Each time i cook i spend large amounts of time time chopping exact amounts of ginger/chillies/garlic.

Does anyone chop these ingredients in bulk & store them in the fridge.?

how long do they last before going off.?

I notice you can buy ginger '& garlic ready chopped in jars, stored in white vinegar.?

does anybody use this ready chopped ingredients?

Storing them in vinegar must give a different taste to the ned product?

can i just store them in plain water?

i'd be interested on any thoughts.

pardeep.

PS. im new to the website, its brilliant.

Hello Pardeep and welcome to the board, glad you like it.

In answer to your question I often use Garlic puree and ginger pur?e that is stored in oil (usually sunflower) and it works well. I can have a jar in the fridge for weeks (but this is manufactured not home made so maybe they have a few extras in there to help it keep).

I do know that in Malta most things are stored by covering them in oil and leaving in the fridge for weeks (possibly months).

I sometimes even make up spice mixes for making curries, mix it with oil (in my case I only use olive oil) and store the extra in the fridge in a plastic tub. (this is not far different from the "curry paste" you get in jars from the shops)

Steve

Oh and in Portugal they make "piri piri" which is almost only a jar of chillies with olive oil topping it up and that keeps for a long long time.

(think about it, if you got a bottle of 'flavoured' olive oil you would keep that for weeks without worrying. The things flavouring it are often chillies and garlic etc)

Steve

As for anything stored in white vinegar that would make it "pickled" which does alter the taste and the way it reacts with other things.

Pickled chillies tend to lose most of their heat and become soft, you wouldn't get the same thing using them instead of fresh chillies.

(consider how different onions and pickled onions are)

Pickled ginger and pickled garlic (often sliced and served together)can be eaten as a snack.

Steve

AskCy has answered all your questions Pradeep, I will just add here that I tend to peel ginger and garlic as I need them, ginger with an ordinary potato peeler and garlic by first cutting off the root end of each clove and then just bashing them one by one, with the flat end of the blade of a kitchen knife. I usually use big knives while chopping, they have quite large blades, ideal for bashing things ;-)!

Coriander; I do wash, dry and chop a whole bunch of coriander leaves and keep them in an airtight plastic container/bag in the fridge. In vegetable compartment, they easily lasts for a week.

Hi Mamta/Askcry

Thank you so so much for your very speedy & descriptive responses.

I do normally peel/chop garlic/ginger/chillies as I need them.

But there are times, I?m rushed off my feet, & I require a tablespoon of chopped ginger for a recipe, so I thought it would be nice to have a jar in the fridge. I?m not in a habit of using puree?s, maybe a should?.

Storing them in oil is a good idea. I?ll try that. Thank you.

Thanks for the tip on storing coriander.

Bye for now.

Pardeep

;O)

I only use one type of pur?ed garlic available at my supermarket, I've tried others and don't like them.

One gives a very pungent after taste (sometimes for days) and another in a tube wasn't worth using as it had very little taste at all...

I did look on the jar and it had rapeseed oil rather than olive oil, but also citric acid (so a touch of vinegar/lemon juice might help.

As I said though in Malta lots of things (garlic, olives, anchovies, capers etc) are often stored in just olive oil (making sure the oil is covering the contents of the jar)

A similar thing is often done with pat? in England where you would pour melted butter over and let it set so that it seals it in.

Steve

I have a failsafe method (yes, another one!!) for storing all of the following:

Garlic: Blend as much as you want in a food chopper, if necessary add a little water or oil to help the blending process. Get some icecube trays and pop a little of the mixture into each one. Freeze. When frozen, you can pop them out and store them in a lock n lock freezer box. Use as required, will last practically years.

Ginger: exactly the same as above

Tamarind pulp: I get the packets of tamarind and pour boiling water over the to and leave 1 hour. Pass everything through a sieve and you end up with a nice thick pulp. Ice cube trays again - freeze and pop them out and store in a box in freezer. That way you can get out only as much as you need. Lasts years!!!

Chillies: wash and dry them, then chop up fine and store in a lock n lock container in freezer. My neighbour taught me this, and I have NEVER had a problem with it. The chillies stay nice and green and last practically years.

Coriander: Wash and THOROUGHLY DRY ALL THE LEAVES - this is essential. If necessary spread them out on kitchen paper overnight to dry completely. Then chop and, yes you guessed it - store in lock n lock container in freezer. Bring out only as much as you need. I do this in bulk - say 3 bunches at a time so i dont have to keep doing it.

Let me know if this works for you.

Liza

Since nobody has mentioned it: if you store garlic in oil, there is a high risk of botulism (look it up). THIS CAN BE DEADLY. This is ESPECIALLY the case if you store it in oil and at room temperature

It was mentioned some time back and cooking kills it off, its a practice thats been used for hundreds if not thousands of years in many different cultures.

Thanks for the warning.

Steve

I also freeze these items in lock type containers.

Cut to size and easily added to any receipe that requires fresh products.

No need either to defrost them, just place in processor and blitz with everything else, no waste I find.

