Butter Squirrel over Rice
Small game slow-cooked in a spiced tomato sauce, thinned with cream powder instead of a carton.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 65
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 180 min
- total time
- 195 min
- water
- 700 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
- Campfire coals
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Day one only
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Squirrels, skinned and quartered | 2 to 3 | older animals are fine, the long cook handles them |
|---|---|---|
| Tomato sauce | 1 can (15 oz) | |
| Garlic | 4 cloves, chopped | or 1 tsp granulated |
| Fresh ginger | 1 tbsp, grated | 1 tsp ground works |
| Garam masala | 1 tbsp | |
| Ground cumin | 2 tsp | |
| Curry powder | 2 tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1 tsp | |
| Ground turmeric | 1 tsp | |
| Chili powder | 1 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Sugar or honey | 1 tbsp | |
| Butter | 4 tbsp, cubed | salted; ghee keeps better in a hot truck |
| Powdered heavy cream or full-fat milk powder | 1/3 cup | replaces the carton of cream |
| White rice | 1 1/2 cups dry | parboiled cooks faster at altitude |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. You want steady low heat for a couple of hours, not flame.
- In the dutch oven, combine the tomato sauce, garlic, ginger, all the spices, salt, and sugar. Lay the squirrel quarters in and turn them until coated.
- Lid on, set the oven on a bed of coals with a few coals on top. Hold a bare simmer.
- Cook 2.5 to 3 hours, turning the meat once an hour and adding a splash of water if the sauce tightens against the sides. The meat is done when it pulls off the bone with a spoon.
- Pull the pot off the coals. Stir in the butter until it melts.
- Whisk the cream powder with 1/2 cup hot water in a mug until smooth, then stir it into the pot. Do not boil it after this or it will break.
- Cook the rice separately in a second pot: 1 1/2 cups rice, 3 cups boiling water, lid on, off heat 15 minutes.
- Spoon the meat and sauce over rice. Scatter the parsley.
Butter chicken is really a spice-and-tomato braise with fat stirred in at the end, which makes it a good frame for small game. Squirrel is lean and tough, and three hours in an acidic sauce over low coals is what turns it into something that leaves the bone.
The cream is the part that had to change. A carton of heavy cream is a bad passenger, so this uses powdered cream reconstituted in a mug and stirred in off the heat. Adding it late and cold-side matters: dairy that boils in an acidic tomato base curdles, and you get grit instead of sauce. Butter goes in at the same stage for the same reason, and because emulsified fat is what gives the dish its weight.
Packing
Measure every spice, the salt, and the sugar into one small jar at home so camp is one pour. Cream powder and rice ride in separate bags. Butter and game meat need a cooler, and the meat should be cooked the first night out.
Variations
- Rabbit, dove breast, or bone-in chicken thighs all work with the same timing.
- No dutch oven: a covered pot on a low burner over three hours does the same job.
- Boneless meat cuts the cook to about 90 minutes but gives up body in the sauce.
https://realtree.com/recipes/timber-2-table/slow-cooker-indian-butter-squirrel