Peas in Summer @ ₹12 per Kilogram!

We are addicted to green peas. So, in winters, when its price falls to as low as Rs. 12 a kg, I buy them in bulk and freeze them for summers. I’ve been doing this for 2 years now. This year I missed the Rs. 12 price fall because I was getting ready to give birth to Zoya. I got them for Rs. 25 / kg 2 days ago from Mother Dairy. Had I ventured to the wholesale market, they would have been for anything between Rs. 15 to Rs. 20 a kg… Still, it is a steal from the Rs. 75 that they touch in summers and that too frozen!

The process is rather simple, a little messy the first time though.

I bought 5 kilograms and got my maid peel them over a day. That’s about 3 odd kilograms that’s eventually come out. There is a dish made from the peels, but that’s another tedious matter.

So while the peas were been peeled, I got the Ziplock bags out. They are ideal for freezing anything. Try putting together an assortment of sizes. You don’t want to be storing the entire lot in a huge bag and then struggling to break chunks out in summers for consumption. You can have a number of small ones that carry about 100 and 200 gms and then, maybe, a few of 400 / 500 gms for those lavish meals.

If you do not have ziplock pouches, no sweat. Recycle thick plastic bags, just clean them well.

Now, pour water into a large vessel. Fill it up half. You want to leave room for the water to go up once the peas are thrown in. Boil the water nicely.

It should be bubbling throughout.

Add a teaspoon of salt and sugar into the boiling water. These are the preservatives!

Now, with the flame on absolute high, take a batch of the raw peas (as much as you want to store in one ziplock pouch) and dunk it into the boiling water. Almost all the peas will sink to the bottom immediately and the water will stop bubbling temporarily.

In about a minute, the water will start bubbling again. Almost all the peas will rise to the top. That’s when you turn off the flame (or dim it to absolute minimum if you have more peas to add).

Pour the steaming peas out into a colander. Keep another vessel below it to collect the water. You can re-use the same water for the next batch, adding more fresh water, salt and sugar. If you think the water is too dirty, throw it and start afresh with the next batch of peas.

When the water is completely drained, put these blanched peas into the pouch. Because the peas are really hot, ensure your pouch or plastic bag is of a good quality.

Zip the bag, leaving a little opening in the corner. Ensure you get almost all the air out of the bag through that opening. Once it a near vacuum, seal the zip. The bag looks all crumpled and sticks to the peas.

Put the bag into the freezer immediately!

The 3 kgs of peas are all sealed and frozen for summers!

You can do this with carrots, cauliflowers, etc – the winter vegetables for summer.