Outdoor Cooking With Almazan Kitchen

YouTube: Almazan Kitchen

I love cooking and have subscribed to many Youtube Channels including infamous Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver. 

I found this Siberian YouTube channel few months back and was very fascinated, they started back in 2015 with home grown, picked and made ingredients. 

So all those infamous Chef can take a seat back. Today I will recommend this Channel to you guys, give us your thoughts. 

Click on the YouTube link above if you are interested. Anyhow here is a preview one of their video. Enjoy!!

Cobb Smoked Roasted Asian Mixed Chicken

This is another chicken recipe created by instinct. There is no estimate in the ingredients but by feelings. I had followed my grandmother style cooking...everything by estimation. It's funny to think as a Piscesean who is creative and artistic and yet failed in Arts however when come to cooking, managed to come out with something delicious. Maybe this is my hidden talent. 

Cobb Smoked Roasted Curry Chicken

This is the first time I have tested this recipe and everyone loves it. It is a very simple recipe however it was left in the fridge for two day to marinate the chicken. The ingredient quantity is up to you, below is a lists of ingredient used.

INGREDIENT 

• Babas Curry Powder
• Tamarind Juice
• Turmeric Powder
• Salt 2 Tbps
• Grated Garlic
• Grated Ginger
• Cumins Seeds
• Water

Cooking Rice Outdoor

Cooking rice might be a nightmare for many outdoor campers. Most of the time they would get the rice burn, this is because most of us failed to understand cooking timing of the rice. The method is rather simple but it is best you do you own trial at home first. 

Rice is best cook before any meals, the reason is that it takes time to cook. Normal cooking time for rice is around 30~45mins depending on grain type. I always use Thai grain as I grew up with it. I do not like starchy rice but rice with a bite and feel and that is why I choose only Thai grains.

Below is my method of cooking rice, you definitely have to do some trials before heading out the trails. Note my method below is for Thai long grains so it varies on different types of grain especially the shorter grains. The correct way would be soaking the grains with water for half hour  to get the fluffiness of the rice but for outdoor we do not have the time. 

Hiking Meals Planning

One of the biggest headaches going on a few days hike is preparing meal lists. Have to pack light and carry food that is non-perishable. You can still carry perishable food but best consume on the first day. In high mountain where it is colder, then you can keep this perishable food for 2 or 3 days. Perishable food still takes up space and weight, not an ideal choice. 

If you are going with the local mountaineering club, then you are in luck. Normally these clubs will prepare a minimum 6 course meals. The last time in Syue Shan we saw a 9 course meal plus soup. Always the food was not finished and wasted. Anyway, this is not the subject. 

If you have free time create a spreadsheet and put in the list of meals you like to have. The next time if you go on a hike again, use the same spreadsheet to assist in the planning your meals. You do not have to crack your head one more time. This method is applicable to camping trips or planning a BBQ lists.

Here are some examples of my packing for 2

Crepe

Simple healthy breakfast or snack food for 2. It is so simple that you can do on any backpacking trips to substitute bread. Crepe is a French word and originated from France, it is a thin pancake that you can add any filling or spreading to go with it.

Canned Sardines from Philippines

One of our easy to do camping / backpacking staple diet. You can find it either in Indonesian or Pinoy's mini Supermarket around your area. Look out for the brand LIGO, cost only NT25. We used to buy the "Ayam" brand that is from Malaysia however since we have tried the Pinoy's brand, it tasted just as good. The canned is small, weighs 155g and is very ideal for backpacking trips. You can eat it straight out of the can as bread spread or if you prefer a better flavouring, below is a add-on list which I normally do, well my mother's recipe. 

PS Taiwan do have canned tomato sauce sardines, you have to try this and you will know the difference.  

Chicken Fried Rice Without Using Oil

This is a simple fried rice anyone can do it. At campsite, you can use a Dutch Oven to prepare this dish. It will take about 20mins to prepare and there is no need to use any oil. Instead this fried rice we use the fats from the chicken thigh skin. If you notice most stalls who sells fried rice, they are very oily however when this dish was made the amount of chicken fats produce was just perfect for this dish. 

Instant Vegetables

Previously we had a dehydrator but sold it away because we found it was not cost saving. The electricity used to dehydrate those food had eaten into our utility bills. You can read HERE on our Dehydrated Food. 

We found off the shelf dehydrated vegetables, they are cheaper compare we do it ourselves. This will allow us to carry light weight vegetables if we are hiking and they cook pretty  fast. Below are two packs of dehydrated vegetables, high mountain cabbage and seaweed. I can't remember how much the seaweed cost but the high mountain cabbage cost below NT100. 

Instant Tom Yam Noodle

I have tasted couple on Thai Restaurant Tom Yam Soup and nothing beats what I am going to introduce you. I dare say this because my family members all agreed. It was first introduced to me by my mother 20 years ago. Today I managed to find it in Carefour, Taiwan  and I will show you how to cook it better. You can cook it simply or a bit elaborate. It makes a great, fast to cook camp meal especially on hot or cold days.

Camping Food

Someone was asking me, "What kind of food do I bring for camping trips?" Basically you can bring any kind of food for camping but that is all depending on type of camping.  If you are car camping, it will be easier to bring the food that you like to have. However I want to provide some tips on how you can bring both perishable food and non-perishable food.

Tips Before Camp Cooking

curry fish

Depending on your camping trip, everyone loves to have a hot food but how do we take fresh food to camping and it doesn't spoil. Here are some of my tips .

Instant Beef Stew Noodles

VeWong Beef Stew and Carrefour Noodles has been my favourite, easy to cook hiking camping meal and it can be ready in less than 5 mins. It is not the best tasting meal compare to outside restaurant but it does punch a decent taste and sufficient calories for me. Both these 2 food you can get it in Carrefour Taiwan. I got my over at Kaohsiung City.

Dehydrated Food

After the recent Typhoon disaster in Taiwan and when I was there helping the locals, something struck me about sending supplies to them. Most of the supplies to the victim were mostly dried food such as rice or instant noodles but there were no wet food, like vegetables or meat. Well I do understand that the wet food will not last long as they will be spoilt by the time it reaches the victim.

Couple of years ago, I came across dehydrated food and I never really thought it was necessary until now. I asked myself in time of disaster, wouldn't it will be easier to transport dehydrated food as it is light and the food can last for months. I decided to purchase a Dehydrator to try it out.

Dehydrated food is basically food that had been remove from their moisture. The intention is to preserved them longer so they can be used the next time by soaking them in hot water. Backpackers prefer to use dehydrated food because it is light, small in volume and the food can last for days or even weeks.