La cucina povera, when translated from Italian, literally means 'the kitchen of the poor' pointing towards a frugal style of cooking best represented by the Italian peasants. Not just in Italy, the concept, or at least, some variant of it is found all over the world – more or less in every culture. It is prudence that lies at the heart of cucina povera; also, the creative genius of the Tuscan peasants, who made savory flavorsome food with whatever was available in their modest pantry or the backyard garden. Nothing was wasted or thrown away.

 

Cutting the excess can sometime feel challenging. What would one do, for instance, with the leftover breadcrumbs from last weekend's snack party? Or, the wee bit of canned tomato languishing in the fridge? Or, a lone bell-pepper in the august company of an ageing carrot? Or, half a bowl of shredded chicken that's too much for the soup and too little for the mayo sandwich? Going the cucina povera way may just magically iron things out!

I am always excited about make-ahead lunches especially because I hate cooking in the daytime. So I cook in the evenings – both supper for the night and the following day's lunch. But there are exceptions to this rule, brought about either by occasional bouts of laziness or too much work. I was feeling so sluggish yesterday (blame the weather, oh yes!), that I was even okay with a cookie supper but eventually settled for a bowl of fruit salad. I continued to feel lethargic in the morning and skipped that much-needed trip to the market. There were a pair of eggs (I was tired of these: boiled, deviled, poached, fried, scrambled, curried – I'd tried them ALL in the course of just one week!), a bell pepper and a carrot (I hope they finally had a good chat in the fridge); a few onions, a near-empty bottle of ketchup, a tiny bowl of boiled soyabeans and loads of flour

After lightly coating the soyabeans with flour, I shallow fried them in vegetable oil. Once done, I kept them aside. Then, went in the veggies (also flour-coated and diced). I cooked the veggies till 3/4th done before putting in a teaspoon of coarsely ground garlic & peppercorns (mixed in a wee bit of oil), the fried soyas and the ketchup (my bottle barely yielded a tablespoon after much pounding; you can obviously add more). Finally, I added some salt and roasted paprika before turning off the gas. So, that was that.

And here's a photo of the stuff I had for lunch today: Stir-fried soyabeans with crispy vegetables and tomato relish

 

             FOOD IS PRECIOUS. ENJOY AND SHARE BUT WASTE IT NEVER 🙂