Freezer Essentials During Lockdown - Renuka George
The world as we know it is different and while this is just a season, many of us are clinging to comfort and familiarity during these unprecedented times.
After a full day of doing everything but the laundry online, I find that there’s a sense of comfort in a soul-hugging warm bowl of soup, perhaps a nostalgic coconut chicken curry like my mum would make, or a sneaky cookie as I let the words and pictures on the telly mindlessly wash over me as I retire on the couch for a stolen five minutes of peace and quiet!
However, these comforts can’t just be dreamed up. It still takes planning and effort to satisfy these cravings and be able to provide my family with simple pleasures that instil a sense of normality during this season. So I prep my freezer up with my top three ‘lockdown essentials’ to make all (ok, most) of my comfort food dreams come true!
Chicken stock
While the world is panic shopping, I’m just saving scraps. Just about anything works! Peels and skins from root veg, sprigs and stalks from herbs, bell pepper seeds, sprouting garlic bulbs and of course the bones from a roast chicken. I freeze these as I go (a handy trick I learnt from my sister) and when I have enough I chuck it all together in a big crock pot, along with some fresh celery, onion and mixed herbs then let that simmer! It’s a great way to reduce food waste as well as end up with fragrant, home-made, msg-free chicken broth which can be used in a variety of ways to pack in some homely flavour! I always have chicken stock in my freezer and it makes putting soup dinners on the table easy! I sometimes get creative and cook my rice or quinoa in stock for added flavour. You can go fancy too and squeeze the juice of an orange in some stock, bring to a boil until it’s a sticky consistency and braise your chicken in the sauce for an easy sweet and sour chicken. You could also just go the super easy route and add some cooked noodles to warmed up stock with cilantro and chilli flakes!
Indian curry paste
Another lockdown essential. I find that with supermarkets being particularly unpredictable on stocks this season, I can't always rely on being able to get all the basics I need. Often onions and tomatoes fly off the shelves, leaving me without the basic framework needed for an Indian curry, which is a staple meal in my house. So I beat the system by making a big batch of my own curry paste when I find the basics, so I don’t have to worry about it for a while and I cut my cooking time by half this way! I’ve added my recipe below, but there are so many variations. Add green herbs for a green curry paste or mix in some grated coconut and green chilis for a flavour variant! The options are endless. Once you have your curry base, all you need to do is warm it through, chuck in your favourite protein or veg and add some water for a simple curry, some cooking cream for a north Indian butter-chicken type flavour or some coconut cream for a south Indian version. Little ziplock bags of curry paste sit snugly next to my tubs of chicken stock in the freezer just waiting to form the base of a delicious curry. Easy!
Here’s a staple recipe for curry paste in my home:
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala (whole spice powder)
1tsp turmeric powder
A little chunk of fresh Ginger
2 Green chilies (or more. Or less)
6 garlic cloves
3 Red onions
2 fresh tomatoes pureed (use tinned tomato paste for the richer, deeper colour)
Blitz all ingredients except the tomato puree together in a food processor until it's finely ground up.
Fry the raw paste in 2-3 tbsps of canola or sunflower oil until the onions are fully cooked through and the oil separates from the paste (this takes about 10 minutes on a low heat - patience is everything with this process, you don’t want a curry paste that lacks depth in flavour).
Add the tomato puree and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes. You want to use a lot of oil at this stage as it also forms a layer in the fridge and keeps your curry paste fresh. You can always discard the excess oil when cooking your curry.
You’ll need about 1-2 tsps of this paste when making curry for a small family.
Chocolate chip cookie dough!
Cravings for warm, gooey, chocolatey goodness come upon me without warning and if they’re during a lockdown, then I better be prepared, right? Use your favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe, pre-portion into individual cookies (I use a small ice cream scoop for consistent sizes) and freeze. Then all you need to do is bake a few when you feel like a little treat! Usually it only takes an additional 2-3 minutes when baking the cookies from frozen.
Here’s my best ever chocolate chip cookie recipe!
For 20-25 cookies
INGREDIENTS
500g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp flaked sea salt
225g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature
220g light brown sugar
220g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g good quality chocolate (I use a 50/50 mix of 60% dark milk and 70% dark). I take chocolate chip cookies very seriously and use 2 different sizes of chips so I have warm little pools of chocolate in my cookies. But that’s just me!
METHOD
Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together with a whisk (no need to sieve these ingredients) Add the butter and the two sugars into a large bowl and using an electric mixer, beat together until smooth and the colour starts to lighten, about 3-4minutes. Don’t rush this step as this is what determines how well your cookies spread during baking. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until fully combined, then mix in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and continue mixing until just combined. Don’t over mix at this stage. Add in the chocolate and mix (by hand using a spatula if possible - the electric mixer might break your chocolate chips) for a few seconds until evenly distributed. Chill the dough anywhere from 24-48 hours (I know this is REALLY hard, but TRUST ME, the wait is totally worth it) to help the dough to caramelise more as it bakes. If you really can’t wait, make yourself one cookie to satisfy your craving and refrigerate the rest for tomorrow! Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line two baking trays with baking paper. Use your hand or an ice cream scoop to form consistent balls of dough. The ideal size is about 60/70g per cookie. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until it’s golden and crispy on the edges and pale in the middle. They should come out when you think they are just ever so slightly underdone because they’ll carry on cooking for a few seconds once they’re out. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes if you can wait that long. I never can. Finish with a few flakes of sea salt (optional).
These are just some of the ways in which we’re surviving this season with minimum trips to the supermarket while also providing family-centric comfort food at each meal.
Recipes by Renuka George
Renuka is married to Sparkie and they have two beautiful children, Tobias and Selah. She is on team at Kingdomcity.