Has anyone got a good thing to say about cook in sauces?

could they at least be used as a base?

I share a kitchen and can'tmonopolise it for too long :-(

I'm not a fan of curry sauces (they tend to taste like a cartoon version of the real thing...if that makes sense?). However you can get some decent pre-made curry paste's which work fairly well.

Follow instructions on jar, brown onions, peppers add paste,top up with water etc..

Steve

I'd agree with Steve in that the bottled sauces just seem sterile and stale compared to the 'real thing.' However many of the curry houses in Brick Lane seem to do a good trade relying on catering size jars of Patak's sauces (I've seen their recycling bins!)

If time in the kitchen is a problem for you look out for the recipes on site that suggest overnight marination. You can then cook up a brilliant dish the next day in little time.

Winton

Can Garlic and Ginger mixed together by blending with a food chopper be placed in an air-tight glass container? Would it dissolve the air-tight material after some time? And does this happen with vinegar as well when filled in glass air-tight container?

can any one help me with these questions please.

Why not freeze chopped (in chopper) ginger and garlic in ice tray (used only for this purpose) and then store cubes in a plastic bag? They will be fresh, unadulterated and easy to use.

Frozen blocks of ginger and garlic are available in ASDA (Taj brand).

Thanks

Mamta

Rajneesh

Ok, I will work on suggestion about Garlic & Ginger mix. Sounds quite easy and affordable.

And please for second query which is about vinegar. If I preserver cucumber in vinegar in a glass air tight container for example to be used as pickle. Would that make air tight material of container dissolve or spoil vinegar & cucumber mix

Glass will not dissolve in vinager. You will have to make sure that inside of the lid is plastic coated, which it is in most jars these days.

Incidentally, I am looking for a Cucumber Dill pickle which is slightly sweet, the type you buy from Aldi or LIDL. If anyone has it, will they like to share it with the rest of us?

Intrigued by Mamta's request for a recipe for "Lidl-style Cucumber Dill pickle" I set off (for the first time) to my nearest store to get some to try.

What an extraordinary shop! A sort of cross between Iceland and a quite high class deli? I couldn't find the cucumber pickle or many things on my list (the seemingly random layout didn't help.) Amongst the tat (from peering at the labels) there where however some real gems. Some lovely vegetables, cold meats, olive oil, high % chocolate, jars of morello cherries - all at knock down prices. I came away with a till receipt as long as my arm, all for a bargain ?20!

Thanks Mamta, without you mentioning Lidl, I would never have experienced it!

Winton

You are absolutely right, some things are total tat, example milk, which tastes like water! Fresh produce is good, as are many continental things. As you shop, you get used to what is good and waht is not. Ours is next to Sainsbury's, so I first go to LIDL and then sainsbury's, to complete the shopping. Their bread flour etc. are also okay, as is 'some' frozen sea-food. Their antaging cream was voted the best a while back, by WHICH I think, as the best and cheapest! You can sign in to their weekly updates, which tell you what is on special that week, they change their weekly/fortnightly bargains to suit the season. For example, they have fire crackers at the moment, I muist get some soon. Bedding plants, cut flowers and sometimes other plants are also good.

Yes Mamta, I've signed up for their emails. Some bargains seem too good to miss, others such as the equestrian horse fleece rug with matching leg bandages might not be quite so useful (even at ?6.99!)

I am off to lidle now, I believe they have some firecrackers. They will be good for Diwali, also on 5th of November this year. Pete can do a show for us LOL!

For Pete there also some good bottled ales and bitters at silly prices this weekend!

We have an Aldi very close to us rather than a Lidl but they are similar beasts.

Pete does indeed buy some ales from there, see his recent Pete Drinks reviews on Kavey Eats.

Both Aldi and Lidl very good on things like continental chocolate, cured meats and sausages, fresh fruit and vegetables (though I still like to buy British where I can) and a number of other things.

I don't rate their cheese and a lot of stuff is tat/ poor quality.

But as mum says, you do get to know the items to look for pretty fast.

I sometimes buy a few toiletries there, again, only some not others.

Oh and we got a fantastic tripod from there a couple of years back for ?12.99, it's sturdy, excellently made and would normally cost about 5 to 8 times more.

Their milk products are not so good. I have bought some Muller light yoghurt today, will se how that compares with Sainsbury?s.

Fire crackers were not displayed, had to ask at the checkout, then they brought them out. Seem like good value.

My trolley at LIDL had a defective wheel, it kept locking every 2 feet, would only move backw3ards. I mentioned it to security guy near the checkout that it needed repair, front wheels locking! The guy kept saying it is alright, telling me just to leave it outside. When I kept repeating that it really needs looking at, he said that it was not his job, so why was I telling him! I said that he should have told me this the first time I said it. He then huffed, sulked and walked away. By this time I had paid and started pushing away, but the trolley wouldn't move, got wheels locked again. He came back, picked some instrument from under the till and opened the electronic lock in one second!!! He could have done it straight away, instead of just mouthing off, lazy ..t, with such a lot of big chis on his small shoulders!! Some people!