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Many curry recipes I came across involve frying and then boiling vegetables before mixing with roux.

I presume that’s to damage the cells to impart the juice (and soften the vegetables).

However, since I’m planning to freeze the curry, wouldn’t it be sufficient to just blanch the veggies in stock? Freezing in itself will damage the cells and reheating (20 min on medium-low) should be sufficient to complete the cooking.

Kentzo
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  • Frying AND boiling the vegetables? That seems unusual. Can you share what kind of curry recipe you're talking about? Maybe a link to a similar recipe? – FuzzyChef Aug 11 '22 at 01:05
  • https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/japanese-curry-with-winter-squash-and-mushrooms, see step 3 where mirepoix is first seared then shortly after simmered in broth. – Kentzo Aug 11 '22 at 06:20

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For best results, no.

The frying/sauteing stage gets you browning/maillard/umami; skipping it will give you a quite different texture and flavor.

The subsequent simmering (20-25m in the example you linked) does two things*: it continues to soften the foods (not all of which will have been pre-sauteed), and it diffuses the flavors from the solids into the broth (and into other solids). While a freeze-thaw cycle could complement the softening, it's not the same, and it won't help with the diffusion.

On the other hand, if it really matters, you can probably get away with greatly reducing the simmer-time pre-freezing, because you'll be bringing the soup back up to boiling when you thaw it.

* actually in the example you link, it does a third thing: it boils off a lot of the water.

ShapeOfMatter
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