Indian Camp Food: Day 1 (Meat lovers lunch)

Cooking in little pouches made of heavy duty aluminum foil is a great way to cook outdoors!

You don't need to carry pots and pans or a grill, you can simply toss the packets on the embers in a fire pit.

The possibilities are numerous. You can be very imaginative with these. I perfer to assemble the pouches on location, but you can of course prepare them with various flavors at home, freeze them and be absolutely hands free on the camp ground. 

I am sharing two types of Indian/Pakistani inspired chicken recipes below.

Before getting started, please read the about the shopping list right here.

Menu
Chicken Dopiaza
Chicken Jalfrezi
Vegetable Pulao

Chicken Dopiaza:

I cut up a breast and a half of chicken into approx 1 1/2" pieces.
Mixed in some fresh ground garlic, roughly a tsp, and froze it the night before.
Make sure the meat is thawed completely before you start cooking this.
Lay flat a large sheet of aluminum foil and arrange the chicken meat in a single layer on top of it.
Some fresh slices of onions and green chilies.
Add 2 Tbs of yogurt (optional),  4 Tbs of onion paste and 2 Tbs of tomato chutney.
Sprinkle some oil, salt, pepper, coriander, black cumin (added it later can't see it in the video) and chili flakes on top.

Mix it all well and wrap up snugly in 2 sheets of aluminum.
Cook on a medium grill for 30 to 40 mins turn sides once you are halfway into the cooking time.

Chicken Jalfrezi:

 

Very similar procedure as the chicken dopiaza.

I cut up a breast and a half of chicken into approx 1 1/2" pieces.

Mixed in some fresh ground ginger, roughly a tsp, and froze it the night before.

Lay the chicken on a flat piece of aluminum (shiny side in).

Add about 4 Tbs of chopped tomatoes and green bell peppers.

A few strips of green chilies.

I used 4 heaped Tbs of tomato chutney and 2 Tbs of onion paste.

Sprinkle some oil, salt, pepper, coriander, and chili flakes.

Mixed it all up and wrapper it up snugly.

See video on how to wrap i t up.

Cook for 30-40 mins on a grill, turn sides once in between!

Here is a demo on how I wrapped it all up.
If you are planning to cook this in a fire pit I would probably add a third layer of aluminum sheet to be very safe.

Vegetable Pulao:

Add some water (according to package instructions) in an aluminum loaf pan.
I had marked the loaf pan beforehand so I'd know exactly how much water I would need.
Season it with salt, black cumin and mix in the rice.
Cook on a grill alongside the chicken pouches.
Even though the package said 10 mins, It took the same amount of time as the chicken (30 mins)
Mix in the drained canned vegetables once cooked.

Finale:

Read more ...

Indian Camp Food:The Preperation

This should be perfect for a weekend camping trip for two people.
I tried to keep the ingredient list as small as possible, with a little planning ahead you won't need to carry a bulky cooler. You can always use fresh vegetables if you can carry it easily. Whenever possible I got stuff that had little or no salt added to it.

Shopping List:

• Canned mixed vegetables
• Canned kidney beans
• Canned potatoes
• Canned chicken sausage
• Fresh onion, tomato, bell pepper, 2 green chilies
• PAM for grilling.
• Some cooking oil (can't see in the picture)
• 6 eggs (can't see in the picture)
• Thin Poha (flattened rice grains)
• Uncle Ben's 10 min rice.
• Assorted spices. I am a little nerdy when it comes to spices. I hate using the pre-mixed stuff. So I carried a few of my favorites in a 7 day pill box. Salt (I used kosher salt because it is coarser and won't spill easily out of the box), pepper, black cumin, fenugreek leaves, coriander powder, chili flakes, and nigella seeds.
• Frozen meat. I froze all the meat the previous night and carried it with me in an insulated bag with a few ice packs. 
• Tomato chutney*
• Onion paste** (2 medium sized red onions sliced thin, fried till dark brown and then ground up)

*You can use a jar of pre-made curry paste.
** Use already fried onions that you can get in a bag. You can find this easily in an Indian store, I am sure there is a name for that, but I can't seem to remember it at the moment.

Utensils:

• Knife
• Can opener
• Propane Grill
• Lighter
• Tongs
• Aluminum foil
• I packed a sieve to drain the liquid from the canned veggies, but realised that you don't really need it.

P.S.
I really really wanted to make these videos while I was out, but I don't think I will get a chance to go camping before the summer ends :-(
So I made them anyways in my backyard just for you guys using only the utensils and ingredients listed above. I am sure you won't have a problem making any of these outdoors!

Read more ...

Tomato Chutney

This is fairly easy to make.
Very versatile.

Large Roma tomatoes (chopped) 6
Whole dried red chilies 3-4
Salt 1 tsp
Canola oil  2-3 Tbs
White wine vinegar 1/4 cup
Heat some oil in a pan.
Add the tomatoes, the chilies and the salt all at once.
Cook for 45 min on medium high heat or until the tomatoes are mushy and well cooked.
Add the vinegar and cook for another 5-7 mins.
Blend well and store in a clean glass container.
Done.

Read more ...

Goat Chops

This marks my 100th post!

Hurray hurray!

Ingredients

Goat chops about 10 pieces

Greek yogurt 1/3 cup

Garlic 2 Tbs (minced)

Ginger 1Tbs (minced)

Serrano chilies 3-4 medium size (cut into chunks)

White wine vinegar 2-3 Tbs

Roasted cumin powder 1 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder 2 tsp

Cardamom powder 1/4 tsp

Fennel seed powder 1/8 tsp

Cayenne pepper 2/3 tsp (adjust according to your preference)

Pepper 1/2 tsp

Garam masala 1/2 tsp

Salt

Method

Combine all the ingredients together minus the salt and rub it over the goat chops.

We don't add salt to the marinade because it will draw out all the moisture from the meat.

Let this sit in the fridge over night or at least 4 hours.

Season with salt just before cooking.

Cook in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes at the level II setting (medium).

Remove the chops from any liquid that is left over from the yogurt.

Add some canola oil in a frying pan and fry the chops for about 1-2 mins per side on medium high heat.

We do this to add a nice brown color to the chops.
Great with plain yogurt and naan.

Enjoy :-)

Read more ...

Class today

What a fantastic group of people!
Thanks so much Diane for all your help, you did a fantastic job!
As always had a blast.
Sharing some of the pics.
Cutest couple of the year Max and Oriana :-)

Read more ...