Freezer Candidate: Chicken Balls

These chicken balls freeze very well. Good for lunchbox, into soups or just another side dish. This is also good for BBQ, just baste with ready made teriyaki sauce.

I've adapted this recipe from The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo. In the book, this recipe is for yakitori chicken dumplings.

*******************************

Chicken and Mushroom Balls

(Adapted from The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo)

*******************************

500g minced chicken meat

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

3 sprigs spring onions or cilantro, finely chopped

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger

1 whole egg, lightly beaten

2 tsp sesame oil

6 med shiitake mushroom, diced finely (if using dried ones, reconstitute before use)

1. In a medium size bowl, mix all the ingredients together until well combined.

2. Shape into balls with your hands.

3. In a frying pan heated with a little oil, pan fry the balls until they browned.

To freeze: When cooled enough to handle, portion the number of balls for each serving. Wrap the balls plastic wrap. Squeeze out as much air as you can from the plastic wrap. Place the wrapped balls into a labelled zip top bag. Using a straw, suck out as much air as you can to create a vaccumed pack.

To use: Drop the frozen balls into a heated frying pan or pop them into a toaster oven. For soups or stews, just drop frozen balls directly in during the last stage of cooking.

Here are some of the other things from my freezer: Kimichi pancakes

Store bought frozen soup - Lobster bisque

These are wonder ready-made meals from the freezer!

If you are into seafood, try visiting Fassler. They have a good variety of seafood and seafood products at low cost. I bought this pack of lobster bisque for $5 and also the salmon skewers for $3.