Recipe: dehydrated chicken and pomegranate stew

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Recipe: dehydrated chicken and pomegranate stew

Postby MicheleK » Tue 06 Jan, 2015 9:05 am

I recently made this recipe and it was great out on a 6 day walk in Kosciuszko. It is adpated from a Jamie Oliver recipe and if you play with the quantities you can have both a meal at home and dry the rest for camping. It is made in the one pot.

Pomegranate & chicken stew
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 free range whole chicken, jointed
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 onions, sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
• 300 ml tomato passata
• 4 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• Approx 200 ml pomegranate juice
• Pomegranate seeds

Heat the oil in a casserole over a medium heat. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and paprika, then brown in the hot oil for 7–8 minutes. Remove the pieces to a plate and set aside.

In the same pan, add another splash of oil with the onions. Stir well, being sure to catch the sticky bits at the bottom of the pan. Cook slowly for 15 minutes, till onions are soft, adding the garlic, chilli and the coriander for the last 5 minutes. Stir in the passata, molasses and pomegranate juice, season well, then bring to the boil.

Return the chicken with any juices to the pan, cover and lower heat. Simmer for 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened, checking often that it's not sticking. For a meal at home, serve at this point, with fresh coriander and pomegranate seeds on top.

For a dehydrated meal, cool, remove meat from bones and shred using fork or fingers. Dehydrate with a handful of fresh pomegranate seeds and the coriander leaves. When dry, pulse briefly in a food processor to break up big clumps. Seal into individual pouches with vacuum sealer. At camp, rehydrate with boiling water for 30-60 mins. Serve with rice, couscous or pasta.
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Re: Recipe: dehydrated chicken and pomegranate stew

Postby Hermione » Wed 07 Jan, 2015 9:42 pm

That sounds delicious. Do you have any issues rehydrating the chicken? I've never tried doing chicken because everyone I know who has said it was nearly impossible to rehydrate to an edible consistency.
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Re: Recipe: dehydrated chicken and pomegranate stew

Postby MicheleK » Fri 09 Jan, 2015 7:55 am

Of course it will never be the same as the hydrated original, but I have found the longer you hydrate and the smaller the pieces are to start with, the better the result. Putting the dried pieces briefly in the food processor and pulsing has been a good thing. Obviously you don't want a powder, but a fine chop is good. This also means you have less sharp pieces that could puncture the vacuum sealed bag.
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Re: Recipe: dehydrated chicken and pomegranate stew

Postby Hermione » Fri 09 Jan, 2015 9:52 pm

Thanks Michele, I'll give it a try, the food processor sounds like a good idea. We usually dehydrate all our walking food but we need to expand our repertoire as we tend to stick witha few tried and tested recipes.
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Re: Recipe: dehydrated chicken and pomegranate stew

Postby scockburn » Tue 03 Mar, 2015 11:46 pm

Been meaning to try this one with canned chicken . This chicken is pressure cooked so is supposed to rehydrate much better according to the backpacking chef , Glenn Mcallister. Will give a go and report back. .
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Re: Recipe: dehydrated chicken and pomegranate stew

Postby scockburn » Sat 30 May, 2015 11:50 am

Ok , canned chicken ok but I might give another try at shredded slow cooked chicken breast . I made mistake of putting pomegranate seeds in after I dehydrated then froze the meal , thinking that the seeds would keep ok. Wrong , they went sour and spoiled meal. I then tried another with out the seeds with white rice and it was sensational. I will do this one again and leave out the seeds or will dry the seeds separately to add.
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