Frozen Food During MCOs

You can practically get almost anything these days in frozen form....be it fresh produce or pre-cooked frozen food.  This was greatly influenced by the series of lockdowns and MCOs that we have had to endure due to the widespread pandemic.  Frozen food (both fresh and ready-to-eat types) is the way to go for many households...and an extended MCO 3.0 means even more frozen food in the days ahead! >_<

Frozen fresh produce (delivered to our homes) has been around for a long time already but gained momentum during the MCOs coz who would want frozen seafood and meat when we can get our hands on fresh produce from the wet markets (which I prefer) or supermarkets.  I, for one, would not want to buy frozen fish or prawns if I have a choice to get fresh ones from my usual fish vendor at the wet market.

But the MCO has forced my hand (or our hands) and I had to make do with frozen fish and prawns (in order to stay safe and away from crowded wet markets)...and depending on luck, sometimes they're adequately fresh while at other times, they disappoint.  I've had that disappointment (from my usual supplier, Vfresh, recently) with a batch of ikan senangin (threadfin) I bought for my sister-in-law that turned out very fishy and a batch of (IQF white) prawns that turned out mushy (the sea prawns I got previously were ok).  I don't believe in buying frozen squid either coz if that turns out mushy, it's even harder to stomach than mushy prawns.  I realise that their vacuum-packed fish like salmon, tilapia, siakap (Asian seabass or barramundi) and saba are much better bets (and that limits me to very few choices I can buy from Vfresh from now on).  I don't think I dare to buy any frozen local fish from them and will only stick to those I've bought before.

Haiz.....I can't wait to get fresh fish from my regular wet market vendor again when the Covid situation improves and it's deemed to be safe(r) to go out again.  Nothing beats fresh fish from the wet market!!  I now even resort to buying fresh vegetables online just to lessen my trips to buy vegetables.

Besides frozen fresh produce, there are also many players in the market now that sells frozen pre-cooked food and meals.  They're ready-to-eat frozen packages that you can just reheat at home and your meal is ready in a jiffy with zero effort and without the need to sweat it out in the kitchen....and that is a godsend for many people who don't cook, don't know how to cook or don't have the time to cook.

Even I, who do cook....knows how to cook...and have time to cook....will resort to some of these frozen ready-to-eat dishes from time to time out of sheer convenience and pure laziness.....lol! :D  It first started when we could not travel interstate for CNY and had some of these frozen, ready-to-heat dishes for our CNY dinners in KL.

#1 - (Frozen) Hakka Wu Tau Kau Yoke (Steamed Pork Belly with Yam)

An aunt (from Ipoh) makes a very good wu tau kau yoke....and she makes it every year for CNY (and she makes it in trays to be eaten over the next few days).  She serves it with sang choy (fresh lettuce leaves) on the side for those who want to wrap their meat in them.  They also use the lettuce leaves to wrap nga ku in a dish braised with nam yue.  I'm not sure if this sang choy wrapping is a thing with Hakkas coz I don't eat it like that and neither do I find a liking for this nam yue braised nga ku either.

#2 - (Frozen) Pork Ribs Curry

I've eaten many good curries in my life but I can't recall having had a good curry pork ribs though.  So, I can't find any photos of good curry pork ribs coz when it comes to curry, it's always pork curry, fish curry or vegetables curry that I'd order.

#3 - (Frozen) Hakka Char Yoke (Braised Pork Belly with Wood-Ear Fungus)

Ah, when it comes to Hakka Char Yoke, I've eaten my fair share of good ones either from chap fan stalls, tai chow places.....

......or proper Chinese restaurants like this one from Dai Cha Dim in Pavilion.

#4 - (Frozen) Lor Bak

Then there were these fried lor bak (5-spice meat rolls) which I first ate during our CNY reunion dinner (previous photo) and again during our hoi nin lunch from a different supplier, I think, which tasted better than the first.

I like the ones from a shop near me, Jia Li Mian Noodle House, Pandan Jaya, as they're pretty good....

.......and the ones from Hoe Fong Chicken Rice in Seapark, PJ, are not bad either.

All the above frozen food that my sister-in-law bought during the CNY period was edible but only average-tasting at best.  The frozen lor bak was probably the best of the lot which I had also gotten from her to cook at home.  I pan-fried them (I don't like to do deep-frying at home) and my husband said it tasted better than air-fried (but still not as good as deep-fried).

