I usually don’t stock up on fresh produce on Sundays until I get to see the kind of leftovers I end up with on Mondays. Leftovers refers to both balance uncooked ingredients and unfinished cooked food. I did pretty well on my “Zero Food Waste” score card this weekend. Only a small bunch of not-that-fresh-anymore spinach in the crisp drawer and a vegetarian dish (above) leftover from Sunday’s dinner.
In need of more ingredients for dinner tonight, I visited to the wet market this morning to see what items were unsold after a frenzy weekend. Most of the balance vegetables delivered during wee hours on Sunday morning were hardly fresh anymore with many leafy vegetables close to wilting. Without me asking, the seller even advised me to cook the items by dinner tonight, or else don’t buy. So I bought the following 3 leftover items.
// Kangkong. The chilli padi came free I mentioned that I will be stir frying the vegetable with minced garlic. ” Taste better with chilli!” was his advice, before repeating for the umpteenth time: “must cook by tonight ah….I sell you very cheap, really cannot keep….” Incidentally, lot of my cooking skills are imparted by these hidden experts at the market, they are never too stingy to share a recipe or two, amidst the busy transactions. Although the methods are usually very simple and nothing fanciful, these basic recipes are usually also the best way to bring out the original flavor of the ingredients.
// Button mushrooms. When I saw this cardboard box of mushrooms left at the stall, my first reaction was: plastic-free button mushrooms, I found you finally! Getting all these for just $3 was an additional bonus. Of large size and still relatively firm, there was actually no need to clear these so cheaply, they will last a few days more in the chiller, but I guess the stallholder needed the space for fresher stocks that will be arriving tomorrow.
// Cauliflowers. Again, these are not at their prettiest. The stallholder managed to salvage these 3 heads by shaving off florets that had turned brown/black. Uncle added that “these are from Australia, very good, very sweet, very sayang (heartache) to waste.” They sure know that the growers work very hard to produce these.
++ Update : How I use up these leftovers ++
#001 : this vegan cauliflower creamy mushroom soup with the mushrooms and cauliflowers.
#002 : this meat-free Donburi made with partial Sunday dinner leftover
#003 : this kang kong stir fry
#004 : this reheated Sunday dinner leftover dish with added ingredients, remember that not so fresh spinach in the crisp drawer?
MONO and CO 