Can curry be dehydrated?

[lub0]

Hi all. I would love to be able to dehydrate my homemade Korma for bringing out on long hikes, but I have my doubts about weather this curry can be dehydrated considering all the fat I put in it; creamed coconut, tinned coconut and yoghurt!

Anyone more experienced with dehydrating here that could let me know the possible results? Would a partially-dried sludge be the result? Would keep okay for a few weeks?

[Lupin Rider]

_?Yep its called tikka...

[Lupin Rider]

Seriously though a few weeks is a bold move for something that is still wet. Tumeric does have antiseptic properties though but id not trust that at all.

Better i think to take out your mixed spices and cook it when out. I use the same recipe that british red posted about on here from kris dillons the curry secret book. Its fab to make something so tasty on a fire.

[Lupin Rider]

You could make it and vaccuum seal a bag full that you then boiled up in a water bath to sterilise it. Once opened it wouldnt keep afterwards though.

[NetFrog]

Better i think to take out your mixed spices and cook it when out. .

I either take ground dry spices or pre make a large batch of spice mix and pound with ginger n garlic n ghee to make a nice paste to take out with me. Then a selection of pasata/onions/coconut or whatever I fancy to make up the sauce with the paste.

As for dehydrating, not my speciality i'm afraid!

[Shewie]

Dehydrate it and then chuck it in the freezer, vac sealing will help but a freezer bag will do.

As a rule I avoid dairy but if you're planning to eat it within a couple of weeks I'd definitely try it

[British Red]

Curry sauce can.

Meat can.

Together....dodgy but possible.

I'd dehydrate diced "meat of choice" (chicken or beef - never pork).

Then I would make a "sauce leather" from a sauce without meat.

Combine with water on site.

Home canning of a full curry is a doddle - but much heavier.

Red

[Hammock Hamster]

I recently bought a book, backpacking gourmet iirc, which has a number of recipes for dehydrating whole meals.
Nothing curry wise that I remember but then again I have only skim read it so far.

I can recall several recipes for pasta dishes included those with mince and other meats.
The theory seems to be as long as you dehydrate fully, I'd guess a good 12-15 hours, you end up with a completely dry meal that can be put in a zip lock or vacuum d
Sealed bag and stored for long periods.
When you get to you campsite just add hot water and allow to properly rehydrate.

I know you can get commercially made dried curries for camping etc... But suspect these may be freeze dried and will definitely have preservatives etc... Though I would give it a go making one to test.

If your having meat, I.e chicken, in it it may be an idea to remove it once cooked and dehydrate separately to the sauce and veg/rice etc... Just to make sure it's fully dried plus it should speed up the whole process.

Hamster

[Hammock Hamster]

Oops sorry just seen reds post below, must have been typing mine when he posted but again i think separating the components would be the safest option.

[Shewie]

I wouldn't get to fussy about separating the ingredients if you can keep them small, I usually make my meals with minced meat rather than bite size chunks. The only exception was a left over turkey curry from Christmas a couple of years ago. The meat was regular chunk but I kind of pulled it apart with a couple of forks so it became stringy, one of my best meals yet I'd say.

When we cooked and prepped for the TGO last month we cooked all the dishes up as a whole and then put them in the dehydrator until they were done. One dish we christened Stodge took the longest, big slices of mushroom, lots of curly kale and probably too much salt meant it took almost 24 hours before it was fully dried. If you make a chilli I found kidney beans rehydrate better if you break them down or slice them in half, even 20 minutes in the cosy and they were still like bullets.

[British Red]

Matter of choice Shewie. I find things like "hamburger rocks" much more flexible. I can use them in a cottage pie, pasta sauce or chilli - and bulk prepare them.

It also avoids fats in the sauce.

But thats just how I do it!

[Shewie]

I've rinsed off my browned meat in a colander with the kettle before adding any other ingredients, with the rocks you mention do you dehydrate them with the fats?

