except for the lemon juice and the oil in a blender at the highest level for a few minutes, season with lemon juice. As soon as everything is mixed together, add the olive oil and keep mixing so that the humus stays nice and creamy.
For the topping:
1/2 cucumber
3 large tomatoes
2 sprigs of mint
6 dates, pitted
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp olive oil, e.g. from Vitaquell
salt, pepper
black sesame, optional
Wash the vegetables and mint, cut into small cubes, chop the mint and dates. Place in a bowl, add lemon juice and oil, mix and season with salt and pepper.
Put 3-4 tablespoons of humus on a plate, decorate with topping, add some black sesame seeds.
Chickpea water reserved for the mayonnaise
(approx. 50ml)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
150ml grapeseed oil, e.g. from Vitaquell
salt, pepper
1 tsp cinnamon, optional
Pour the cherry pea water and vinegar into a tall container, mix with a hand blender, gradually pour in the oil while continuing to mix until you get a fluffy cream. Season with salt and pepper. Remove 2 tbsp and stir in the cinnamon in a separate bowl.
Healthier version of potato chips
500g potatoes
4 tablespoons sunflower oil, e.g. from Vitaquell
1 tbsp paprika powder
1 tbsp salt
Herbs to taste
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.
Wash the potatoes thoroughly, removing spots if necessary. Slice very thinly (works best with a truffle slicer) and mix thoroughly in a bowl with the spices and oil until coated with oil. Spread the potatoes on a baking tray and place them next to each other, use a second tray if necessary. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, turn the potato slices and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove, allow to cool and add salt if necessary.
Serve with the mayonnaise (you can add your favorite herbs if you like – dill, chervil or marjoram go very well).
This post is a paid cooperation with Vitaquell, a Hamburg company that has specialized in the production of vegan and vegetarian food for almost 100 years. The idea, recipes, texts and pictures are mine.
