Camp Potsticker Nachos
Sesame-ginger wonton chips baked at home, buried under gingery pork at camp.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 7.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 83
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 35 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 45 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Wonton wrappers | 12 oz package | about 48 wrappers; baked into chips at home |
|---|---|---|
| Sesame oil | 7 tbsp total | 5 for the chips, 2 for the pork |
| Ground ginger | 5 tsp | for the chips |
| Kosher salt | 2 tsp | |
| Soy sauce | 8 tbsp total | 4 for the sauce, 4 for the pork |
| Rice vinegar | 4 tbsp | |
| Cornstarch | 1 tbsp | |
| Sugar | 1/2 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/8 tsp | |
| Ground pork | 1 lb | frozen flat at home, thaws in the cooler by day two |
| Fresh ginger | 3 tbsp minced | a knob keeps for days out of the cooler |
| Garlic | 1 clove | |
| Shredded carrots | 1/2 cup | |
| Napa cabbage | 1 cup shredded | |
| Green onions | 1/2 cup sliced | |
| Water | 3 tbsp | for the sauce slurry |
Method
- At home: brush wonton wrappers with sesame oil on both sides, dust with ground ginger through a sieve, salt one side, cut each wrapper corner to corner, and bake at 375°F for about 6 minutes until browned. Figure 1 tbsp oil and 1 tsp ginger per 10 wrappers, four sheet-pan batches total. Cool completely before packing.
- At camp: shake the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, cornstarch, water, and pepper flakes together in a bottle. Pour into the pot over low heat and stir until it thickens, about two minutes. Set it aside off the heat.
- Wipe the pot. Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil and brown the pork, breaking it up as it goes, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add the minced ginger, garlic, carrots, and 4 tbsp soy sauce. Cook another 3 minutes until the carrots soften and the liquid mostly cooks off.
- Pile the chips on a plate or a clean pot lid. Scatter the raw cabbage over them, spoon the pork on top, drizzle with the thickened sauce, and finish with green onions.
- Serve immediately. The chips go soft within a few minutes of meeting the sauce.
This started as an oven dish and most of the oven work stays at home. The chips are the whole reason it travels: baked wonton wrappers are dry, light, and stable for a few days, which fried ones are not. Bake them the night before you leave and the camp job is one skillet of pork and a sauce.
The cornstarch matters. Straight soy and vinegar is dipping sauce, and it runs off the chips into the bottom of the plate. Thickened, it clings long enough to eat. The cabbage goes on raw and cold for crunch, since it is the only thing here fighting the softening chips.
Packing
Chips travel in a rigid container, not a bag, or you arrive with sesame-ginger dust. Sauce ingredients go premixed dry in a jar with the liquids in a leakproof bottle. Pork goes in the cooler frozen flat; cabbage and carrots shred faster at home and pack in a zip bag.
Variations
- Swap the pork for a can of chicken or a pouch of tuna if you would rather not carry raw meat.
- Crumbled dried shiitake rehydrated in the sauce stands in for the pork on a meatless night.
- Thicken the sauce at home and carry it in a squeeze bottle to skip a pot step.
https://www.pinchmeimeating.com/potsticker-nachos-with-baked-sesame-ginger-wonton-chips