The tender winter green peas are my favourite thing to eat in winter. Be it sabji, pulao or salad. I use them in everything. Did you know it is extremely easy to freeze them and use it for atleast next 4-6 months. Read the post to know How to freeze Green Peas and extend your winter a bit, atleast on your table.
Green peas are little magical seeds. Soft, tender, sweet, delightful things in a nutshell (pun intended). Which one of us don’t have memories of peeling tons of green peas in childhood? If you ask around I am sure all of us sat with family and peeled mounds of this in winter. Half going in the bowl and a lot of them directly in the stomach. Those super tender ones, the super sweet ones deserved to be eaten just as is. I remember those winter afternoons on the terrace with sun beaming on us and all of us sitting down to peel these. I still enjoy peeling them with a dose of netflix and now may be a glass of wine after the hustle bustle of the day has died down. When Ojas is in bed and there is peace in the house, it makes me more mindful of my life. Reminds me of childhood and makes me thankful of so many things. Most of all life and it’s seasons.
Green peas are so adaptable to the dish you put them in that they work with almost every flavour. Put it pulao, make a delicious soup of it, put them in your breakfast of poha, upma or vermicilli, throw a little in the pasta or make a salad of it. Make the gorgeous nimona or the popular matter paneer. They shine in every dish. One of my favorite things to make with them is the simple peas pulao where I put more peas than rice in a way.
Green peas are also very nutritious. Excellent source of folic acid, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and full of antioxidants. Green peas are said to be very good for babies, expectant mothers, for increasing immunity in adults and kids alike. It is even believed that they can help fight alzheimer’s. And even if it is not true, who is complaining since the little balls are so delicious anyways.
Now that the winter is ending (It has ended I know I know, this post has been in my drafts for more than a month. Yes feel free to scold me) and the peas are going to vanish from the market soon. I am afraid of not eating them till next winter. I know there is safal and other frozen peas always available in market but somehow those never match up. And I think overtime their quality has gone down so much. So like every year I am freezing a HUGE batch of green peas that will atleast last me for the next 4 months or so. I will tell you how much I have frozen but you will have to promise to not faint ;). 10 kgs of peas which gave me around 6kgs of pea pods. Yes yes yes !!
And when I posted a while ago that I am peeling for freezing, a lot of you on twitter and instagram asked me how to freeze it and hence this post. Actually the method is pretty simple. Three steps and you are done. Blanch, dry and pack. Yup.
So for freezing green peas. Blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and completely dry. Transfer to air tight containers or zip locks. And tada you are done.
My mum also freezes the winter cauliflower and red carrot this way but since I don’t really get the small tiny winter cauliflower in Bangalore, I haven’t bothered at all. But you can use the same method.
If you don’t have too many power issues at home, this will easily be good for for 4-6 months. So what are you waiting for go ahead and freeze the joy of winter and put it in your freezer, to enjoy and relish whenever you want.
And before leaving, here are some lovely peas recipes on the blog.
Keeping posts in drafts is okay. I have so so many more than you. There was always a different feeling in eating the peas and when we were child we used count them and have fun
Yeah counting was so much fun ! We used to have a little competition where the person with highest peas would win !
Hi Monica, I peel and freeze them in air tight containers as is. My mother does the same and it lasts for almost a year. Just curious, why do we need to blanch them?
My blanched one sometimes last through an year too but it all depends on power etc. But I would say 4-6 months is what is safe period to use it
I blanch because peas (and most veggies) contain enzymes and bacteria that, over time, break down the destroy nutrients and change the color, flavor, and texture of food during frozen storage. Blanching or steaming takes care of destroying that bacteria.
Thanks for your response. Never thought of it from this angle 🙂