We’ve all been there. When you batch cook an entire meal, the freezer fills up pretty rapidly, bags go unlabelled, you forget to defrost them in time and veg turns mushy in the attempt to thaw an entire meal-ice-block into something edible. With this hack, you’re only batch-cooking a flavoursome curry paste before you freeze it in a giant ice cube tray. That way, you’ll still have plenty of room in the freezer and can use the cubes straight from frozen to kickstart a speedy dinner without any overcooked veg or legumes.
makes 9 giant ice cubes
Ingredients
For the Curry Ice Cubes (serves 12)
-
1 large bulb of garlic
-
4 onions
-
800g tomatoes
-
60g ginger
-
40g tomato purée
-
25g salt
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8 tbsp organic vegetable oil
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3 heaped tsp cumin seeds
-
2 heaped tsp coriander seeds
-
3 tsp garam masala
-
2 tsp ground turmeric
-
1 tsp chilli powder
For the Chickpea & Spinach Curry (serves 4)
-
3 giant curry ice cubes
-
1 tin of coconut milk
-
2 tins of chickpeas (or 160g dried, soaked overnight)
-
200g spinach
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30g coriander
-
1 lemon
-
rice for serving
Method
To make the curry ice cubes, peel the garlic cloves and onions, half the tomatoes and remove the stem. Add them to the bowl of a food processor along with the ginger (no need to peel, just wash well), tomato purée and salt (if you have coriander flying about, you can also add the stems to the processor) and blend into a purée. Heat the oil in a casserole (the wider & shallower, the quicker the process) and carefully tip in the mixture. Bring it to a boil, then cook over medium heat until most of the water has evaporated and it has thickened into a paste (30 – 60 min). It will splash quite heavily while it cooks, so keep it loosely covered with a lid but allow the steam to escape.
In the meantime, toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a frying pan until aromatic. Then use a spice grinder or pestle & mortar to crush them into a fine powder. Tip it into a small mixing bowl and combine with the garam masala, turmeric and chilli powder.
When the aromatics have reduced to a paste, stir in the spice blend and let them cook for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat. Set the pan aside and let the paste cool entirely, before dividing it over giant ice cube trays and using it whenever you fancy a curry.
To make the Chickpea & Spinach Curry, simply heat 3 giant curry ice cubes together with the coconut milk in a casserole until completely melted. If using dried soaked chickpeas, drain them and cook them in plenty of water for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Drain the tinned or cooked chickpeas and add them to the pan along with the spinach. Cook until the spinach has wilted and the curry has thickened. In the meantime, roughly chop the coriander and set aside. When the spinach is ready, stir in the juice of half a lemon, then serve with rice, the chopped coriander and an extra squeeze of lemon juice.
Batch Cook Curry Ice Cubes
Ingredients
For the Curry Ice Cubes (serves 12)
- 1 large bulb of garlic
- 4 onions
- 800 g tomatoes
- 60 g ginger
- 40 g tomato purée
- 25 g salt
- 8 tbsp organic vegetable oil
- 3 heaped tsp cumin seeds
- 2 heaped tsp coriander seeds
- 3 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp chilli powder
For the Chickpea & Spinach Curry (serves 4)
- 3 giant curry ice cubes
- 1 tin of coconut milk
- 2 tins of chickpeas or 160g dried, soaked overnight
- 200 g spinach
- 30 g coriander
- 1 lemon
- rice for serving
Instructions
- To make the curry ice cubes, peel the garlic cloves and onions, half the tomatoes and remove the stem. Add them to the bowl of a food processor along with the ginger (no need to peel, just wash well), tomato purée and salt (if you have coriander flying about, you can also add the stems to the processor) and blend into a purée. Heat the oil in a casserole (the wider & shallower, the quicker the process) and carefully tip in the mixture. Bring it to a boil, then cook over medium heat until most of the water has evaporated and it has thickened into a paste (30 - 60 min). It will splash quite heavily while it cooks, so keep it loosely covered with a lid but allow the steam to escape.
- In the meantime, toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a frying pan until aromatic. Then use a spice grinder or pestle & mortar to crush them into a fine powder. Tip it into a small mixing bowl and combine with the garam masala, turmeric and chilli powder.
- When the aromatics have reduced to a paste, stir in the spice blend and let them cook for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat. Set the pan aside and let the paste cool entirely, before dividing it over giant ice cube trays and using it whenever you fancy a curry.
- To make the Chickpea & Spinach Curry, simply heat 3 giant curry ice cubes together with the coconut milk in a casserole until completely melted. If using dried soaked chickpeas, drain them and cook them in plenty of water for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Drain the tinned or cooked chickpeas and add them to the pan along with the spinach. Cook until the spinach has wilted and the curry has thickened. In the meantime, roughly chop the coriander and set aside. When the spinach is ready, stir in the juice of half a lemon, then serve with rice, the chopped coriander and an extra squeeze of lemon juice.
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