Homemade Frozen Vegetables
The other day, I was at the supermarket to stock up on hubby’s office snacks and some coffee. When I reached the freezer section, I saw some frozen broccoli, a bag of which was about as big as a legal-sized document and costs about Php180. Beside it was a bag of the same size containing a mix of broccoli and cauliflower and some carrots. Since hubby and I had discussed the weekend before that we should keep some frozen veggies in the freezer for the days when we don’t have time to go to the market, this seemed like a great idea. But I know the price of a head of broccoli, so I decided I would just make them at home.
I like the concept of frozen vegetables. Easy to keep, and easy to prepare. All you need is freezer space. And really, there’s nothing more to preparing them than cutting and cleaning, then blanching. The key is to make them half raw, so that you don’t overcook them by the time you reheat them. In my case, I waited for Saturday and the trip to the wet market and bought enough for 2 kinds of frozen vegetable varieties.
Here are the “raw” ingredients. One is a broccoli and cauliflower and carrot mix like the one I saw at the supermarket, and the other one is made of diced sayote, baguio beans, chicharo, and some carrots. What’s the English term for Sayote anyway?
The hardest part was the peeling and slicing. Remind me next time not to do this on a workday… I was so tired afterwards, hahaha. 🙂
After all the veggies were ready, you just need to prepare the boiling water and container of iced water for blanching. You do not need to submerge the vegetables fully in water. In my case, I used about an inch deep of boiling water for the veggies, and just mixed them around as they cook. The process is really quick, less than 2 minutes in the hot water before fishing them out and dumping them in the cold water. And because I don’t trust myself, I cooked the broccoli and cauliflower separately then mixed them together afterwards. Here’s what the finished product looks like. Aren’t the colors just lovely?
For the second set, I chose to dice them to shorten then cooking time. Just make sure to drain them properly to lessen the ice that forms around them when you freeze them.
It was an awesome feeling of satisfaction afterwards. No more worrying about what veggies to prepare this week. And I don’t have to eat them on consecutive days either, they’ll store nicely in the freezer until we need them. 🙂
Emnidy@Wordpress 