Polenta as bushwalking food?

[rabbit]

I was cooking Polenta yesterday when i thought it would make a good bushwalking food.
The reason is that it does not take much Polenta to make a meal. Polenta expands to twice it size and is very filling too.
Have any others used Polenta as a bushwalking food?

Ryan

[Clownfish]

I've never tried it, but it's an interesting possibility.

I'm trying to investigate gluten-free bushwalking-friendly recipes.

The options, needless to say, are limited.

[whiskeylover]

Polenta is a great gluten free option. I have the same issue and you sure do find interesting ways to make rice different.
There are lots of gluten free options for bushwalking.
Rice porridge for breakfast with different dried fruits each day, as muesli takes up too much room for multi day walks - yes you can get gluten free muesli.
Rice crackers or rice cakes for lunch with various fillings, cheese, spreads, dips, raw zucchini, carrot, salmon rillette (yum--keeps longer than you think - ask the maker - without refrigeration - so does vac packed salmon).
I also nibble scroggin of nuts and dried fruit between meals.
Dinner usually needs to consist of something rice based, but you can get rice pastas of various types now to make it more interesting. I also love dehydrated sliced potato which when reconstituted and fried with a little butter is divine. Dried vegies, mushrooms and other additions, spices or a curry make our meals quite different each day even though the base might be the same.
My latest wonderful discovery is gluten free buttermilk pancake mix which some of my nongluten free friends have converted to because they are so good.
You can also buy gluten free flour to make other things like damper etc.

[corvus]

Love polenta as a BW meal just dont use it enough but intend to do so in future
c

[Clownfish]

Well, it's slightly more complicated than just gluten-free. We haven't nailed it for certain, but it appears that the missus has a thing called fructose malabsorption, so there's all kinds of foods that are no good; wheat, onions, most beans, peas (no Surprise Peas, then, what a pity ...), apples and pears. Onions are the real problem, because almost every dehydrated meal has onion powder in it.

Still, I'm sure if we put our heads together (no Tasmanian pun intended) we should be able to come up with some good ideas.

There's certainly some great gluten-free foods around. There's a recipe book by an Australian dietician named Sue Shepherd, it's got some really good stuff in it, including the best chocolate pudding - it's become our choccy pudding recipe of choice.

No doubt we'll see you 'round Wholesome House sometime!

[kramster]

Polenta is a great "staple" for a meal - have used it numerous times (normally along with a dehydrated chilli-con-carne or something similar).

You just need to make sure you get the "instant" version (which I think is pretty common nowadays) - otherwise you may end up stirring for 30 min or more to remove the "gritty" taste.

You normally need 4 times the volume of hot liquid to polenta
(so for 1 cup of polenta, you need 4 cups of hot water / stock / milk)
Get your liquid simmering, then whisk in the polenta, and stir till it is porridge consistency - its pretty bland, so season to taste with salt, pepper, parmesan cheese etc. Should have a smooth, thick consistency in about 5 min (but be careful not to burn the bum out of your pot - its a pain to clean off). Also don't let it boil and spit - as it is really hot!

If you cool it down once cooked, you can slice the solidified mass, and fry it up till browned.

[rabbit]

I also made a polenta dessert and that turned out very well too.

Ryan

[kramster]

In a similar sort of vein, you can use Fine Semolina as a similar kind of meal (except its made from wheat instead of corn) - think of it as "pasta porridge"
I am however yet to try cooking it on the trail.

[Speculator]

Hmm...

I like Polenta, but never would've thought to take it walking with me because of how easily it sticks when cooking. I guess that's not a concern if you have non-stick pots and pans, but I don't.

Alternatively, I guess you could take slices of firm polenta you made at home and heat them up on track. Would make a nice accompaniment, might be a little weighty and prone to squashing though.

L8r.

[Dave Bremers]

I do like the idea of polenta for adding substance to other meals, I use couscous in the same fashion. You know, turn a COS into a slightly heartier concotion.