Go Frozen (Part 1)

Here's something for lazy El Cheapos like me.

Chicken can be really cheap if you buy them in bulk, especially cuts like the thigh and drumstick. In supermarket chains like Sainsbury's and Tesco, you usually get enough chicken for 6-10 meals with £5 or less. Cheaper still if you get those expiring-soon ones. Why so much for one person? Cannot spoil wan meh??

I freeze them!

Buy in bulk = cheap + no need go shopping so often. Portion the cuts, enough for one meal per-plastic bag. Then throw in freezer. At first, I was defrosting one portion at a time (one day before) by placing it in the fridge. Problem is that once it's defrosted, it won't last that long and should NOT be refrozen.

Din't like the idea of having to decide what to cook one day before, so soon I started experimenting with cooking it straight from frozen.

Here's one version. Come back from work, throw frozen chicken into pot of water along with some slices of ginger, big onions, spring onions, salt and pepper. Turn on the heat, and let it boil while i go have my shower :)

After a refreshing shower and reading some emails, the chicken would be nice and soft with the soup tasting pretty good.

At this point, it would be easy to separate the meat from the bone. Placed the meat in an oven-safe receptacle (don't worry if the chicken is not fully cooked yet), and add in random stuff. Here, I had frozen peas, spring onions, fried onions and garlic, and some chopped chili padi.

Add seasoning. Once again, anything you fancy. Oyster sauce, light/dark soya sauce, tomata ketchup, left over food from yesterday,... anything.

I even cracked over an egg, which I now realise was kinda silly.

Throw it in the oven.

Use some of the "chicken water" for cooking rice. It would smell/taste great! While the rice is cooking, and the meat in the oven, can use the rest of the "chicken water" for soup. Leave it boiling with the chicken bones. If you have some carrots or cabbage lying around, chucking some into the soup now would be nice.

As the rice, meat, and soup cook simultaneously, can go watch news on TV a while. Come back now and then to make sure everything OK :p

When rice is cook, everything should be ready!!!!

Baked Chicken dish.
Tasty soup.

Served with fragrant rice.

Very little effort involve. It takes about 45 mins in total to cook, but you only 5 mins or so of actual work :)