Monday, February 20, 2012

Chef Tess Thai Chicken in Spicy Peanut Sauce over Rice (52 Method Continues)


If you are just joining me for my series on homemade convenience meals you will want to read the Introduction to the 52 Method It's a very fun way of preparing meals ahead of time for emergencies or everyday use.  It's a basic menu planning method for food storage based on meals that your family will eat, having all the ingredients in one-quart size jar. ONE jar...easy to find. Easy to plan.  I think it's an idea that's been a long time coming and this is yet another recipe.  You will be using a method called "dry vacuum pack canning". No liquid or pressure canning is necessary. If you opt to use the freeze dried meat in the recipes, please note:  NOTE: The repacking of Freeze Dried Meat must be done within 24-48 hours of opening the can and must be done in a dry environment. Once repacked you must use an oxygen absorber to make sure there is a vacuum oxygen free environment. Mylar bags can also be used instead of jars, but it is not recommended to use Ziploc bags as the sole source of storage if you are including meat. 

This week's recipe is one that I converted from one of my favorite freezer meal recipes Chicken in Peanut Sauce . It's been a long-time favorite at our house. So, if you want to make the recipe without dehydrated and freeze-dried ingredients, go here. If you want to make that recipe using fresh ingredients and try it out...I promise it will be a hit.   My biggest challenge with this one was waiting for peanut butter and soy sauce in powdered forms. When that finally happened...I started to get excited about adding this to our food storage! 

 The question I get asked most often is," Will there really be enough food for the whole family in that jar?" The meals are usually good for our family of 6. We have 2 regular adults (me and my husband), 2 oldster adults (Ace's lighter eating parents), 1 pre-teen boy (who eats like a teenage boy) and 1 9 yr old boy. This jar makes about 9 cups of food. I usually plan on a side salad and bread to go with the meal. In an emergency, we'd be happy with just the meal.  If you have a larger family you may need to plan on two of these meals or doubling the recipe using a half gallon jar instead of a quart. Usually, there are about 9 cups of prepared food from one-quart size jar (give or take) depending on the recipe. The soup recipes make 10 cups of hearty filling soup (12 cups if you add more water). The skillet meals make about 5 cups. They're smaller.  Try them for your family and plan accordingly. These recipes are ones that work for us and ones that I hope will help you in your efforts to be a little more prepared for daily life or emergencies. They are only suggestions.  I'm working on the nutritional and calorie count breakdowns, but in all honesty, that will be a while. 

This is the jar for today's meal.  Case in point. It made 5 cups of cooked rice and 4 cups of rice topping. 
5 cups of rice.  4 cups of Thai Chicken in Spicy Peanut Sauce.  Yes. That is a full size dinner plate there in the picture with one serving removed from the bowls and the rest ready for the rest of the family.  Granny and Mr. Putt Putt don't eat as much as my pre-teen boys so this is about right for our family. 

Chef Tess Thai Chicken in Spicy Peanut Sauce with Rice
1 1/2 cup Freeze Dried Chicken (3 oz) or chicken TVP
1/2 cup Soy Sauce Powder (1.5 oz)
2T  Lemonade Powder
1T dehydrated garlic slices (store purchased or make your own)
1/3 cup powdered peanut butter
1 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less depending on how hot you like your meals)
1/3 cup Dehydrated Onion
2/3 Dehydrated Carrot
1T dry cilantro
1T Ultra Gel or cornstarch
1 1/2 cup Long grain rice

You will also need: 
One oxygen absorber per jar. 
One sandwich bag for rice if you use the bag and cook the rice separate from the sauce. 




Oh...I used dehydrated sliced garlic here. This recipe has a really awesome garlic punch. If you don't like garlic so much...use a tsp of garlic powder. 


 Soy Sauce Powder came into my life via the fine folks at firehousepantrystore.com. I ordered the powder on Monday and had it by Thursday. They did a great job of getting it to me fast!  Oh the powder was tasty!  When hydrated, it tasted just like soy sauce. I can see a lot of soy sauce applications now coming to light. Yeah! Yes...I've be adapting the Ham Fried Rice Using 100% Food Storage into a jar meal. That's going to be posted next. As for the powdered soy sauce...it came to me in a bag. I did have to transfer it to jars for easier use, but I didn't mind getting it in bulk. 

Plus...they sent some discounts over. I'm loving this!  


To make this meal in a jar put the Freeze Dried Chicken (3 oz) Soy Sauce Powder,  Lemonade Powder, dehydrated garlic slices, powdered peanut butter, red pepper flakes,  Dehydrated Onion,  Dehydrated Carrot, dry cilantro, and 1T Ultra Gel or cornstarch in the jar.  If you put the dry ingredients on top of the meat and vegetables, you will need to shake the jar so that the powder fills the spaces. This will give you enough space for the full amount of rice.  

See the picture? The powder must be done right or the jar won't fit all the food correctly. 

