what would be the drawback to making your recipes without the meat, cooking the curry sauce then freezing it. This way i could stock up on the sauces a week in advance and only have to do the actual cooking (adding the meat) on the said day. Would this impair the taste? and if so what would be best to add to it? I don't like cooking the meat and freezing the whole curry as I don't like defrosted cooked meat.
Hi Fi5H,
I see no drawbacks with doing what you suggest. All my curry recipes suggest adding precooked meat (if you prefer not to cook it with the curry sauce). Therefore, I suggest you:
- Make the curry base and either use it immediately, put it in the fridge (my recipe suggests for up to 3 days), or freeze it
- Make the curry sauce and either use it immediately, put it in the fridge (again, I'd suggest for up to 3 days), or freeze it
- Precook your meat and either use it immediately or put it in the fridge (given that you don't wish to freeze it). Again, I'd suggest for up to 3 days in the fridge
I do any/all of the above. I also freeze completed curries, rice and naans. A complete curry meal can then be ready within a matter of minutes.
I see no problem (i.e. I cannot detect any significant difference in taste or texture) with freezing meat (either raw, marinated or precooked), the curry base, or the finished curries (although ingredients with high water content - e.g. chunks of capsicum, tomatoes, onions, chillies, etc - in curries such as bhoona, dopiaza, etc - will lose their "crispness").
Others may disagree, of course.
Having said that, if you freeze the curry sauce (with or without the meat), you might want to add a little more liquid (i.e. water or whatever) to recover the consistency when you reheat it.
I also make batches of precooked meat and freeze it. I see no problem with doing so (taste and texture wise) - except that it should not then be refrozen in a completed curry.
Hope that helps Fi5H.