To cook or not to cook? That is the question I have asked my friend!. The majority think that it’s not necessary as being in Europe I will never be far from a restaurant or coffee shop of sorts. Although I agree in the main, I think it would be foolish not to at least carry a small cooking stove. After some research I purchased a Trangia Stove. They are cheap, light weight and run on white spirits which can be got anywhere.
So what can you cook on them! A quick look on the internet brought up this great website http://www.trangiastove.co.uk/index.php It’s all about Trangia Stove’s and has some recipes on there. So below is what they suggest. I will of cause add some of my own recipes but for know this will get me started. Many thanks to trangiastove.co.uk
Breakfast
Porridge
1) add porridge oats to pan with some water
2) add milk powder and additional extras, eg raisins
3) serve with topping of choice my favourite is honey to give a quick sugar boost with the slow energy release of the oats
Great start to the day.
Egg in a Bag
1) Put 1-2 eggs in bag and add desired amount of milk.
2) Add the additional ingredients such as mushrooms. Seal bag tightly.
3) Place bag in boiling water and cook for 3-5 minutes until desired doneness.
4) To eat as a breakfast sandwich, put egg combination in pita bread.
5) No egg encrusted saucepan to wash!!
Lunch
The trick of cooking on a camping stove is to choose meals that don’t require hours of cooking as this will consume your camping stove fuel quickly. Pasta camping meals or fried dishes are always a good idea to get the most from you camping stove and still have a tasty hot meal.
The other thing to bear in mind is the limited amount of utensils and pans to use, so for the mini trangia it restricts you to a one pot meal, or with the trangia 25 and 27 series to a two pot meal.
Chorizo sausage tortilla
1) cut chorizo into chunks, fry off in a little olive oil on the trangia frying pan,
2) cut some mushrooms and peppers and optional extras
3) slice some haloumi cheese and add this into the mixture
4) cook for a few mins
5) splash of balsamic vinegar
6) spoon / pour into a tortilla.
tasty, quick and easy.
Chicken Curry
1) Bring some rice to the boil, then set it to one side.
2) Fry some diced chicken in a little water/oil.
3) Throw in some onions/peppers again if you want.
4) Once it’s cooked, chuck on some pataks curry paste to taste
5) Add some campbells condensed soup and mix it all up
6 heat some more on the trangia and serve with the rice.
Veggie Chilli
1) oil, chopped onions. Fry in trangia frying pan.
2) add tin of kidney beans, chopped peppers, water. Boil.
3) have bag of salad (or wild greens), grated cheese, tortillas and pickled chillis on standby.
4) add chilli powder to taste.
5) spoon into tortillas, top with cheese, salad, pickled chillis, sour cream. Serve.
Chorizo Risotto
1) Briefly fry the sausage and some chopped onions in a trangia pan.
2) add the rice (to soak up the juices) then water.
3) Add peas, carrots, peppers etc.
4) Chuck in some stock cubes and let it simmer away, use the trangia simmer ring to control the heat.
5) Watch out for it sticking though otherwise have fun cleaning the trangia pots.
Corned Beef Hash
1) dice and gently soften the onion, season at this point.
2) dice and Soften the carrot.
3) add beef stock and potatoes.
4) Simmer for around 20ish minutes until spuds are cooked.
5) Add the cubed corned beef for the last 5 minutes.
Vegetable Stir Fry
1) Warm two tables spoons of oil in trangia pan,
2) Add mushrooms, onions, corn, garlic and pepper,
3) On a moderate heat keep moving contents for 5 minutes,
4) Add sauce of choice or a few shakes of soy sauce with rice or noodles,
5) Continue cooking and stirring for a couple more minutes.
One Pan Pasta
1) Boil 250g of any pasta shapes for 10 minutes until soft,
2) Drain and then return to the pan,
3) Stir in a couple of packets of stir-in-sauce or similar,
4) Chuck in a dozen or so olives, halved if you can be bothered,
5) Crumble some feta cheese on top.
Snacks
To keep your energy reserves up when hiking, it’s worth having some snacks. One idea is to carry some compact popcorn kernels, if you have some spare fuel in the trangia burner, cook up some popcorn as a nice hiking snack
Popcorn
1) add popcorn kernels to oil on the trangia frying pan,
2) listen until the kernels stop popping
3) add sugar
4) eat
Very tasty, quick and easy.
Cheesey Beans
1) Add a tin of baked beans to your trangia, and stir.
2) When hot add some grated cheddar and stir to melt.
3) Put in a pitta bread
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