Nothing spells summer better than a tall glass of chilled, fresh watermelon juice with tiny cubes of fruit on top. A dash of chaat masala and voila! Clearly no one’s thinking about the rinds, but at 74-year-old Vasanti Shah’s home in Pune, the watermelon rind is reserved to make sabzi the next day. We’re told it’s a Kutchi-Gujarati and a Rajasthani speciality, but several adapted versions pop up on plates in homes that reduce food waste as an ingrained habit.  

Shah tells us the trick lies in peeling the watermelon carefully to get to the white pith of the rind, not the green. She recalls making the dish for as long as she remembers, having  learned it from her mother. “Growing up Kutchi in a Jain-dominated area in Mumbai, this sabzi was a staple in the summer, whenever watermelon was consumed. An easy dish, we used to make it  regularly in the evening, but  it’s not special enough to make for guests,” she adds.