Oh, hi there!
I get so caught up between being lazy and my lack of social life and my full-time job, that well, a lot of things start falling apart, mostly due to laziness!
Okay, okay. Enough chit chat. If you’ve followed my Instagram for long enough, you probably know that I post about veggie stock from scraps a lot. Probably every month! Mostly, because it takes about a month to fill my bag and when that bag is full, I know it’s time to make some more stock.
Making veggie stock is ridiculously easy. But there are some things you should add to your stock and some things you shouldn’t add to your stock. This isn’t by any means a comprehensive list. I tend to not really cook with any “exotic” types of fruit and veggies. I like sticking to the basics, occasionally trying something different when I feel like it.
Please note the list below is just things that I have tried out myself. I’ll continue adding to the list when I try out different veggies and see how it makes the stock taste.
Tasty things for your stock (must have’s)
- end bits of carrot
- celery leaves
- end bits of onion
- onion skins (this gives it a nice dark colour, but you can omit)
- at least 1 whole mushroom
- pepper
- salt
- dried bay leaf
- water (sorry, duh!)
Not-exactly-must-haves-but-still-important-kinda-mostly-tasty
- tomato core (*what the fork is a tomato core, you ask? Photo below)
- end bits of broccoli stalk
- bits of garlic (or can use garlic powder)
- bits of spring onions/green onions
- bits of potato (use sparingly! too many potato bits can make your stock bitter)
- bits of eggplant (use sparingly! too much eggplant bits can make your stock bitter)
Not really important but can add:
- cobs of corn (yup! you can just use the eaten up corn and use the cob in the stock!)
- ends or heads of zucchini
Not-so-tasty things for your stock (no no’s)
- cabbage
- cauliflower leaves/stalks
- fork load of potato
- bok choy
- spinach (personally I avoid this, but you can add those limp looking spinach at the end, if you place it at the beginning it’ll make the stock bitter)
What the scraps actually look like. This is a large zip lock bag, when it gets full – I know it’s time to start making some stock!
What it looks like when the bag is full and ready to be cooked. The picture below is a pot that holds 5 litres. With the pot of scraps and I fill the pot until all the veggies are covered in water. This makes about 2-3 litres of veggie stock
There are a couple of ways you can cook the stock.
Over the stove, you can simmer over a low heat for about 2-3 hours.
Or you can leave it in a slow cooker overnight. For me, this yields the best results. You’ll get a nice dark and rich stock at the end! And it’s honestly made curries and stews so freaking tasty! Slow cookers are very energy efficient, so you don’t need to worry about the gas or electricity 🙂
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