Dry chicken in the Varoma

[vivacity]

I went to my first TM cookery "course" yesterday (2 TM for 6 participants). The rep put quartered mushrooms and cut up asparagus in the Varoma and on the tray she added chicken cut up into pieces and dusted with curry and paprika. The rice cooked in the pot while the Varoma ran. Afterwards she made the sauce in the pot, mixed everything up in a bowl and called it a gloopy one pot meal.

My question:

Are chicken strips in the Varoma always so dry? Is there a trick to making it succulent (cooking one large piece of chicken and then tearing it up afterwards, etc.?). I'd appreciate any suggestions here.

[judydawn]

She probably used chicken fillets and I still maintain thighs are more succulent and don't dry out as much.

[vivacity]

Yes, you're right. She did use fillets. I'll try the next chicken recipe with thighs. Thanks

[Thermomixer]

They were probably overcooked too - fillet strips don't need many minutes at all to cook.  For me - depending on the size of strips they could be done in 2 or 3 minutes from the time the 100 degrees is reached.

Probably overcooked, try adding after the Steam has built up and check after a few minutes - they should be succulent, but not pink.

[vivacity]

Thanks, Thermomixer, for the suggestion. Well, at least the tough chicken acted as a contrast to the rice drowning in sauce  

If I hadn't already bought my TM, I don't think the meal would have convinced me to. I have the impression - and this may sound uncharitable - that the standard TM rep menu here starts with a salad, chopped into little teeth friendly bits, followed by some sort of jam and then you are served a variation on a rice dish (favourites are chicken fricasee or one pot meals with rice and chicken). As a dessert you are offered yet another sloppy pudding.

It's a shame, because the TM really can do more than prepare no-chew chow. I'm ordering the English TM cookery book because the recipes are more interesting. I'm also going to try steaming chicken thighs to see if they are juicier.

[bron]

You can roll the breasts and then wrap them in cling film too and then place in the Varoma, filled with something, haven't done this yet but seems to be alot in my recipe books