Renee just spent a week out of town traveling for work. So, all by my lonesome, I had to find a way to fill the time. What better activity than developing a brand new recipe for the trail!? Pumpkin and squash are Renee’s favorite foods, and this is the season for pumpkin and squash, so I decided to make something pumpkin-inspired. Since fall is a great time for curry, and because we took “curry lessons” from our friend Sabi, who owns an amazing restaurant called Maharadscha, I ended up putting together an Indian-style freeze-dried curry. If I can be my own judge, this one is outstanding!
If you have a freeze-dryer, freeze-dry it. If you have a dehydrator, leave out the oil while cooking and dehydrate it. If you have neither, just make it at home and eat it fresh! I promise, you won’t be disappointed.
Recipe: Freeze Dried Pumpkin Curry with Quinoa (8-9 servings)
Required Equipment:
A Freeze Dryer. Ours (which we HIGHLY recommend) is the Harvest Right Small Home Pro.
OR: A dehydrator (in which case, leave out the oil while cooking). Ours is the Excalibur 9-tray.
OR: A kitchen. This curry tastes just as good at home as it does on the trail.
Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked quinoa
4 cups water for quinoa
2 pie pumpkins chopped into 1-inch pieces (about 3 lbs, peeled and seeded)
2 large onion, diced
4 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 + 1 cup water (for curry)
A chunk of fresh ginger, minced (about half a thumb’s length)
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1 bulb garlic, pressed (yes, the entire bulb)
3 tsp cumin
2 tsp garam masala
4 tsp coriander
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
2 star anises
~ 4 tsp salt (added throughout cooking)
A couple splashes of olive oil (leave out if dehydrating
Half a bunch cilantro
Juice of one lemon
Preparation Instructions (at home):
Add the quinoa and quinoa-water to a rice cooker and turn it on. Then forget about it — the rice cooker will stop when its done. If you don’t have a rice cooker, cook the quinoa according to package directions.
Add a splash of oil to a large, nonstick pan, and sauté pumpkin until it softens and is browned on some sides. Sprinkle with salt and turn over throughout. (Sauté in water if dehydrating.)
In parallel, add a splash of oil to a medium-large pan, then sauté onions and tomatoes over medium-low for a long time (at least 20-30 minutes) until they break down into a paste. Sprinkle with salt throughout. (Sauté in water if dehydrating.)
Add garlic, ginger, and jalapeno, along with 1/2 cup water, to the pan and continue to sauté for about five minutes. Sprinkle with salt throughout.
Add cumin, garam masala, coriander, paprika, turmeric, chili powder, star anise, and some more salt to the pan and sauté for another five minutes.
(Notice that the onion-tomato mix has been cooking for a very long time. That’s OK, just keep an eye on the heat and turn it down to avoid burning. The flavors release as the food breaks down.)
Get out a large pot, add the cooked pumpkin, the onion-tomato mix, and 1 cup of water. Add a second cup of water if it seems too thick, but one was enough for me. Sprinkle with salt. Set to medium-low heat for 30-45 minutes, until the pumpkin pieces are melting into the rest of the ingredients yet still retaining their independent shapes.
Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and cilantro. Remove the pieces of star anise if you can find them.
Spread both the curry and quinoa evenly on freeze dryer trays. I was just able to fit all of the curry and all of the quinoa onto the 4 trays that make up a full load in our small Harvest Right freeze dryer.
Run one full cycle. I didn’t pre-freeze, and one cycle took about 36 hours. It probably would have gone faster if I had pre-frozen the trays full of food in the freezer.
Package into 4 Mylar bags for two-portion servings on the trail, or 8 bags for single-portion servings!
Rehydration Instructions for the Trail (per serving):
Empty freeze-dried meal into your backpacking cookware and cover with about 2 cups of water (two cups for two servings).
Bring to a boil.
Turn off heat and let sit for 10 minutes to rehydrate.
Let cool and enjoy!
Note: We expect this recipe to cold-soak beautifully, but since it’s brand new we haven’t tried that yet. To cold soak, add water and let it sit for about an hour, shaking or stirring occasionally. (If you do this method, please let us know how it goes!)
Video Instructions (Youtube):
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