6 Delicious Recipes Using Leftover Food To Try To Reduce Food Wastage
Malaysia has a food wastage problem and a way to reduce it is to repurpose leftover food into a new meal.
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Malaysia has a food waste problem because its citizens are used to throwing away food without thinking twice.
Just last year, New Straits Times reported that Malaysians discarded 4,081 tonnes of edible food.
The Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (SWCorp) found that 24% of food waste last year, such as leftover vegetables and meat, could still be consumed.
Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) education officer N.V. Subbarow said the amount of food thrown could potentially feed 12 million people three times a day.
He suggested that Malaysians try making new meals out of the leftover food to reduce food wastage and food loss in the country.
Here are some recipes to try if you have leftover food or food that will expire soon. As always, these recipes are just guides, and you can adapt them to suit your tastes.
1. Instant noodle chicken murtabak
The food needed: Maggi (or equivalent), chicken, eggs, carrot, mozzarella cheese
Nothing screams ‘comfort food’ other than Maggi goreng. This recipe is great if you have instant noodles, eggs and vegetables that you need to use up quickly.
There are several variations to the dish so have fun experimenting with the recipes here. One of the recipes listed is a recipe by Khairul Aming!
2. The Malaysian-style kebab
The food needed: pita bread, minced meat, carrots, onions, leafy greens such as cabbage or lettuce
The Malaysian-style kebab is not served on a skewer; it resembles more like a dorayaki bun made using pita bread. The other ingredients you’ll need are oyster sauce, mayonnaise, chilli sauce, tomato sauce and black pepper.
Those who have made it said it smells and tastes as good as it looks. Find out for yourself by following the recipe here.
3. Refreshing salad
The food needed: Japanese cucumber, corn, honey cherry tomatoes, yellow onion, feta cheese, olive oil, honey, black pepper, coriander, dill, black olives
Salads can look boring and taste the same. However, this homemade recipe will have you seeing salads in a different way and it’s so easy to prepare. You only need to cook the sweet corn.
To make the salad, you just need to mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl. If you want to ‘spice’ it up a little, you can use an alcoholic dressing.
4. Beef and cheese toastie with fries
The food needed: white bread, cheese, roast beef, French fries/ sweet potato fries
This recipe is a great way to quickly finish up any leftover white bread and fries. The result is a delicious and sinful meal that you might even want to whip up from scratch the next day. It’s great for brunch, dinner or a late-night snack. We don’t judge.
5. Spiced French Toast
The food needed: bread or buns, eggs, milk, vanilla ice-cream, maple syrup or honey
To make the spiced French Toast, you’ll need cinnamon but it’s also ok to opt for a regular ‘un-spiced’ version. This recipe is great if you need to quickly finish up leftover milk, buns or the last drops of your maple syrup or honey.
6. Banana and honey muffins
The food needed: bananas, eggs, milk
Just like the avocado, bananas either ripen too slow or too fast. If the bunch of bananas at home is ripening fast, you can either blend it all with milk and vanilla ice-cream to make a banana milkshake, or you can make some tasty muffins.
This recipe will require baking powder, self-raising flour and an oven.
