Beef Giniling One Pot
Filipino ground beef stew over instant rice, rebuilt from freeze-dried parts.
- calories
- 640
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 128
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant rice | 1 cup | packed separately from everything else |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried ground beef | 1/2 cup | |
| Freeze-dried green peas | 1/2 cup | |
| Dried hash brown potatoes | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried diced carrots | 1 tbsp | |
| Tomato sauce powder | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Granulated garlic | 1 tsp | |
| Soy sauce | 1-2 tbsp | packets, or the powdered kind if you hate carrying liquid |
| Olive or avocado oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Boil 1 cup of water. Pour it over the rice in a bowl or a freezer bag, cover tight, and set it aside for 15 minutes.
- Put 1 1/2 cups of water in the pot with the stew bag, the soy sauce, and the oil. Let it sit cold for 5 minutes so the potatoes and onion start drinking.
- Bring it to a boil, stirring the whole time so the tomato powder does not scorch on the bottom.
- Cut the heat, cover, and wait 10 minutes.
- Spoon the stew over the rice, or push the rice into the middle of the pot and eat from there. Pepper and more soy sauce at the end.
Every ingredient here except the onion is already cooked, so the stove is only rehydrating. That is why the cold soak before the boil matters: dried hash browns and diced carrots are the slowest things in the bag, and five minutes of head start keeps them from staying gritty in the middle.
The pot method beats a freezer bag for this one. Tomato sauce powder and potato starch need a real boil to thicken into something that clings to rice, and a bag will not get you there. Cook the rice first and let it sit off-heat while the stew works; one pot, one stove, two things done.
Packing
Two bags. Rice alone in one, marked with its water amount. Everything else dry in the second, marked 1 1/2 cups. Oil and soy in packets or a dropper bottle, packed upright.
Variations
- Freeze-dried sausage crumbles in place of the beef makes it closer to the pork version.
- A pinch of salt in the rice water if you are not going heavy on the soy sauce.
- Skip the rice and eat it as a thick stew if you want to save the second boil.
https://trailcooking.com/2026/08/19/one-pot-meal-beef-giniling