#5 - (Frozen) Chicken Chop

Another sister-in-law gifted me a few (more like six!) frozen chicken chops which she bought online from two different sellers.  They come in a few choices of flavours and I got original, lemongrass, rosemary (they used dry herbs from a bottle) and curry (this was the only one that had flavour).  Since these chops come already marinated, so all one needs to do is to cook them in the oven.  

I roasted the first one as it was.  Unfortunately, they turned out tasting quite bland (totally tasteless to my husband's taste buds) but, worst still, was that the texture of the meat was mushy.  A roast chicken that looks as pale as that isn't very inviting, is it? >_<

My husband said the meat was so soft (and he doesn't mean it in a good way) that you don't even need a knife to cut it apart! O_o  Not sure if it was because the chops weren't fresh (to begin with) or that they've been frozen for far too long.

I only ate one (after re-seasoning it, of course) and kinda forced my husband to eat up the rest.  He would eat up anything just to not waste food, that's why he's the one we rely on to sapu anything we can't finish.  I tried to make the balance ones as palatable as possible by throwing in anything that I could throw in (extra seasoning and spices from salt to black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, honey...you name it, I threw it in!). As much as I could save the taste of the chicken chop, there was nothing I could do to save the mushy texture of the meat.

See.....see....I can certainly marinate and make better tasting chicken chops than those frozen ones (and I'm not blowing my own trumpet coz they're really easy to do...I can practically make them with my eyes closed....kekeke!).  In fact, roast chicken is my forte as it was one of the first things I roasted successfully in the oven...and I'd usually cook it for our potluck parties...perhaps that had slipped my sister-in-law's mind. Suffice to say, I had to tell her the frozen ones were no where near good! >.<

#6 - (Frozen) Prawn Roll

I got these to try (through Shopee) when I ordered fresh vegetables.  They're supposed to be prawn rolls wrapped in beancurd sheets (RM7.90 for 5 pcs).

Although I shallow-fried them, the bean curd skin was still fairly crispy (but would have been crispier if they were deep-fried).  I could see whole (more like halved) prawns in the filling but there was also something of a minced nature.  I'm assuming it's part of the chopped prawns in the filling.  The bigger pieces of prawns had this translucent look with a crunchy texture and a lack of sweetness which makes me suspect they probably used frozen prawns in the filling.

Again, I would say the taste was of an acceptable level but also not something I'd be overly eager to buy again coz, at more than RM1.50 a piece, I didn't think the quality was worth the price paid.

#7 - (Frozen) La-La

My sister-in-law also gave me frozen la-la (clams) some time ago before our MCOs.  It was conveniently forgotten in my freezer until I found it while rummaging through my freezer during the first MCO.

What's better than eating la-la?  For some, it's eating peeled la-la where you don't have to contend with the shells.  But peeled la-la also meant the cooking method is very limited as you can't really stir-fry them (without shells) with say garlic, ginger or chillies as it just wouldn't be the same.  So, the only thing I could think of is to make la-la omelette with it.

#8 - (Frozen) Dim Sum

Of all the frozen foodstuff my two sisters-in-law bought, the frozen dim sum turned out to be the best tasting with the easiest, fuss-free preparation (it only needs to be steamed from frozen state).

I received a few types of dim sum....char siew pau (steamed BBQ pork buns), sang yuk pau (steamed meat buns), siew mai (Chinese steamed dumplings) and steamed beancurd rolls.

The char siew pau and beancurd rolls were the most tasty.....and the siew mai was decent too.  This frozen dim sum is the only thing I'd want to eat again (for the third time after eating them twice since the MCO started).  In fact, I made another order recently through my sis-in-law (since she never told me where she got them from).

It's something very convenient (stashed in the freezer) for snacking purposes during this MCO as all it needs is just to steam these ready-to-eat morsels.

I think the reason why most of the frozen food (I've tried thus far) didn't deliver in terms of taste is because every Tom, Dick & Harry (who cooks) seems to have jumped on this 'food bandwagon' as a means to earn a living or make some money as demand is so high for any foodstuff but (sadly) not everything is up to mark and we, the consumers, have to weave out the "not good"! >_<

There had been more misses than hits with some of the frozen food I've tried.  Being disappointed more often than not, I'd still prefer to buy cooked food from places where I know the taste and quality....and reheat (or freeze them for later) than to buy frozen food from people/places I don't know (unless they come highly recommended) coz I'm afraid there are just too many out there that don't cut it.  Anyone had any good frozen food experiences lately that were worthy? ^_~