Cauliflower Egg Salad, Camp Version
Raw cauliflower, dried egg, and a tangy powdered dressing. A crunchy side that does not need a cooler.
- calories
- 260
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 74
- protein
- 11 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 120 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.
- Lunch
- No cook
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Day hike
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Cauliflower | 1 medium head | rides fine in a pack for two days without a cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Whole egg powder | 1/2 cup | reconstitutes to about 5 eggs |
| Freeze-dried celery | 1/3 cup | or two fresh stalks if you are car camping |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Vinegar | 2 tbsp | for pickling the onion at camp |
| Capers | 2 tbsp | drained, or use a jar of brined ones on a car trip |
| Powdered whole milk yogurt or buttermilk powder | 1/3 cup | |
| Olive oil | 3 tbsp | |
| Lemon juice powder | 2 tsp | citric acid works too, use half as much |
| Dijon mustard | 1 tbsp | single-serve packets |
| Sugar | 1 tsp | stands in for honey |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Dried dill and parsley | 1 tbsp total | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Put the dried onion in a cup with the vinegar and 2 tbsp cold water. Leave it for the length of the prep. That is your pickled onion.
Raw cauliflower is one of the few vegetables that keeps its texture without refrigeration for a couple of days, which is why this works away from a cooler at all. Cutting it small matters more than it sounds: small florets take on dressing, large ones stay dry in the middle and taste like nothing.
The original leans on Greek yogurt, fresh eggs, and jarred pickled onions. All three are replaced here. Powdered yogurt or buttermilk plus oil rebuilds the creaminess, egg powder does the protein, and dried onion soaked in vinegar for fifteen minutes gets close enough to the pickled version. Let the finished bowl sit twenty minutes before eating so the dried herbs and celery pull water out of the dressing and soften.
Packing
Egg powder, dressing powders, and herbs each get their own small bag inside one larger bag. Oil and mustard ride in the food bag, not against the cauliflower. Whole head of cauliflower packs best on top of everything else.
Variations
- Swap the cauliflower for shelf-stable broccoli slaw if the head will not survive the drive.
- Skip the egg powder and it goes vegetarian and lighter, but it stops being lunch and goes back to being a side.
- A pouch of tuna stirred in pushes protein past 25 g.
https://blog.9jakitchen.com/cauliflower-salad-easy-fresh-crunchy-recipe