Coconut curry and rice #Coolcookery

As a busy home educator, I am nearly always in a rush at dinner time to put something nutritious and filling together for us all. After a day of going out on learning trips and a table full of puzzles and flashcards I am often tearing my hair out at 4pm thinking, what do I cook? I'm a vegetarian whilst the rest of the household are meat eaters so that does complicate things slightly. Convenience food is of course tempting but actually I want colourful meals full of vitamins and not chips.

With Britmums and the British Food Federation who have a great site coolcookery.co.uk , we are showing how frozen food  can be used in family meals. Frozen food is more than just your fishfingers, burgers and pizza, if you have a look in your supermarket's frozen aisle you will find all kinds of vegetables, meat, fish, fruit and even herbs.

Freezing keeps the nutritional value and freshness of the food. Frozen straight away, it is all locked in goodness so the frozen broccoli and cauliflower I bought actually may have more nutrition than if it were off the fresh foods section.

There is also much less waste with frozen products, just use what you need from your freezer and keep the rest for another day - no vegetables going past their prime in the fridge and ending up in the bin. I love saving money and using frozen, according to research, can save families up to £250 a year. 

I decided to make a healthy korma style curry packed full of veggies with a Quorn addition for me and chicken for OH and son. I also made a creamy coconut rice to accompany it.

Frozen onions
Frozen sliced mixed peppers
Frozen broccoli and cauliflower mix
Frozen green beans
Quorn meat-free chicken pieces
Frozen chicken breast
Tin of Coconut milk
1/3 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp vegetable oil

White rice
Vegetable stock
Turmeric

I fried the onions in vegetable oil and sprinkled the curry powder in with a tablespoon of flour, which will thicken the sauce.
Add the pepper and continue to fry until soft.
Meanwhile I then cooked the green beans and broccoli/cauliflower in some water in the microwave, drained them and then broke up the florets in to smaller pieces. All were added to the onions and peppers. Half a tin of tomatoes and the creamy part of the coconut milk were added. Add some of the coconut milk until the desired consistency. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime I fried a little more onion in another pan and added some white rice and the rest of the coconut milk, some vegetable stock with 2tsps of turmeric. This was brought to the boil and then simmered for around 20 minutes until the rice was soft and creamy looking.

I separately fried the Quorn and chicken and plated up accordingly so everyone was happy. Even a fussy bobble hat wearing 5 year old got stuck in.  For a curry, the preparation was so quick using the frozen foods and I felt really satisfied that we were all eating a wholesome meal.