[British Red]

nah - basically slow roast (in an oven) - blotting off the fat as you go. Ends up like gravel. Lasts for a couple of years in an airtight jar.

[rik_uk3]

I've rinsed off my browned meat in a colander with the kettle before adding any other ingredients, with the rocks you mention do you dehydrate them with the fats?

Safer option for long term storage, you want as much fat gone as possible. Most Americans certainly that I know and speak to cook and rinse before drying meat rocks or meat string.

Dehydrating curry leathers is no problem, stinks the house out and your dryer but can be done. Personally I'd rather take ingredients and make the meal on site, dried meat, veg etc, a curry/spice mix of choice or some Patak's paste you double ziplock (or better still vac pack a portion).

[xylaria]

not the answer you are looking for but Home bargins do a nice line in boil the bag curries for 49p that taste super, but they are all the veggie ones like chana dal.

[lub0]

Thanks for all the input guys. The teflon sheets for my excalibur dehydrator arrived today so will be attempting to dehydrate my Korma and will be sure to separate sauce from meat as someone advised here.

[lub0]

Here we go. Homemade korma consisting of cocconut cream and milk and ground almonds, and a beef bolonase and boiled rice.
Can't wait to see how they turn out tomorrow morning.

[lub0]

its been 9 hours now and the rice was fully dried ages ago and the beef bolonase is coming along great with the korma in 3rd place being a semi-dry paste.
I think everything would of been dried by now if I had left the front panel on over-night, but I wanted to experiment with it off to see if drying would be faster as I figured an open door would dissipate any moist air quicker than a closed door but since google has revealed absolutely nothing about the benefits of using the excalibur dehydrator door I guess it's supposed to always be fitted on!

[British Red]

Yep, if you don't leave the door on, it doesn't get up to temperature

[Colin.W]

I remember years ago buying "vesta" packet meals the portion sizes were a little meagre and you had to read the packet to know what it was you were supposed to be eating but they did ok and were easy to stuff in the rucksack I'm not sure how they dried it all out

[lub0]

Ok after approx 18-20 hours of being in the dehydrator at 53 celcius everything is finally completely dry.
The rice was done within about 8 hours, the beef bolonase was done in about 12 hours but the Korma took a huge amount of time I think becuase it was so densely spread out. The Korma is now a dry crumbly/flaky texture and I reckon it will keep well.

Now I'm going to bag half the food up and see how long they store well for at room temperature, the other half I'm going to warm up to see how well they reconstitute.

[lub0]

Ok it's been a week since I dehydrated the curry and beef bolonaise. It's kept perfectly dry in the plastic bag and have every confidence this stuff would keep for many years if not longer.

I used my Alpkit MyItMug and practiced how much water this stuff needs to rehydrate, suprisingly both meals only needed a very small amount, which is great for water conservation.

The Korma sauce with rice re-hydrated/reconstituted perfectly with both texture, taste and consistency indistinguishable from when I freshly made it last week - absolutely incredible!
The beef bolonaise also needed very little water, but while the tomato sauce and veggies hydrated just fine, some of the larger clumps of beef were still slightly dry, so I think it's best to really crushed the dehydrated meals in to a crumb-like consistency rather than leave any large clumps.

Both meals required only to be heated up, which took less than 6 minutes. Some thorough stiring is also required to ensure the dry mix is fully hydrated.

While I was initially disappointed with the size of the Alpkit MyTiMug when it first arrived, after using the thing I have to say it is actually quite the opposite being twice as big as necessary, for example look at that bowl of beef bolonaise... that only took up less than one third of space in the mug - amazing!

The performance of the mug is also flawless with quick heat conductivity yet also quick to cool down when off the flame, and absolutely no warping or heat spots whatsoever. I love this mug!

Oh yeah and if you guys havn't got an excalibur dehydrator with praflexx sheets, you are missing out on some quality cuisine on your trips out!

[lannyman8]

good effort there, might have to invest in a drying thingey.....