Effects of ingredients ratio on physicochemical properties of convective-microwave nutritious dried rice meal

Abstract

During emergency situation, such as natural disasters or war, diseases outbreak can occur due to lack of nutrition. Due to this issue, a wholesome dried rice meal (DRM) was conceptualised as emergency, quick, nutritious, functional and comforting food for natural disaster and war victims, particularly during the critical period of post-disaster or war period. The DRM was designed so that it can be consumed as dried cracker or semi-solid porridge. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of rice (100 g and 200 g), minced chicken meat (30 g and 40 g) and mixed vegetables (25 g and 35 g) ratio on the energy content, Vitamin C, and expansion ratio of convective-microwave DRM. The convective-microwave drying method was chosen for DRM preparation to obtain the final product with specific puffing condition which enhances rehydration process and also to shorten the total production time of DRM. The experiments were conducted using factorial design. The experimental results showed that the highest DRM energy content of 1.60 kCal could be achieved by cooking 200 g rice with 40 g minced chicken meat and 25 g mixed vegetables. The DRM with highest Vitamin C content of 0.018 g was achieved using 100 g, 30 g minced chicken meat and 25 g mixed vegetables. The DRM with the highest expansion ratio of 1.13 was achieved using 100 g rice, 30 g minced chicken meat and 25 g mixed vegetables. Empirical models for predicting energy contents, Vitamin C and expansion ratio of the DRM were also obtained.