How to preserve fresh green peas??? Around 10 years back during the winter season this question used to pop up in my mind. The winter season brings the best quality fresh peas crop. I used to shell out peas, fill them in zip lock bags and keep the bags in the freezer – that’s it! But later while using these peas, I missed the fresh flavour, and peas always felt hard if using them in dry vegetables. I always had to boil them before using and this was annoying. Then what is the right method of preserving fresh peas???
One day I was chatting with one of my aunts over the phone and while discussing regular stuff we came over the topic of how peas are preserved in different ways. I immediately told my dissatisfaction with the result of frozen peas. Then she told me her method and since then I follow that and try to stuff my freezer section with peas as much as possible!
If your family loves peas in different dishes, then you should definitely try this method to preserve peas for those months of the year when you don’t get them fresh in the market. Include your children and husband for shelling out peas while they are watching TV. If you do this each Sunday also you can get enough quantity in the whole winter season!
You need fresh peas, a colander/sieve, a big pot for boiling water, another pot of iced water and zip lock bags in small, medium and big sizes.
Process:
Shell out peas and wash them in a strainer.
Boil water in a big size pot. Let the water boil till the boiling bubbles appear in the water. Switch off the heat. Immediately add peas in hot water and cover the pot. Let the peas remain there for exactly 3 minutes.
After three minutes, strain peas in a sieve and immediately transfer them into an iced water pot. Let them stay there till peas become cold. Later, drain out the water in a strainer and spread peas on a clean kitchen towel till the excess water dries out.
Fill peas in ziplock bags. Don’t overstuff peas in the bags and stick stickers with the date of the preserve. Keep them in the freezer until further use.
You can try Aalu ki tikiya(potato patties stuffed with spicy peas) recipe from the blog. It is very popular street snack of India and if peas are in the freezer then our work is very easy to prepare them!