Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken Camping Style

First a disclaimer:  You can make this in a casserole at home if you want.  It turns out just as yummy!

If you would like to refer back to the original recipe where I got this idea, you can click HERE.

Now for the real thing!


SWEET & SOUR CHICKEN  ala FOILIE

Rice--Steam enough to give each person about 1/2 c. each serving.  Minute rice is great if you are out in the wilds!  If you want to be safe from burning, line the bottom with cabbage leaves before the rice layer. 

Chicken--I have used raw, canned and left over  (can you tell that I love this stuff?).  They all work.    Plan on 3 - 4 oz. per person.

Veggies -- Anything goes!  Here are some examples of what I have used.
  • Carrots, slivered
  • Celery, chopped
  • Zucchini or Yellow Squash, diced or sliced
  • Onions, diced
  • Mushrooms, sliced
  • Broccoli, chopped
  • Cauliflower, chopped
  • Green bean, chopped
  • Cabbage, sliced
  • Sweet peppers
  • Just about anything botanical ?  Make it gorgeous dahling, if it's pleasing to the eye, it tastes better!
  • Pineapple-- chunks or tidbits are fine, actually I cut the chunks down to tidbit size.  Save the juice!!
It's easiest to have all these all chopped and ready to go.  I set them all out in containers and let each person "build" their own foilie.  Even the little munchkins can have quite an opinion.

Scatter the chicken around through the veggies to distribute the flavor.  Now add the pineapple and scatter it about . . . ready for the sauce??  Yum!

I make the sauce out of:

  • 1 c. --Pineapple juice, add water to make it come to about 1/2 c. per foilie
  • 1 T. --Apple cider vinegar,  white or rice vinegar is also OK.
  • 1 T. --Sugar
  •  Tiny pinch --Ginger per cup of sauce,  powdered if you are camping
  • Good squirt --Catsup, not really authentic, but it's good mind you, good (from the great book, Guerrilla Wife, ever read it?).
  • Soy sauce, a good dash per cup of sauce or according to taste.
  • Corn starch, 1 t. per cup of sauce
  • Salt, if you want more salty without so much soy sauce.
Now for the "procedure".  Grab a cup to the side.  Carefully some of the juice into the cup.  Notice I didn't say how much?  This is not an exact recipe here.  It all depends on what you like and how much there is left to be distributed amongst all the diners.  Making it all in one batch might be the easiest.  So grab a bowl . . . . 

Put in the juice, vinegar, sugar (sugar and vinegar should be equal amounts) , ginger, catsup, and soy sauce into a bowl.  Mix them up good stir.  Add the corn starch and stir again.  Scoop half a cup in each foilie. 




That night, I warmed the sauce up in the microwave, stirring it every minute so to thicken it.  I have made it out in the wilds and just put it over the food so that it would  thicken as it cooked.  Worked fine.  
I tried to get pictures that would show how I brought the sides of the foil up to contain the sauce until I wrapped the dinner.  This is actually a large one for my hubby and me.   I covered the top with a second piece of foil and then folded all the sides like I usually do the top and sides.



Cook it on coals as you usually would.  Being so large, I cooked it for 35 - 45 minutes on moderately hot coals.  Who could resist this?


Believe It or Not!

Believe it or not, I have been busy trying new ideas with my food storage and cooking outside.   I have also been making bread and treats.  I have even been taking pictures!  Left is a giant foilie of the sweet and sour chicken.


I have also fallen in love with making this Artisan Bread.  I am trying to figure how to make several smaller ones for bread bowls.  Each baking dish needs a lid.

It has been a busy time with getting ready for another school year of baby sitting and just cleaning out thirty two years of accumulating marriage  junk  . . .  Let me make it clear, I am getting rid of the junk, not the husband!

I am finding it hard to organize everything so that I can get to it to rotate through using my food stuffs on a regular basis.

I hope to start posting all of these tonight . . . after the grand sons come over to paint and make some wooden toys.