Concentrated Thai red chicken curry for the freezer

Reduce some coconut milk until very thick, then add the curry paste and saute it in the coconut milk until the coconut oil separates and the paste is very aromatic.

Add the rest of the coconut milk and reduce it to about half its original volume, 7 to 10 minutes, so the frozen curry takes less space.

Season with fish sauce and palm sugar, and add only sturdy herbs now: roughly torn kaffir lime leaves. Delicate herbs such as Thai basil or cilantro wait until reheating.

Add the chicken dark meat, turn down and simmer about 20 minutes until fork tender; the chicken's juices thin the sauce.

Leave out vegetables for freezing, or choose low-water ones (bell peppers, bamboo shoots, peas); watery ones like zucchini, cucumber and tomatoes thaw mushy.

Fold the mouth of a freezer bag back, divide the meat first between bags, then the curry; it can go in piping hot.

Set the bags in a bowl of cold water to cool quickly, label them as needing dilution, and freeze flat on a plate so they are thin and thaw fast.

To reheat, dip the bag in hot tap water until the block slides out. Bring water or chicken stock to a boil in a pot, add the frozen curry and cook until thawed.

Add bell peppers and cooked bamboo shoots; cook the peppers one minute for firm or a few minutes for soft, back to a simmer.

Stir in Thai basil, turn off the heat and let the residual heat wilt it and infuse the curry. Serve with rice.