Saturday, January 28, 2012

Freezing Indian Food- My experience and tips

Recently I had been away from home for 2 weeks leaving my son and husband. Hubby dear rarely steps inside the kitchen. My son gets upset stomach if he eats a lot outside! So I, decided to freeze some food that could help them for 2 weeks. All they have to do is cook rice or heat up a chapathi. Ofcourse they can have a treat outside once ot twice a week. Most of the frozen indian food available in the stores are way too spicy for my kiddo! Online research gave me some guidance and helped me freeze some grub!

I wanted to share my experience with all those busy mom/dad's.

Needs some planning and good ziploc freezer bags or freezer safe containers. I would recommend freezing individual portions, so you don't have to reheat over and over again if using a bigger container. Small freezer bags are perfect for upma or dry subzi's.

Just remember to cool the cooked contents thoroughly before freezing and thaw them at least 12 hr s ahead before reheating. Whenever i cooked a big batch, i labelled and froze them.

Coconut or any yogurt based curry does not taste well once reheated.Well, this is what I learnt and did not freeze anything with coconut.

Let me give a list of those items that froze well and just as fresh once reheated. The verdict was given by my family.


  • Simple Dal tadka
  • Plain cooked toor dal
  • Sambar ( podi potta sambar)
  • Ven Pongal
  • Vegetable rawa upma
  • Spinach kootu with toor dal ( no coocnut)
  • Rasam varieties ( i froze lemon, regular jeera and garlic rasam)
  • Carrot and peas stir fry/ carrot kari
  • Cauliflower and potato stir fry/ cauliflower kari
  • Tomato soup
  • Turnip curry
  • Idli/ dosa batter before fermenting freeze in a container ( these are good for dosa only)

I was busy cooking and packing that I forgot to take pictures of all the food.
I would appreciate if you all can share your experience in  freezing indian food or any home cooked food in that matter!

Enjoy your weekend!

8 comments:

  1. Usually i used to freeze rotis or parathas,string hoppers and any kind of rice based one pot meals, thats really saves loads of time and quite handy too..well done Priya...

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  2. Usually potatoes do not freeze well and turn spongy.
    I have found this in dry subzi's so also in Ishtu/ Kurma.
    However Aloo Paratha's freeze well.
    Dals freeze well. Channa and Rajma dishes.
    Kerala Black Channa Curry.
    Dry beans dishes freeze well. Plain Parathas and Rotis too.
    Cooked Idli's also. Tomato and onion chutney too.
    Good to compare notes Priya.

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  3. I freeze dals, parathas, chicken /Veg stock and tomato puree in ice cubes. That Priya that was helpful


    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  4. This is a lovely post priya- my experiences of freezing is limited to storing vatta kuzhambu & atta dough- these are the two things hubby has difficulty doing. but your post is welcome for future references

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  5. Nice post Priya,really helpful,thanks for sharing dear..

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  6. wonderful post and is a really helpful one :)

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  7. Thanks for sharing all your experience in freezing indian food.

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  8. Thanks for sharing! Indian Food has always been drawing attention of the world and has a special place in the global platter.
    Indian Restaurant

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