If you want to cook the rice separately and have the chicken and peanut sauce be a topping, then you will need to put the 1 1/2 cups of rice in a baggie. Do this by fitting the empty open bag over the rim of the jar on top of the "topping" ingredients and filling with the rice. Twist or seal the top of the bag. Top with an oxygen absorber and seal the jar.  

To prepare: 

In 2 quart pot with lid, combine the rice bag contents with 3 cups hot water. Cover tightly and simmer very low heat 20 minutes.   While the rice is cooking, combine the topping contents with 3 cups water and simmer low heat 15-20 minutes until vegetables and meat are hydrated and sauce thickens slightly. 

You can skip the bag step altogether and just put the rice in the jar. In this version, you would cook the rice and top together and just eat them together like a casserole or skillet meal. 
To prepare: Combine jar contents with 6 cups water. Simmer over low heat 20 minutes covered, stir only once or twice during cooking. After twenty minutes, leave the lid on and let it sit 5 minutes more. 
This is how it looks when done that way.



This can also be done as a Thai Chicken and Noodle in Peanut Sauce meal. It will have fewer servings, as it only will make 6 cups of prepared food with the noodles vs. the rice. However, I really like the noodle jars too.  For this, use 1 1/2 cups (4 oz)  broken linguine noodles instead of rice in the jar.

To prepare, combine jar contents with 7 cups water and simmer 15 minutes. 
There you go. Have fun with this one. It's a keeper around here! 

Please feel free to share the recipes with friends. 


Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

14 comments:

Mary Bergfeld said...

What a great idea. This really sounds delicious. This is my first visit to your blog, so I took some time to browse through your earlier entries.I'm so glad I did that. I really like the food and recipes you share with your readers and I'll definitely be back. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

Brenda Dlr said...

Thanks, Stephanie! I'm making the original version (freezer meal) tonight, so hoping it turns out and will be able to do the 52 meals conversion recipes, too! Yay!

Not sure if it is just me, but the "printer friendly version" doesn't seem to be opening up correctly.

Thanks for adding new recipes to the 52 jar method meals! Love it!

Chef Tess said...

Thanks Brenda! Let me know how it goes. It's really one of my favorites. Here's the long link to the printer friendly version. It worked for me, but let me know if it's giving you trouble. http://images.stephaniecafe.multiply.multiplycontent.com/attachment/0/T0J3qgooCysAACL0d2c1/ThaiPeanutSauce.52%20method.%20Mealinajar...pdf?key=chefstephanie:journal:572&nmid=523216452

Holly said...

Looking forward to trying this. Thanks for all your research! It's exciting to be adding this variety to my pantry!!

Brenda Dlr said...

The recipe turned out very well. I worried that there was too much garlic, but it was fine! We will probably back off the vinegar just a smidgen next time. We also added a bit more peanut butter to the rest of the batch before packaging it up for freezing. My husband wanted a bit more peanut flavor. We both enjoyed it a lot! Thanks for posting the recipe.

I went to see about ordering the powdered soy sauce, but thought that the shipping costs were pretty high. Wow! Not sure I'm willing to pay nearly as much for shipping as for the product. Sure wish it was available locally. :(

Chef Tess said...

Brenda, I'm glad you like the recipe. I can see that cost with the soy powder being a problem for shipping. It's frustrating to ship for both parties involved. I hate to pay shipping, but as someone who has also had to ship, it costs time and effort to ship. Darn it. I do wish I could find it local too, but in the meantime, I'll do what I can.

Brenda Dlr said...

That's true. I know it was just a bit shocking to see the shipping amount pop up. Guess we're spoiled by sites with free shipping and such. We may have to bite the bullet, I guess. Thanks for sourcing it for us, and I really don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer! We liked the dish enough to wish to add it to our storage jar meals! Kudos to you!

Chef Tess said...

I love you! No worries. It is shocking to see shipping. I agree. Budget is a big part of food storage. Hopefully I can find a better deal...and if you see one feel free to share. We're all in this together.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering, if I were to just pack a bottle of Soy Sauce with it; how much of it would I use?
Thank You! Diann

Chef Tess said...

In the original recipe I use 1 cup of soy sauce, but it is for 4 meals. I'd use 1/3 cup for this recipe if you use the bottle. Just keep in mind that it will need to be rotated more often than the powder if you're keeping it in your long-term storage.

Tracey said...

Is it ok to substitute brown rice for the white rice?

Chef Tess said...

Trace, brown rice will work, you'll need to increase the rice cooking time to 45 minutes and the water will be more (usually 3:1) for most brown rice. Long-term brown rice isn't as good. You'll have to rotate, as it only has about a 2 year shelf life.

Kristen said...

I love your site! And I am super excited to start doing this. Just one question. Is there a place to find freeze dried organic meats? Thanks :)

Twisted Chicken said...

I put this in jars for my food storage back in 2015 and prepared it for the first time last night (2017). This is a fantastic dish!! Probably my favorite of all the Meals In A Jar recipes I've tried. I'm having leftovers for lunch today and I'm so excited for it. Thanks for creating and sharing recipes!