cooking with FROZEN FOODS

It is always best to use fresh ingredients in your cooking where you can, but in a busy life, sometimes you just don’t have them on hand. Maybe you haven’t had time to get your fresh veg or perhaps you just forgot because the day was so busy. On those occasions, frozen food from the freezer can be a blessing. For those moments when you just haven’t had time to buy fresh, here are some frozen food cooking ideas that will tantalise your taste buds and nourish you at the same time. Try our: vegan berry smoothie bowl; mango curry; chilli salt edamame; dumpling soup; ginger chicken stir-fry; cheesy corn fritters; or spanakopita spirals.

Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry

Recipe / Naomi Sherman

Stir-fry is a huge favourite in our house, but I loathe the hour of prep time it takes to cut up all of those vegetables for a "quick meal", not to mention remembering to buy them all! Using a bag of stir-fry vegetables and frozen pineapple means you can have this delicious sweet and spicy stir-fry on the table in a fraction of the time without a four-page shopping list!

Serves: 6

Sauce

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup hot water

¾ cup coconut aminos or soy sauce

¼ cup rice-wine vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

4 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp minced garlic

2 cups frozen pineapple chunks ½ cup chicken broth

1 tbsp cornflour

Stir-Fry

1/3 cup fl our

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground pepper

¼ tsp chilli powder (or to taste)

1kg chicken breast tenders, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tbsp oil

1 red onion, sliced into wedges

1 850g bag frozen stir-fry vegetables Cooked rice, to serve

Spring onions, to serve

1. Place all of the sauce ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth.

2. Combine the fl our, salt, pepper and chilli powder in a freezer bag and shake each piece of chicken in the fl our mixture to get a light coating.

3. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large pan. Add the onions and stir-fry for a few mins. Add the chicken and stir-fry for a few mins until browned.

4. Remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl.