Zero-Waste Cooking with Banana Peels and Carrot Tops

I am becoming a regular at Made In Hackney’s incredible online cook-alongs and there was no way I was missing their recent Zero-Waste Cooking with the amazing Hannah Walker. These online cooking classes are to raise funds for Made In Hackney’s free meal delivery service and to help the charity stay afloat during these difficult times. For more info you can pop over to my previous post about the amazing Jamaican Style Patties class I recently attended.

Hannah Is a hugely knowledgable NHS paediatric dietician, wild food and foraging expert and cookery teacher. On top of that she is a completely lovely person who I have had the pleasure of hanging out with in various food-related situations!

Hannah’s passion for zero-waste cooking, combined with her wealth of knowledge made for a seriously inspiring class in which we learned how to cook with various ingredients that would normally be thrown out. I had heard rumours that you could cook with banana peel but had never actually done it. Turns out that not only are they full of nutrients like B vitamins, potassium and magnesium, but they’re also really tasty. Hannah showed us how to make a delicious banana skin thoran with them. A thoran is a traditional south Indian dish which uses coconut and also happens to be one of my favourites.

I was so surprised and impressed by the banana skin. The texture was so satisfying and a little like aubergine. The flavour was slightly bitter which worked so well with the sweetness of red pepper and coconut and the aromatic spices we used.

We also made a carrot top dahl which tasted incredible. I’ve used carrot tops raw in pestos and salads but this was my first time adding them to a lovely tomato dahl. Such a clever way to use up such a nutritious, but often wasted part of the carrot. Hannah even told us that the carrot tops contain 6 times more vitamin c than the carrot itself!

Last but not least, we made a frankly dreamy banana bread pudding. I could easily have downed this entire 8 serving dessert myself had there been no implications of doing so…fortunately for my family I did not. I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without making a bread pudding, let alone a healthy one made with banana and nut butter. Such a great way to use up stale bread and a welcome alternative to banana bread when it comes to using up bananas!

In between cooking, Hannah shared all sorts of useful zero waste cooking tips and generously answered the array of questions that we all threw at her along the way!

You can find Hannah’s delicious banana thoran recipe over on the Made In Hackney website.

For upcoming Made In Hackney classes click here.

For further info about Made In Hackney’s emergency meal service, including to how to refer someone in need of meals, visit their website.