Cabbage Roll Soup, Trail Version
Beef, rice, and cabbage in one pot. Stuffed cabbage without the rolling, or the fridge.
- calories
- 690
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 125
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 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
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried ground beef | 2 oz | or a shelf-stable pouch of cooked ground beef |
|---|---|---|
| Instant rice | 1/2 cup | parboiled instant, not minute-brown |
| Dried shredded cabbage | 1/2 cup | dehydrated at home from green cabbage |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | stands in for the can of diced tomatoes |
| Beef or chicken bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried oregano and dried mint | 1/2 tsp each | |
| Crushed red pepper | 1/4 tsp | leave it out for a mild pot |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | bouillon is salty, so taste before adding |
| Ghee or olive oil | 1 tbsp | replaces the butter |
| Grated parmesan | 2 tbsp | the hard dry kind in the shaker keeps for weeks |
Method
- Bring 700 ml of water to a boil with the ghee in it.
- Dump in everything except the parmesan. Stir once so nothing sits on the bottom.
- Simmer on the lowest flame you can hold for 8 to 10 minutes. Stir every couple of minutes; the tomato powder will scorch if you do not.
- Cut the heat, cover, and wait 5 minutes. The cabbage needs that time more than the rice does.
- Check the salt, then shake the parmesan over the top.
Stuffed cabbage rolls are a folding project. The soup version already skipped the folding; the trail version skips the fridge. Fresh cabbage is 92 percent water and dead weight in a pack, so it gets dehydrated at home, where it shrinks to almost nothing and rehydrates in the pot without turning to mush. Tomato powder replaces the can for the same reason.
The fat matters more than it looks. Ghee carries the oregano and mint, and it keeps the rice from going gluey. Simmer rather than boil hard, and stir: tomato solids sink and burn onto a thin titanium pot faster than you expect.
Packing
Everything dry except the beef and cheese goes in one bag at home. Beef rides in its own bag so the pouch oil stays out of the spices. Ghee in a leakproof dropper bottle, taped shut.
Variations
- Freeze-dried ground turkey works and drops a little fat.
- A splash of red wine at home is impossible, but a teaspoon of balsamic powder or a squeeze of tomato paste from a tube gets you the same acid.
- No beef? Double the rice and add a scoop of textured vegetable protein. It reheats the same.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/stuffed-cabbage-roll-soup