I have a satay stir-fry recipe that I would like to try dehydrating. Being a satay, the sauce consists mainly of peanut butter, coconut milk and a little more oil. Is this suitable for dehydrating or will it spoil to quickly.

Thanks,
Graham

You probably want your recipe, but if you were open to store bought you can get satay packets in most Asian grocers. This could eliminate the spoilage issue. Some packets are dry, but most are a paste in a foil pack. The often come in paper envelopes, but have the foil pack inside.

For your own recipe you could consider packing the ingredients separate then mix at cook time. Oils and some foods can spoil fast. I would be a little concerned if you wanted it to keep a while and room or warm temps even with a high salt content.

Others might disagree. I like the packets from the Asian store. Nothing like some Tom Ka soup on the trail. Spicy!

Dry Satay mix, coconut cream powder and PB if you like that for the touch.

I have a number of satay mixes out there - look for Thai or Indonesia ones for being a powder. Either way, they have a great shelf life even if a paste.

The issue with drying the prepared meal is the high fat content of coconut milk - very fatty.

I have made a pretty good satay sauce on the trail - I add in red pepper flakes, garlic and lower sodium soy sauce (I don't buy the dry mix in this version) and add that to peanut butter. Toss that with pasta and good!

I was a bit worried about organic, no-preservative PB + coconut milk... You're probably right that I'm better off with a mix. I just quite like the one I make at home ;)

Thanks.

Graham,

If you can post the recipe here or email it to me (you can link to my site through my profile and email me from the site) then I can do some testing and modify it into a trail worthy recipe for you if you like. Cooking is my specialty and I make an African Chicken and Groundnut Stew that requires PB and it works great on the trail.

Edited by Laurie_Ann on 07/28/2008 19:37:02 MDT.

It rates as a quick and easy meal... not a whole lot of protein in it.

3 T crunchy (just peanuts/organic) peanut butter
3 T sweet chili sauce
100 mL/3.5 oz thick coconut milk
100 mL/3.5 oz vegetable stock
2 T soy sauce
small package of egg noodles (I prefer thicker noodles)
2 T sesame oil
5 cm/2 in piece fresh ginger
150 g/5.5 oz broccoli florets
1 small red pepper, seeded and cut into strips
75 g/2.75 oz baby corn (canned) or frozen corn kernels
50 g/2 oz suger-snap peas/mangetout, trimmed
3 cloves garlic
small handful of basil leaves
25 g/1 oz roasted cashews, roughly chopped

Noodles:
Boil water and cook to package instructions.

Sauce:
Mix peanut butter, chili sauce, coconut milk, stock and soy sauce

Veggies:
Heat the sesame oil in a wok or large pan and stir-fry ginger, broccoli, red pepper and cook for 3 min on high. Add the baby corn, mangetout and garlic and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Pour the satay sauce into the wok, add cooked noodles and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Add basil leaves and nuts.

Graham,
The sweet chili sauce, sesame oil and soy sauce can be carried for a long time with no issues. None of that needs to be refrigrated.
Get a packet or tub of PB to carry and coconut cream powder. Use low sodium bouillon powder for the stock.

You could do it on the trail - yes, it would require a real pan and fuel but it would be fun. A GSI wok would work well :-)

Graham... I'd be apt to pre-cook some of the dish and then rehydrate and add the oils. Let me play with it for a week. I need to make the regular recipe first and then replicate it for the trail. When I am done you shouldn't have to do more than rehydrate and reheat... with the option of cooking the noodles at camp if you don't want to precook them (I prefer to cook them at camp anyway as they have better texture).